Could Michelle Yeoh’s Emperor Georgiou be recruiting younger versions of legacy Star Trek characters in the upcoming Section 31 movie?

Could Star Trek: Section 31 be about Emperor Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) uniting legacy characters from across the Star Trek franchise? Section 31 was set up in Star Trek: Discovery season 3 when Emperor Georgiou left Discovery‘s 32nd century for a personal mission, courtesy of the Guardian of Forever (Paul Guilfoyle). The only clue the Guardian gave regarding Georgiou’s destination was that the Mirror Universe of Georgiou’s origin and the Prime Universe were “still aligned”, to alleviate Georgiou’s debilitating symptoms arising from being in both the wrong time and the wrong universe. This suggested Section 31 takes place in an earlier point in the Star Trek timeline.

After all, Section 31 is tied to nearly every Star Trek era. As early as Star Trek: Enterprise‘s 22nd century, Lt. Malcolm Reed’s (Dominic Keating) backstory includes a Section 31 chapter. Starfleet’s shadowy intelligence division exists as something of an open secret in the 23rd century, when Georgiou operates alongside Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif) in Star Trek: Discovery. In the 24th century, Section 31’s Director Luther Sloan (William Sadler) recruits Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), who acts as a double agent on behalf of Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). The cast of Section 31, however, includes none of these familiar characters … or does it?

Emperor Georgiou Could Be Recruiting Young Star Trek Legacy Characters Into Section 31

The Guardian of Forever gives Georgiou access to different Star Trek eras.

The announcement of the Star Trek: Section 31 cast seemed to indicate that no Star Trek legacy characters would join Michelle Yeoh in the made-for-streaming Star Trek movie, but the reveal that Kacey Rohl is playing a young Rachel Garrett invites speculation that other familiar characters are hidden among the cast of newcomers. Emperor Georgiou, with access to the Guardian of Forever, could be traveling through time to recruit younger versions of known Star Trek characters as fellow Section 31 operatives, whether they have previous ties to the division or not. This makes the multi-era Section 31 theory possible, while avoiding the expense of legacy Star Trek actors.

Not every Section 31 cast member needs to be a familiar name, but it’s likely Garrett isn’t the only one. Robert Kazinsky could pass for a younger Luther Sloan (William Sadler) before becoming Director of Section 31. Sven Ruygrok might be an earlier version of Malcolm Reed, with Section 31 exploring Reed’s path to disillusionment with Section 31 prior to Reed’s NX-01 posting. If Sam Richardson is a younger Joseph Sisko (Brock Peters), Joseph’s resistance to Starfleet’s security measures in DS9 season 4, episode 11, “Homefront” and episode 12 “Paraside Lost” might be because Joseph Sisko is a chef in the same way that DS9‘s Garak (Andrew Robinson) is a tailor.

How Michelle Yeoh’s Section 31 Movie Could Change Star Trek Legacy Characters Like Rachel Garrett

Strange New Worlds provides great examples of updating legacy characters.

Star Trek: Section 31 is bound to change Star Trek legacy characters like Rachel Garrett by enriching their stories with more context, like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds does. Once little more than trivia answers, previously obscure Star Trek characters come alive when recast and redefined, like Anson Mount’s Captain Christopher Pike. Even franchise legends gain added depth when recontextualized with new stories and new actors, like Ethan Peck’s Lt. Spock. Section 31 could easily give Rachel Garrett and other legacy characters the Strange New Worlds treatment, with stronger characterization and reasons for being involved in Section 31, becoming richer and more relatable for a new audience.

The addition of Rachel Garrett effectively reopens speculation about the premise of Star Trek: Section 31 after all the new faces in the casting announcement seemed to debunk theories that Section 31 would explore multiple eras of Star Trek in a unifying epic movie. Because Garrett hails from the “lost era” of Star Trek between TOS and TNG, rather than being a 23rd century contemporary of Georgiou, and is being played by newcomer Kacey Rohl, other Star Trek eras and even other Star Trek legacy characters are still fair game. The questions of when and who may only be answered after Star Trek: Section 31 premieres.