Star Trek: Section 31 Ending Explained

Contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Section 31"

The villain that fans loved to hate on "Star Trek: Discovery" is now starring in her own movie on Paramount+. "Star Trek: Section 31" follows Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) as she is intercepted by the titular black ops team after falling off the grid for several years, and not much seems to have changed for her. Nowadays, Georgiou is living under an alias as she runs the Baraam, a bar located outside of Federation space, and it's a much quieter existence given where she came from.

This Georgiou is the Mirror Universe's version of the Starfleet Captain who died during "Star Trek: Discovery," Season 1, Episode 2, "Battle at the Binary Stars." The Mirror version of the character arrived in the Prime Universe shortly after her demise, and this version of Georgiou came with an agenda by pretending to be her Prime counterpart in order to gain power and prestige. After one of her sneaky plans goes wrong, she ends up with Section 31.

While the crew members that she works with during "Star Trek: Discovery" are different from those seen in "Star Trek: Section 31," the storyline from "Discovery" peels back the curtain on this mysterious sector of Starfleet, which fits very well into the "Star Trek" timeline. The seeds planted during "Discovery" set the stage for this new movie. It's a triumphant installment in the "Star Trek" universe, and an explanation of its ending brings to light plenty of interesting tidbits for fans to ponder.

"Star Trek: Section 31" is all about connecting Philippa Georgiou's present to her past. The movie begins with a teenage Philippa (Miku Martineau) as she becomes the emperor of the Terran Empire. After she and her best friend San (James Huang) survive a "Hunger Games"-like contest, they are tasked with another mission that will decide who takes the throne. That mission is to kill their families. San hesitates while Georgiou proceeds with the murders, making San the runner up and her servant. The story fast-forwards to her current existence in the part of the Prime Universe timeline where the Mirror and Prime universes closely align following her near death experience during "Star Trek: Discovery," Season 3, Episode 10, "Terra Firma, Part 2."

Now, she's living in the border territory just outside of the United Federation of Planets, and Section 31 wants her help locating a deadly bio weapon before it is sold on the black market. Georgiou and the team are able to grab the device, but a masked assailant sweeps in, grabs it, and disappears. Now they must retrieve it before two ion storms converge, opening a passageway that will allow the Terrans to come into the Prime Universe and detonate the Godsend. The weapon was commissioned by Georgiou during her rule of the Terran Empire, and it is capable of mass destruction. Their quest for the sphere becomes more difficult when they find out that there's a mole in their team.

By the end of "Star Trek: Section 31," Philippa realizes that the mystery person who is after the Godsend is actually San (James Hiroyuki Liao), who she thought had died years ago after he poisoned himself in front of her. He has been searching for the weapon so that the Terran Empire can use it to dominate the Prime Universe. The two fight over the bio weapon as the Section 31 crew flies to Philippa's rescue on an aging ship that has no weapons. Meanwhile, Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok) — who was the mole within Section 31 — is making one last effort to defeat his former teammates.

Quasi (Sam Richardson), Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), and Alok Sahar (Omari Hardwick) combine their skills to help Georgiou as she defeats San, taking back the Godsend and saving the Prime Universe just as the passageway between the Prime and Mirror universes opens. After completing their mission, the gang reunites at Georgiou's bar, relaxing as they announce that she is now a permanent part of the team.

The ending of "Star Trek: Section 31" is really just the beginning for this secret team. Philippa Georgiou has turned over a new leaf. At the beginning of the film, her bar employees know her under a mysterious alias, but now, she is sharing her true identity with those around her. Her battle with San also shines a light on the compassion that has been hiding in her heart this entire time. Her care for her teammates and the Prime Universe, which she used to despise, shines through as she fights to protect her team and the entire galaxy. By the film's end, she is fully committing her life to their missions, realizing that helping to protect the universe is what she is meant to do. The team is excited about their new roster while basking in their success. However, the celebration is short-lived as they receive a new mission from Control, played by Jamie Lee Curtis.

