Section 31 has become a staple of the Star Trek franchise and here is every major character who has joined the Federation’s top-secret agency. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 has written out Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), which will presumably allow her to headline the Section 31 spinoff that was announced in 2019, although which era of Star Trek the show will take place in is as mysterious as Section 31 itself.
Introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Section 31 has been retconned to exist since the dawn of the United Federation of Planets. The black-ops organization takes its name from and claims to be sanctioned by Article 14, Section 31 of the Federation Charter, which allows for extraordinary measures to be taken in times of extreme threats. Because Section 31 is now so prominent across Star Trek and has appeared in the 22nd, 23rd, 24th centuries, as well as in the Kelvin timeline of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies, it’s a bit shocking to realize that Section 31 only appeared in 3 episodes of DS9 and didn’t even debut until DS9 season 6!
Since then, Section 31 agents have appeared in Star Trek: Enterprise and they became even more important in Star Trek: Discovery, which made the clandestine group central to its season 2 plot that saw a rogue A.I. called Control try to wipe out all organic life in the cosmos. In Star Trek: Enterprise‘s time, Section 31 was a deep shadow organization but, by Star Trek: Discovery‘s 23rd-century era, Section 31 seemed largely drop its curtain of secrecy, as multiple Starfleet Admirals (all of whom were murdered by Control) oversaw Section 31, including Admiral Katrina Cornwell (Jayne Brook). Indeed, even the Starship Enterprise‘s Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) knew about Section 31, although its leader, Captain Leland (Alan Van Sprang) was Pike’s close friend.
However, by the 24th century, knowledge of Section 31 was generally erased from Starfleet and even Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), who briefly held the rank of Chief of Starfleet Security on Earth, hadn’t heard of them until Section 31’s agent Luther Sloan (William Sadler) infiltrated Deep Space Nine years later. Section 31 was also responsible for the plot to commit genocide by infecting the Changelings with a morphogenic virus via Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) during the Dominion War. Perhaps the failure of that audacious and illegal scheme brought Section 31 into the light because, by Star Trek: Lower Decks, awareness of the agency had become common enough that Ensign Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) joked about them. While it’s not clear where and when the Section 31 series led by Emperor Georgiou will be set, the membership of the black badge agency – both voluntary and coerced – has included some major and surprising Star Trek characters.
Malcolm Reed – Star Trek: Enterprise, 22nd Century
Before Lt. Malcolm Reed became the Armory Officer aboard the historic voyage of Captain Jonathan Archer’s (Scott Bakula) NX-01 Enterprise in 2151, he was recruited as an Ensign to join Section 31 sometime around 2149. At first, the chance to perform covert operations excited Reed but he left Section 31 before he was posted on the Enterprise. In Star Trek: Enterprise season 4, Section 31 coerced Reed’s help once again, which he tried to keep from Captain Archer, who was furious and threw Reed in the brig when he found out his Armory Officer was conducting secret operations behind his back. Reed later called upon Harris for help once again during a mission to Terra Prime but he refused to return to Section 31.
Harris – Star Trek: Enterprise, 22nd Century
Harris was a former member of Starfleet Security before his official record suddenly ended in 2149, which is when he joined Section 31. Harris is chronologically the first known agent of Section 31 and he recruited Ensign Malcolm Reed. Harris called upon Reed for help once again in 2154 when Section 31 entered into a secret agreement with the Klingons to have the Enterprise‘s Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley) kidnapped by the Klingons in order to find a cure for the augment virus. After Captain Archer learned of Harris and his organization, Reed became a go-between when the Enterprise needed a way to approach the Terra Prime terrorist organization’s base on Mars.
Mike And Gabrielle Burnham – Star Trek: Discovery, 23rd Century
Mike (Kenric Green) and Gabrielle Burnham (Sonja Sahn) were the parents of Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). Posing as a xenoanthropologist and an astrophysicist, respectively, Mike and Gabrielle were secretly operatives of Section 31. In 2236, the Burnhams were stationed on Doctari Alpha developing what became the Red Angel time travel suit when their lab was attacked by the Klingons. Mike was killed while Gabrielle escaped to a thousand years in the future using the time suit. 21 years later, Michael learned the truth about her parents and their Section 31 affiliation in Star Trek: Discovery season 2.
Captain Leland – Star Trek: Discovery, 23rd Century
Officially, Captain Leland was affiliated with Starfleet Intelligence, but he was secretly one of the leaders of Section 31. Leland worked alongside Mike and Gabrielle Burnham on the Red Angel project. In Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Leland worked alongside Emperor Georgiou during the investigation of the source of the red signals in space. Leland was later killed by Control, which took over his body and posed as the Captain using nanites. Through Leland, Control took over Section 31 until Georgiou destroyed them both in Star Trek: Discovery‘s season 2 finale.
