WARNING: Contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Trek: Section 31

Star Trek: Section 31 has a surprisingly high main character death count for a Star Trek film. As the franchise’s first made-for-streaming film, Section 31 boldly goes where no Star Trek has gone before, delivering an action-packed spy thriller. Star Trek: Section 31 centers on Michelle Yeoh’s Emperor Philippa Georgiou, who was sent back in time by the Guardian of Forever (Paul Guilfoyle) in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Georgiou ended up in the early 24th century and began running a nightclub before a black ops Section 31 team showed up to recruit her to help stop a dangerous new weapon called the Godsend.

Star Trek: Section 31 opens with a flashback to the young Georgiou’s (Miku Martineau) life in the Mirror Universe, showing how she became Emperor of the Terran Empire. From the beginning, Section 31 does not shy away from death, but the demise of some characters have more impact than others. The Section 31 team at the center of the film contains some interesting characters, from augmented leader Alok (Omari Hardwick) to Deltan seductress Melle (Humberly González). However, Section 31 has too many characters for its own good, as viewers hardly get to know them before the film starts killing them off.

5

Philippa Georgiou’s Family

Portrayed by Cindy Goh, Houston Wong, & Nikita Kim

In its opening scenes, Star Trek: Section 31 offers a glimpse at how Philippa Georgiou rose to power in the Mirror Universe. The young Georgiou returns to her family after competing in a brutal contest to become the next Emperor of the Terran Empire. As Philippa sits down with her family to discuss the compeтιтion over dinner, she reveals that she has one more task to complete. With dawning horror, Philippa’s family realizes that she has poisoned the soup they have eaten, as her last task was to sever any ties to her previous life.

The young Georgiou cries as she watches her parents and younger brother die, even as their deaths secure her rise to Emperor. Before long, a Terran Proctor (Sonja Smits) arrives with an army to crown Georgiou as the next Emperor. The Proctor reveals the other finalist, San (James Huang), failed to complete the final task, and his entire village was burned in retaliation. While this suggests that Georgiou’s family would have been killed regardless, Georgiou’s actions in Star Trek: Section 31’s opening scenes make her a difficult character to like, although Michelle Yeoh mostly makes up for that.

4

Melle

Portrayed by Humberly González

The Deltan Melle is the first member of Alok’s Section 31 team to fall, far too early to become a fully realized character. Georgiou identified Alok and his team as Section 31 agents as soon as they entered her nightclub, prompting Alok to bring her up to speed on their plan. Unimpressed with their plan, Georgiou proposes “a better idea,” which is quickly put into action. Although Georgiou successfully acquires the Godsend, an unknown ᴀssailant comes crashing into the nightclub to steal it.

As Georgiou squares off with this attacker, Melle gets in on the fight, landing a couple of blows before the man fires his phaser at her. Like all Deltans, Melle has a powerful Sєxual attraction she regularly employs as a distraction. Unfortunately, Melle does not even have time to use her powers of seduction before she is vaporized. Section 31 barely gives viewers time to react to Melle’s death before Georgiou reengages in the fight. Melle’s death illustrates the danger of the mission but robs viewers of a fascinating character with a lot of potential.

3

Zeph

Portrayed by Robert Kazinsky

As the muscle of Section 31, Zeph always wears a mechanical exoskeleton that enhances his strength. He becomes the next Section 31 member to fall, after Alok, Georgiou, and the team leave the nightclub and make it to a Section 31 safe house. As Georgiou and Alok interrogate weapons dealer Dada Noe (Joe Pingue), they learn they have a mole amongst their ranks. When their ship explodes, the team starts working to repair an old garbage scowl they find on the planet. Zeph soon wanders off, leaving the rest of the team suspecting he may be the mole. That is, until they find his body.

Although Zeph’s murder is initially pinned on Starfleet Lt. Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), Georgiou eventually realizes that Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok) is the mole, not Zeph. Despite his Vulcan appearance, Fuzz is actually a microscopic alien known as a Nanokin piloting a full-sized robotic body. Footage from Zeph’s mecha-suit reveals that Fuzz left his robot body on autopilot and flew into Zeph’s body suit. Fuzz turned Zeph’s suit against him, killing him and implicating Lt. Garrett. Fuzz manages to escape but reveals that Georgiou’s former friend and lover San (James Hiroyuki Liao) is still alive.

2

Fuzz

Portrayed by Sven Ruygrok

After being outed as the mole, Fuzz rejoins San (James Hiroyuki Liao), who now has the Godsend. Georgiou and the Section 31 team take the garbage scow and set off in pursuit of San to prevent the Mirror Universe’s Terran Empire from taking over the Prime Universe. Georgiou and Alok beam aboard San’s ship and fight for control of the Godsend. As Georgiou faces off against San, Alok battles Fuzz. However, the microscopic Fuzz leaves his robot body during the battle and escapes San’s ship in a shuttlecraft.

Aboard the garbage scow, Lt. Garrett and Quasi (Sam Richardson) fire exploding garbage at Fuzz’s ship, while Alok mortally wounds his robotic body aboard San’s ship. Although Fuzz appears to be killed in the explosion, Fuzz’s wife Wisp (also portrayed by Sven Ruygrok) later pronounces that “little things sometimes survive big explosions.” Wisp has more than a few questions for her “lying, double-dealing” husband, suggesting Fuzz could pop up again if Star Trek: Section 31 gets a sequel.

1

San

Portrayed by James Hiroyuki Liao

While Quasi and Lt. Rachel Garrett work to keep their ship in the air and Alok battles Fuzz’s body, Georgiou confronts her former lover and Star Trek: Section 31‘s main villain, San. As revealed in flashbacks throughout Star Trek: Section 31, San spent much of his life serving Emperor Georgiou until he faked his death right in front of her. In Section 31’s climatic final fight, Georgiou tries to reach out to the boy she once knew, but San is determined to end Georgiou or die trying. In the end, San bears down on Georgiou with his sword, but she refuses to back down.

Georgiou kicks the sword away from her, and straight into San’s neck. As San dies, Georgiou laments that this was never what she wanted and tearfully apologizes for the way she treated him. Although San’s death allows the Section 31 team to stop the Terran Empire from invading, it robs Georgiou of the chance to reconcile with her old friend. With its spy thriller plot and high death count, Star Trek: Section 31 is a Star Trek film unlike any other and it remains to be seen whether any of the film’s characters will return.