While the cast has not yet said anything specific about the ending, Michelle Yeoh has shared her enthusiasm about "Star Trek: Section 31." Meanwhile, Robert Kazinsky, who plays Zeph, has discussed the backlash against Section 31 (some fans feel as though the black ops group goes against core "Star Trek" values). "The simple truth of the matter is the Federation can only exist if a Section 31 exists. Now what we can do is we can take it from being a nefarious organization to humanizing it and naturally showing the need for it," he said during a New York Comic Con panel. "We're trying to show that the extended 'Star Trek' universe, actually, Section 31 is an integral part of it as the Federation in its entirety is."

The notion of gray areas being unavoidable and the reality that danger is always lurking is at the core of the film's ending. The Godsend is a weapon that much of the public probably doesn't know about, nor do they realize that it has made its way into the Prime Universe, where it could destroy everyone's lives in a flash. Telling a select group about the danger not only keeps panic at bay, but it also allows one super specialized team with a great success rate to get the job done. This strategy maintains the safety of the Federation and allows all citizens to live another day in peace. It may not be traditional "Star Trek," but it makes sense.

The Mirror Universe's version of Philippa Georgiou is sneaky and always on the attack as she awaits anyone that dares cross her path or try to take her power. On "Star Trek: Discovery," she makes several references to the brutality of the Terran Empire, including the normality of coups and how she felt that she could be attacked at any moment. The Godsend is physical evidence of that fear. She says in "Star Trek: Section 31" that the weapon triggers a chain reaction, incinerating everything in its path. It could take out an entire quadrant, and it ensures that her enemies would have nothing to rule if she was killed.

The fear that Georgiou feels every day may have begun during her childhood, and it could possibly stem from how she learned how to survive during the "Hunger Games"-like contest that led to her reign. The movie does not explain why she was sent to the competition. However, having such a competition proves how ruthless the Terran Empire can be, and the idea of Georgiou becoming emperor may have intrigued her family if such power would give them leverage, possibly protecting them from some threats as they work to survive each day. This arc makes the ending of the film all the more impactful.

Friendship, kindness, and compassion: These are things that Phillipa Georgiou usually doesn't have time for. However, glimpses of her softer side were seen throughout "Star Trek: Discovery," from the time she takes with the Section 31 team upon joining their ranks to how she ultimately cares for Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). "Star Trek: Section 31" capitalizes on this downplayed portion of her personality, especially at the end.

As she and San fight over the Godsend, Georgiou is reminded of the love that she still feels for him. That love activates her compassion as she asks him to put an end to his evil plans and trade it all in for a new life, possibly with her. She tries to reassure him that things can change for the better and that they do not always have to be at odds, but San will not give up this fight to send the Terran Empire through the passageway in order to reign over the Prime Universe.

On her journey to this final battle, Georgiou develops a connection with the Section 31 team leader, Alok Sahar, who has a similar past. Their mutual experiences also unlock a softer side of Georgiou as she confides in him about how her past has shaped this rough shell that she built to protect herself. It's very satisfying to see the full range of her personality.

"Star Trek: Discovery," Season 3, Episode 9, "Terra Firma, Part 1," shows that the Interdimensional Displacement Restriction prohibited the Federation from sending Phillipa Georgiou back to the Mirror Universe, a place that must be explained in order to be truly understood. This more than likely means that she is not allowed to return home of her own accord, either. However, she has never been one to follow the rules. It's surprising that she did not head home when a passageway opened, which seems to occur regularly.

So why has she chosen to stay? There is no clear answer given in "Star Trek: Section 31," but there are few possibilities as to why she is still calling the Prime Universe her home. The first possibility is that she would fear for her life if she were to return to the Terran Empire. Given her cruel rule, she probably has plenty of enemies waiting for her. This is coupled with the fact that the empire can be a naturally ruthless place, seeing that it has the most criminal population in recorded history, a fact that is mentioned at the beginning of the film.

Another possibility could be that she just really enjoys living in the Prime Universe. While she wasn't so fond of the idea when she initially arrived at the beginning of "Star Trek: Discovery," she did find her place within Starfleet by becoming a member of Section 31 during the portion of the timeline that the Discovery presides in.

