There’s still a lot we don’t know about the upcomingStar Trek: Section 31movie. Despite being set topremiere on Paramount+ on Friday, June 03, 2025, most of the plot of the movie is still a secret. We do know thatSection 31will star the former Terran Emperor from the Mirror Universe, Phillippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). We also know thatSection 31will occur duringthe “lost era” ofStar TrekbetweenStar Trek:The Original SeriesandStar Trek:The Next Generation,a period of nearly seventy years that is largely undescribed inStar Trekcanon despite containing many integral events for the rest ofTrek.
On December 7, Paramount released a new trailer that offers a few more clues about what will happen inSection 31. A young Georgiou stands on a golden world in the teaser. An adult Georgiou with herblack ops Section 31 teamstands on a similarly golden planet now. Almost equally telling is what Paramount writes in the description. “Tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, [Georgiou] also must face the sins of her past.” All this could be pointing to an invasion of the Prime Universe by the Mirror Universe -an invasion that only the former Terran Emperor can stop.
Theory: The Mirror Universe Finally Invades The Federation In Star Trek Section 31
When she was introduced inStar Trek: Discovery, Emperor Georgiou was the head of the violent and expansionist Terran Empire. Over the course ofDiscovery, however, Emperor Georgiou grows beyond her tyrannical beginnings. It is this reformed, but not exactly benevolent, Philippa Georgiou who is contacted by Section 31. That Section 31 is reaching out to the former Terran Emperor suggests thatthe Mirror Universewill be integral to the plot ofSection 31. An invasion by the Terran Empire from the Mirror Universewould be exactly the sort of threat Section 31 would be suited to thwart.
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Ironically,Emperor Georgiou would have once been the head of any invasion of the Prime Universe.Discoverymade it clear that Emperor Georgiou hade very few moral compunctions (she considered Kelpians a tasty delicacy), and her official titles made it clear that the Terran Empire was always expanding. Emperor Georgiou’s full formal title was “Her Most Imperial Majesty, Mother of the Fatherland, Overlord of Vulcan, Dominus of Qo’noS, Regina Andor, Philippa Georgiou Augustus Iaponius Centarius.” Adding “Ruler of The Prime Universe” to that list of titles would, at one point, have seemed like the natural next step.
Star Trek’s Starfleet Has Never Fought The Mirror Universe
We’ve Seen Characters Cross Over, But Never Open Conflict
If an invasion from the Mirror Universe happens inSection 31, it will be unique inTrek. Nevertheless, conflict between universes is not entirely unprecedented inStar Trek.Characters have been crossing over and getting into fights with their Mirror counterparts sinceThe Original Series.DuringStar Trek:Deep Space Nine, then-Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), is kidnapped and brought to the Mirror Universe. InStar Trek: Enterprise,an entire ship traveled from the Prime to the Mirror Universe. These sorts of conflicts would be only border skirmishes, however, compared to the full-on assault we might see inSection 31.
Conflict between universes is not entirely unprecedented inStar Trek.
Perhapsthe best analog for trans-dimensional invasions inStar Trekcomes not from the Mirror Universe, but from Fluidic Space.InStar Trek: Voyager,Voyager’s crew encountered species 8472, non-humanoid aliens from an alternate dimension known as “fluidic space.”
Species 8472 was engaged in an all-out war with the Borg, tearing holes in space-time to strike at the very core of the Collective. If the Mirror Universe is planning an assault inStar Trek: Section 31, it would be a war where enemy movements are impossible to predict, and entire star ships can emerge fully formed out of the void.
Star Trek: Section 31
Cast
Star Trek: Section 31 follows Emperor Philippa Georgiou as she joins a clandestine Starfleet division tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, confronting the consequences of her past actions.
