Actress Michelle Yeoh takes centre stage after lobbying for Star Trek: Discovery spin-off

Michelle Yeoh personally lobbied the creator of the Star Trek: Discovery television series (2017 to 2024) — in which she played starship captain Philippa Georgiou — to develop a spinoff for her character.

- Alison de Souza

NEW YORK — Michelle Yeoh personally lobbied the creator of the Star Trek: Discovery television series (2017 to 2024) — in which she played starship captain Philippa Georgiou — to develop a spinoff for her character.

And eight years later, it has finally paid off, with the Malaysian actress taking centre stage in Star Trek: Section 31, a television film now streaming on HBO Max and continuing her arc from the science-fiction show.

Captain Georgiou died in an early episode of Star Trek: Discovery, but a parallel-universe version of the character — the cunning and despotic Emperor Georgiou — was then brought to the main universe and took on her identity.

After reluctantly helping Starfleet fight the Klingons, she was recruited by its covert intelligence division, the morally murky Section 31—and the film sees her working with them yet again, this time to intercept a deadly bioweapon.

At the film's New York premiere in early 2025, the 63-year-old says she began thinking about doing a project like this when she and American executive producer Alex Kurtzman, 51, first worked together on Star Trek: Discovery, which he co-created.

“This is like a dream come true — I’ve been wanting to do this for so long.

“Even before Star Trek: Discovery was launched, I went to Alex Kurtzman and said, ‘Got to do the spin-off. Got to do Philippa Georgiou.’