How Section 31 Connects To Star Trek's Most Famous Villain

Black alert! This article contains major spoilers for "Star Trek: Section 31."

The somewhat hit-or-miss "Star Trek" series "Discovery" might have come to an abrupt end with its fifth season in 2024, but its legacy continues in the form of "Section 31." Essentially a spin-off film following (former) Emperor Philippa Georgiou's (Michelle Yeoh) exploits as a renegade in the distant reaches of space, the newest installment represents the farthest the franchise has ever felt from home. In place of a buttoned-up Starfleet captain and a crew of loyal officers, we're taken on a wild ride by a gang of misfits and possible saboteurs — all of whom look at Georgiou as little more than a means to an end. But even though this "Trek" movie feels utterly unlike any Trek before, one key character detail connects "Section 31" with the property's most famous villain of all.

Every member of the special operations team tasked with finding and "persuading" Georgiou to help them on their mission harbors secrets of their own, and none more so than new addition Alok Sahar. Played by Omari Hardwick, this antihero initially comes across as a bit of a blank slate. Sure, Alok instantly commands respect and proves to be the one agent capable of standing toe to toe with Georgiou herself. But while everyone else brings a highly-specialized set of tools to the fray, he mostly just seems like, well, a normal guy. 

However, all of our preconceptions get flipped on their head when Alok finally reveals what his entire deal really is: he's an "Augment" whose origin parallels that of a certain "Star Trek" superman named Khan Noonien Singh.

Despite spanning unfathomable distances measured in light-years, it turns out the "Star Trek" galaxy is truly a small world, after all. It was inevitable that "Section 31" would dig up some of the most obscure and long-forgotten aspects of franchise lore, primarily through a gaggle of alien species and other minor Easter eggs. But if anyone predicted that this particular movie would call back to the most famous "Trek" baddie of all, I demand that they spill the beans on next week's lottery numbers, too.

Yes, Alok Sahar's origins go all the way back to the infamous Eugenics Wars that wreaked havoc on 20th-Century Earth and ultimately gave rise to the tyrant Khan Noonien Singh. Any card-carrying Trekkie knows that Khan's extensive history was first unveiled in the classic The Original Series episode titled "Space Seed" and provided the backbone for the acclaimed 1982 film "The Wrath of Khan." ("But don't forget about 'Star Trek Into Darkness,'" the masses cry out. To them, I say: I hear you, I value your input, and I'm conveniently ignoring you.) After his initial recruiting of Georgiou goes disastrously wrong and the bad guys get away with the weapon of mass destruction known as "Godsend" (not "God's End"), Alok finally clears the air with Georgiou and comes clean about who he really is. "I'm not from this time, either," he admits, implicitly drawing parallels between the Emperor's backstory as a despot in the Mirror Universe and his own upbringing 350 years ago. One of only a few holdouts to fight back against the super-powered Augments, Alok was subjugated all the same and turned into one of them.

Since Khan himself is never actually name-dropped, we're left to connect the rest of the dots ourselves: Alok was exiled in space along with the 84 Augments loyal to Khan and (presumably) picked up by the USS Enterprise. It's left unexplained how he actually ended up with Section 31 or what happened to the rest of his Augment crew. But the mystery only makes us interested to see more of this shady character.

Spoiler alert: Alok escapes the carnage of "Section 31" mostly unscathed ... but does that necessarily mean we'll ever see him pop up in this universe again? The ending of the film very clearly sets up a potential path for a sequel, as our new-and-improved team preps for a new mission in a very familiar locale. (For more on that, keep an eye on the /Film homepage as we've got this movie covered from every possible angle.) Viewers can certainly imagine Alok continuing to lead these outcasts and embarking on secret adventures taking them all over the galaxy, with Georgiou stirring things up as she always has. The question remains, however: Is there more to Alok's story that's worth telling?

We're not calling the shots, of course, but we would answer in the affirmative. Although perhaps not the most charismatic member of the new team (Georgiou aside, that honor goes to Sam Richardson's super-smart Quasi), Alok's unique history certainly gives him a leg up over many other new additions to "Trek" lore. Nobody's advocating for an Augment-centric storyline or a prequel set amid the Eugenics Wars, mind you, but isn't it worth diving deep into just how scarred and traumatized he must be from his war-torn experiences? And considering Georgiou's similarly violent and ruthless past in the Mirror Universe, pairing up the two for more stories in the future makes a whole lot of thematic sense.

Any talk of a sequel, naturally, depends on how this newest "Trek" movie is ultimately received and how it performs upon its release. Luckily, you can stream "Section 31" right now on Paramount+.