WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Section 31Star Trek: Section 31 introduced a new leader of Section 31, but her name makes no sense. Following Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) and a team of black ops Section 31 agents, Section 31 is a Star Trek film unlike any other. Alok (Omari Hardwick) and his eclectic team recruit Georgiou for a mission to save the United Federation of Planets from a mysterious and devastating weapon. Early in the film, the Section 31 leader known as Control (Jamie Lee Curtis) explains the details of the ᴀssignment to find Georgiou and neutralize this new weapon.
The Section 31 organization was introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a covert intelligence operation that did the dirty work necessary to keep the Federation safe. As revealed in Star Trek: Enterprise, Section 31 had existed since the earliest days of Starfleet, thanks to a line in the original Starfleet Charter (Article 14, Section 31) that allowed for extreme measures to be taken during “times of extraordinary threat.” Section 31 operates mostly in the shadows with very little oversight, but it is technically part of Starfleet Intelligence.
Section 31’s Leader Named Control Makes No Sense After Star Trek: Discovery
Why Would Section 31 Continue To Use The Name Control?
In Star Trek: Discovery season 2, Control was the name of Section 31’s artificially intelligent threat ᴀssessment system in use in the 23rd century. After the Battle of the Binary Stars, which kicked off the Klingon-Federation war of 2256-2257, Section 31 poured more resources into their threat ᴀssessment program, feeding more and more data into Control. Initially, Control was only used to make recommendations, but some officials wanted to hand decision-making power fully over to Control. After acquiring so much knowledge and power, Control attempted genocide by planning to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy. The USS Discovery had to permanently jump to the 32nd century to stop Control from rising again after it was destroyed.
Star Trek: Section 31 takes place in the early 24th century, decades after the events of Star Trek: Discovery season 2. Considering the death and destruction attached to the name Control, not to mention the blight it has on Section 31 as an organization, why would they name their leader that? The Control of Star Trek: Discovery attempted to wipe out all of civilization, and the USS Discovery had to travel over 900 years into the future to keep the vital Sphere data out of Control’s grasp. This seems like something Section 31 would want to scrub from their history books entirely.
Jamie Lee Curtis Continues Star Trek’s Casting Coups
Modern Star Trek Has Attracted Some Surprising Talent
Although Jamie Lee Curtis appears briefly as Control near the end of Star Trek: Section 31, it’s not clear whether she is a hologram or a real person. It seems odd that Section 31 would place any lever of power in the hands of another artificially intelligent being like a hologram, but the truth about this version of Control remains unknown. Still, it’s cool to see an actress like Jaime Lee Curtis pop up in Star Trek. Curtis becomes another in a long list of names of high-caliber actors who have joined the Star Trek family.
Michelle Yeoh and Jaime Lee Curtis also starred alongside one another in the 2023 Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once. Both actresses also took home Oscars for their respective roles.
With actors like Michelle Yeoh and Jason Isaacs, Star Trek: Discovery ushered Star Trek into the streaming era with big-name talent, and modern Trek has continued this trend. The upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has been confirmed to be starring Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti, both of whom have impressive and award-winning careers. As such a long-lived and beloved franchise, Star Trek attracts its fair share of famous faces, whether they grew up as fans of the series or not. Star Trek: Section 31 continues Star Trek’s trend of casting major movie stars with Jaime Lee Curtis’ turn as the somewhat confusing Control.