Emperor Philippa Georgiou – Star Trek: Discovery, 23rd Century
After Michael Burnham brought her to the Prime Universe, Georgiou, the deposed Emperor of the Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe, joined Section 31. With the rank of Commander, Georgiou used her Section 31 access to learn all about Starfleet and the Federation in the Prime Universe, and she worked to undermine Captain Leland before ultimately killing him when Control took over his body. Georgiou left Section 31 when she traveled to the 32nd century with the U.S.S. Discovery and she told Burnham that she was happy to leave the agency behind because “bureaucracy is where fun goes to die.” However, now that he has been forced to leave the 32nd century in order to save her own life, Georgiou is expected to return as the lead character of Star Trek‘s Section 31 spinoff.
Ash Tyler – Star Trek: Discovery, 23rd Century
Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) is a deceased Starfleet Officer whose DNA was used as a human exterior template when the Klingon Voq was surgically turned into a human to infiltrate the U.S.S. Discovery. After living on Qo’noS with Chancellor L’Rell (Mary Chieffo), Ash left the Klingon homeworld to hide their son on Boreth, after which Tyler joined Section 31. Ash presumably remained part of Section 31 when the U.S.S. Discovery time-traveled to the 32nd century.
Admiral Alexander Marcus – Star Trek Into Darkness, 23rd Century Kelvin Timeline
In the Kelvin timeline, Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) was the head of Starfleet and he also ran Section 31. As one of the villains of Star Trek Into Darkness, Marcus sought to militarize Starfleet and, to that end, he revived the cryogenically frozen Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch), intending to use Khan’s genetically-engineered intellect and savagery to win a war against the Klingons. Marcus’ treachery was discovered by the U.S.S. Enterprise‘s Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and the Admiral was ultimately murdered by Khan.
Khan Noonien Singh AKA John Harrison – Star Trek Into Darkness, 23rd Century Kelvin Timeline
After Admiral Marcus revived Khan, the genetically-engineered conqueror was recruited into Section 31 and given the identity of Starfleet Officer John Harrison. As Harrison, Khan coerced another Starfleet Officer, Thomas Harewood (Noel Clarke), into bombing the Kelvin Memorial Archive in exchange for Khan saving his terminally ill daughter’s life. Harrison then assassinated most of Starfleet’s senior staff, including Admiral Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) before he was captured on Qo’nos by Captain Kirk, after which his true identity as Khan and his affiliation with Admiral Marcus and Section 31 was revealed. Khan then went on a murderous rampage until he was ultimately apprehended by the crew of the Starship Enterprise and returned to cryogenic sleep at the conclusion of Star Trek Into Darkness.
Luther Sloan – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 24th Century
Debuting in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, Luther Sloan was the first Section 31 operative Star Trek fans met and he was the devious face of the organization. Posing as Deputy Director of Starfleet Internal Affairs, Sloan came aboard DS9 and staged an elaborate deception about a member of the station’s senior staff being a Dominion spy to test the loyalties of Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig). Sloan’s endgame was to recruit Bashir into Section 31, a scheme he repeated in his return appearances.
Sloan masterminded Section 31’s scheme to eradicate the Founders with a morphogenic virus and he committed suicide in order to stop Bashir from obtaining the cure; although the doctor was able to extract the cure from Sloan’s mind, the Section 31 agent took the rest of the organization’s secrets to the grave with him.
Dr. Julian Bashir – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 24th Century
Dr. Julian Bashir was Deep Space Nine’s Chief Medical Officer; when the truth that he received genetic augmentation as a child was revealed, Bashir became a person of interest to Section 31. Luther Sloan attempted to recruit Bashir, revealing Section 31’s existence to him and, subsequently, DS9’s senior staff. Sloan later succeeded in getting the doctor reluctantly work for the spy agency during a conference between the Federation and the Romulans toward the end of the Dominion War. In the retrospective documentary What We Left Behind, DS9‘s writers revealed that Bashir would have become the leader of Section 31 in their apocryphal pilot episode for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 8.
Koval – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 24th Century
Koval (John Fleck) was the head of the Romulan Tal Shiar but he was secretly a Federation operative working for both Starfleet Intelligence and Section 31. At a conference between the Federation and Romulan Empire held on Romulus during the Dominion War, Koval stated that Section 31 did not exist, but his machinations with Sloan ensured that Koval was placed on Romulan Continuing Committee. While outwardly a critic of the Federation-Romulan alliance, Koval became a Section 31 double agent positioned at the highest reaches of the Romulan government at the conclusion of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
