Warning: SPOILERS For Star Trek: Section 31Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) doesn’t appear inStar Trek: Section 31, and Burnham’s absence left a void in Emperor Philippa Georgiou’s (Michelle Yeoh) story thatStar Trek’s first streaming moviecouldn’t fill. Burnham and Georgiou both hail fromStar Trek: Discovery.Originally, Michelle Yeoh played Captain Philippa Georgiou, Commander Burnham’s superior officer on the USS Shenzhou. Yeoh returned as Georgiou’s Mirror Universe doppelganger in later inStar Trek: Discoveryseason 1.
Star Trek: Section 31reveals where Emperor Georgiou ended up after she exitedStar Trek: Discovery’s 32nd century thanks to theGuardian of Forever(Paul Guilfoyle). Georgiou touched down inStar Trek’s early 24th century"lost era,“where she quickly took over an intergalactic nightclub called the Baraam. Section 31 pulls Georgiou back into action to locate asuper weapon called the Godsendfrom the Mirror Universe that the Emperor commissioned and ordered destroyed.
Emperor Georgiou eventually learns thatSan (James Hiroyuki Liao), Philippa’s former love from when they were teenagers, planned to use the Godsend to lead the Terran Empire’s invasion of the United Federation of Planets.Star Trek: Section 31invests in Emperor Georgiou’s new paradigm as Philippa faces the sins of her past as the Terran Emperor. YetStar Trek: Section 31’s action and drama don’t obfuscate thatEmperor Georgiou is missing the counterbalance Commander Michael Burnham providedonStar Trek: Discovery.
Star Trek: Discovery’s Burnham & Her Importance To Georgiou Was Missing From Section 31
Michael Was The Ying To Philippa’s Yang
No one inStar Trek: Section 31challenges Emperor Philippa Georgiou the way Commander Michael Burnham did onStar Trek Discovery, andSection 31is worse off for it. Emperor Georgiou’s personal evolution from a murderous fascist dictator to someone willing to defend the Federation was instigated by Michael’s influence on Philippa.Burnham, a virtuous idealist who constantly sacrifices herself to honor the Federation’s lofty principles, rubbed off on Georgiou, and sparked a change in the former Terran Emperor.
Star Trek: Section 31 Movie Ending & All Twists Explained
Star Trek: Section 31 introduces a new threat to the Federation Emperor Georgiou must defeat. Here’s what Section 31’s ending means.
Emperor Georgiou came to understand just how different she was when the Guardian of Forever sent her back to the Mirror Universe inStar Trek: Discoveryseason 3. Confronted with her lifetime of evil - including the irredeemable and treacherous Mirror version of Michael Burnham who was Philippa’s adopted daughter - Georgiou turned her back on everything she once stood for as the ruler of Terra.Burnham was the better angel who sat on Georgiou’s shoulderand urged her to rise above her authoritarian core beliefs.
No one in Section 31 tested Philippa’s belief system or urged her to grow as a person like Burnham did.
Star Trek: Section 31lacks the yin/yang push-pull of Emperor Georgiou and Michael Burnham’s relationship.No one inSection 31tested Philippa’s belief system or urged her to grow as a person like Burnham did. Georgiou did the right thing once she realized San was alive and because Philippa felt responsibility for the Godsend. Yet there was no philosophical debate, no meeting of the minds, and no oil and water clashes inStar Trek: Section 31to replace the compelling tit-for-tat between Emperor Georgiou andMichael Burnham onStar Trek: Discovery.
Section 31 Tried To Make Alok Sahar Georgiou’s New Burnham
Alok Could Be An Interesting Love Interest For Burnham
To its credit,Star Trek: Section 31tried something different from Emperor Georgiou’s ersatz mother-daughter relationship with Michael Burnham. Georgiou’s foil inStar Trek: Section 31is Alok Sahar (Omari Hardwick), the leader of Section 31’s Alpha Team. Alok is the point man for Georgiou’s recruitment in Section 31, and Philippa primarily deals with Alok throughout the film. While Georgiou ridiculesSection 31’s other characters,the Emperor regards Alok more respectfully, and they begin to trust each other by the end ofStar Trek: Section 31.
Star Trek Finally Has A Heroic Version Of Khan After 58 Years
One of Star Trek: Section 31’s heroes is positioned as the long-awaited polar opposite of the genetically engineered villain Khan Noonien Singh.
Star Trek: Section 31even hints at a possible romance between Emperor Georgiou and Alok Sahar. A genetically engineered Augment from the 20th century, Alok doesn’t fear Emperor Georgiou, which is partly why he wins Philippa over to his side. There are fascinating sparks between Alok and Georgiou that Michelle Yeoh and Omari Hardwick lean into, butStar Trek: Section 31frustratingly doesn’t go deep enough with its character development. While Alok and Georgiou are a curious match inStar Trek: Section 31, they are not the more interesting diametrically opposed certitudes Phillipa and Michael Burnham were onStar Trek: Discovery.
Captain Burnham & Emperor Georgiou Can’t Meet Again In Star Trek
Georgiou Is Stuck In Star Trek’s 24th Century
Unfortunately, the wayStar Trek: Discoverydesigned Emperor Georgiou’s exit fromStar Trek: Discoverymeans thatPhilippa can never meet Captain Michael Burnham again.Star Trek: Discoveryseason 3 revealed that Emperor Georgiou was dying because her body was breaking down from the stresses of crossing over from the Mirror Universe and jumping 930 years into the 32nd century. The only cure for Georgiou was sending her back to a point inStar Trek’s timelinewhere the Prime and Mirror Universes are still aligned. Any return toStar Trek: Discovery, which is ensconced in the 32nd century, is a death sentence for Georgiou.
Star Trek: Section 31 Puts Even More Pressure On Strange New Worlds Season 3
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will premiere in 2025, and Star Trek desperately needs it to be a beloved hit after Star Trek: Section 31.
However,Star Trek: Section 31was not well-received by critics or fans. The harshly negative reviews put asequel toStar Trek: Section 31in doubt, andthis leaves Emperor Georgiou (and Michelle Yeoh continuing as her iconicStar Trekcharacter) in a lurch.Star Trek: Section 31’s 2324 time frame is too many decades afterStar Trek: Strange New Worlds'23rd centuryorStar Trek: Prodigy’s late 24th century for Georgiou to make appearances in either show. Meanwhile,Star Trek: Discovery’s next spinoff,Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, continues the 32nd century, so that timeline continues to be off limits for a Georgiou comeback.
There’s no logical way for Michael Burnham to appear in a possible Star Trek: Section 31 sequel.
Star Trek: Discoveryalso ended with season 5, with no known plans for Sonequa Martin-Green to reprise Captain Michael Burnham. The best case scenario would be for Martin-Green and Michelle Yeoh to guest star inStar Trek: Starfleet Academy, but without time travel, it would likely be Captain Burnham meeting a hologram of Emperor Georgiou. And even then, that is a lot ofStar Trekplot gymnastics to put Burnham and Georgiou back together on-screen.
Sadly, Emperor Georgiou and Michael Burnham’s best days onStar Trek: Discoveryare behind them, and there’s no logical way for Michael Burnham to appear in a possibleStar Trek: Section 31sequel.
