It's ok to retire concepts. Regardless of what you do and where you do it, you may get to a point where it's time to retire something. A person, an idea, or even your favorite piece of clothing. Moving on can be a wonderfully cathartic experience and one that brings peace and joy. This is why I think it's time for Star Trek to move on from Section 31, for good.
Yes, the made-for-streaming movie, Star Trek: Section 31 was bad, and no matter how much you put Michelle Yeoh all over the marketing, that's not going to change things. The film was bad and it wasn't just bad because of the writing and directing; though those played a huge factor. No, the film was bad because its concept, following Section 31 in its early days, was a failed and flawed concept.
They are a secret arm of Starfleet that does every awful thing you can think of, and without anyone really checking their power. They abuse the innocent and make themselves the guilty in the process. You can't root for a group like that. Yet, the geniuses at Paramount+ and Star Trek thought differently. It's pretty clear that just because you're in a position of power doesn't mean you know how to wield it.
We have people running Star Trek that don't realize Star Trek fans don't want to follow the bad guys. We got enough of those lunatics in real life. We don't want "gritty" adventures with morally grey characters. We want shining bastions of hope and promise. We want Kathryn Janeway, Jonathan Archer, and Benjamin Sisko.
Not Philippa Georgiou.
That's in part why the film failed, we were given a story about bad people doing good things. And sure, that might work elsewhere, but not in this franchise. The fandom isn't into it, and never really has been. Frankly, we should never include Section 31 in Star Trek ever again after this debacle of a movie.
Not just as central characters, but in any form. While Deep Space Nine really nailed their depiction and got fans riled up, justifiably so, over how a group got away with so much for so long, the existence of the group spits in the face of what Starfleet was meant to be.
It was executed well, sure, but Starfleet didn't need to be the enemies. They're the standard barriers of the galaxy and to water down their impact into that of puppets dancing for the clendestine organization, well it hinders everything we need Starfleet to be.
End Section 31 forever. Make them a distant memory and move on from them as a story concept. Their sheer existence is limiting what Star Trek and Starfleet can be moving forward.