The plot of "Star Trek: Section 31" was actually hinted at all the way back in "Star Trek: Discovery" Season 3, with some foreshadowing taking place during the episode "Terra Firma, Part 2." Georgiou is on the verge of death when she is put through a test that weighs up her life. Following the test, she is assigned to a portion of the timeline where the Prime and Mirror universes are closely aligned. It is during this moment that she tells Michael Burnham that she wants to reunite with San, who she loved as a teenager.

The close alignment of the universes is central to the plot of "Star Trek: Section 31," with the team attempting to grab the Godsend before the passageway opens and the weapon of mass destruction disappears forever. Georgiou's connection to San is also a catalyst for the plot, especially at the end as she takes her feelings for him into consideration while fighting for the Godsend. While those feelings are of love, they are also feelings of guilt due to how she treated him during her reign. That guilt may be part of the reason why she wants to reunite with him, hoping that he can forgive her so they can start their relationship anew.

"Star Trek: Section 31" is set years after the Mirror version of Philippa Georgiou enters the Prime Universe, and the ending suggests that a lot has likely happened since she left the Mirror Universe. San re-enters her life with a big grudge and a very planned out strategy to take over the Prime Universe with the Godsend. It is clear that this plan to take back the weapon has been in the works for quite some time, and it was probably in development as he pretended to poison himself in front of Georgiou while she was emperor. It is through this flashback that viewers find out that it has been a lifetime since her reign. So San's fake death could have allowed him to go into hiding for a moment in order to formulate his attack.

Having such a large amount of time away seems to have led to a sizable following for San. While he doesn't go as far as to call himself the emperor, he does say that the Terran Empire is his Empire and that he expects the citizens to make their way through the passageway. He also acquired the help of Section 31 member Fuzz, and while this is the only confidant of his we see in the Prime Universe, there is always the possibility that more allies could be waiting in the shadows.

"Star Trek: Section 31" also shares a glimpse into the past of the trailblazing Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), who is among the best captains to have helmed the U.S.S. Enterprise. She appears in the movie as a young Starfleet lieutenant. She's all business, and she has her eyes set on a big career. Fans of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" know that she achieves that greatness: An older version of Garrett (Tricia O'Neil) is introduced as the first female captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise-C during Season 3, Episode 15, "Yesterday's Enterprise." Including Garrett in this Section 31 mission makes total sense since her episode of "The Next Generation" finds her team jumping into Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) present, which is 22 years in the future.

The U.S.S. Enterprise-C runs into the temporal rift amid a Romulan attack, and Garrett's reaction shows her tenacity (after being severely injured, she tries to leave sickbay to attend to the needs of her crew). As Picard and his team argue about whether or not the U.S.S. Enterprise-C should return to its original timeline, Garrett is killed during a Klingon attack. While her time on screen is brief, her impact is huge because of how O'Neil plays the daring captain. During the "Star Trek: Section 31" panel at New York Comic Con, Rohl said, "I watched that episode a bunch and tried to translate that through my stuff to bring Rachel Garrett into this moment."

"Star Trek" fans know that the franchise is always looking to boldly go where no one has gone before, and making a film about Section 31 is certainly a bold move, one that will hopefully lead to more missions for the black ops team. That's the hope of the cast and crew, who talked about the possibility of more adventures during the film's panel at New York Comic Con, noting that it depends on if the film is well received by fans. "The more you love it, the possibilities are endless what could occur after that," said director and executive producer Olatunde Osunsanmi.

The movie offers an open-ended conclusion as the team is briefed on their next mission by acting titan Jamie Lee Curtis, who previously shared the screen with Michelle Yeoh in the Oscar-winning film "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Curtis' voice can also be heard giving Section 31 their mission to make contact with Georgiou at the beginning of the movie. This is Curtis' first role in the "Star Trek" universe, but her sister, Kelly Curtis, did play a character named Miss Sarda in the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" Season 1 episode "Captive Pursuit." It's an interesting connection given that "Deep Space Nine" makes mention of Section 31, which is just one of the many facts about Section 31 that fans should know going into the movie.