Star Trek Reveals a Surprising Starfleet Member Joining Section 31

By Jamie Lovett

A surprising character joins the ranks of the secretive organization Section 31 in Star Trek: Lower Decks' most recent episode. SPOILERS for Star Trek: Lower Decks' latest episode, "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus," follow. As a sequel to the original "Crisis Point" episode, it's no surprise that "Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus" is mostly a parody of Star Trek films. The episode sees Boimler trying to create his own holodeck movie experience that's better than the one Mariner made in the original "Crisis Point" episode. At the end of the episode, Boimler mentions that he's glad his story didn't end on a dark cliffhanger since he hates that.

Naturally, that means the episode does cut to a final scene that includes a dark cliffhanger. Earlier, Boimler learned that William Boimler had died. William was the clone of Boimler created by a transporter accident who continued to serve on the USS Titan after Boimler transferred back to the Cerritos, had died. William supposedly died from a freak gas leak in his cabin, completely random, which sends Boimler spinning out on a quest for the meaning of life.

It turns out William's "death" wasn't random after all. In the cliffhanger tease, we see him waking up and climbing out of his coffin. Someone then presents William with one of the black Starfleet combadges worn by Section 31 members. After joking about how a secret organization wearing such obvious identifiers doesn't make sense, he accepts the badge, cackling loudly as the episode ends.

Section 31 is the secret organization that works independently of the Starfleet and Federation command structure to further both organizations' goals and ensure their safety. The group first appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Star Trek: Enterprise revealed that Section 31 predates the Federation, having first protected the interests of United Earth. The group reappeared in Star Trek: Discovery and was a focus of Season 2, when Control, the group's guiding artificial intelligence, went rogue and tried to destroy all organic life.

Paramount+ has had a Star Trek: Discovery spinoff series focusing on Section 31 in development. The series was to shoot its pilot in 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. After the delay, Paramount put the series on the back burner. The Section 31 show would star Michelle Yeoh as former Terran Emperor Phillipa Georgiou, who joined Section 31 after becoming stranded in the Prime Timeline.

Star Trek: Lower Decks debuts new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.

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