Watch: Certifiably Ingame breaks down the history of Section 31

The origins of Section 31 are a mystery to many Star Trek fans.

Section 31 is the CIA of Starfleet. Often operating outside of conventional Federation rulesets, Section 31 attempts to keep Starfleet and the galaxy under control. The only problem is that they’re far from good guys. Often at odds with the protagonists of the series, they skirt the rules and attempt to enforce their own morality into situations.

Given carte blanche by their status being in the shadow arm of Starfleet, they’re often depicted as agents with no sense of honor or respect, simply an outfit that stands in stark contrast to the core values of the United Federation of Planets.

They’re bad guys on the side of good, essentially. Their whole history is shrouded in mystery, leaving most of their history unknown to many. Yet Certifiably Ingame attempts to break down the history of the secret Federation faction.

Section 31 series remains in developmental purgatory

Despite fans knowing full well who and what Section 31 is, the fact is they’ve only appeared in a handful of episodes across several series. Between Deep Space Nine and Enterprise, they had seven appearances, all as antagonists of some sort. It was in Star Trek: Into Darkness and then Discovery where this shadow organization started to get more attention and appeal.

Now, a new series is apparently in the works starring Discovery’s Michelle Yeoh, which would follow her character, Philippa Georgiou working with the organization. This was not a decision met with universal praise, however, as many fans believed the very focus of the show is too far away from Gene Roddenberry’s vision of Star Trek.

Section 31 is oftentimes a murderous unit that tortures people for information. To portray them and their actions in some type of positive light wouldn’t be something many fans want to see. More than that, with series like Prodigy and Strange New Worlds offering fans a more optimistic Trek, it seems almost counterproductive to step back into the world of grit and grime like Discovery, Lower Decks, and Picard have done to mixed results.

The last update came in July when Star Trek producer Alex Kurtzman said the series had a few scripts written and that he was “optimistic” about its chances. None of that, not even the announcement in 2019 of the series happening, is a concrete guarantee that it’ll happen anymore. Covid shut down a lot of projects, and with the merger between Viacom and CBS, so much overhaul at the top of Paramount, plus the conversion from CBS All Access to Paramount+ and a change in who runs that service, there’s no promise that this show still gets made.

Right now if you’re hoping for Section 31 to happen, don’t hold your breath, because there’s no guarantee it does or doesn’t happen at this point.