After she first played starship Capt. Philippa Georgiou and her evil Mirror Universe doppelganger on Star Trek: Discovery, Michelle Yeoh was supposed to reprise the role for Section 31, a spinoff series that would continue to follow her fan favourite character.
Following Discovery’s successful relaunch of the Trek brand in 2017, Alex Kurtzman, who oversees this latest run of films and TV shows that are a part of the long-running sci-fi franchise, announced that Yeoh’s Georgiou was getting her own series that would also expand on the black-ops organization. As it carries out covert operations for the United Federation of Planets, Section 31 has been a shadowy part of the Star Trek universe since its introduction in the 1990s, but never explored in any great detail.
But as Yeoh’s stock continued to rise with appearances in Crazy Rich Asians, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Last Christmas and the 2022 Oscar-winning multiverse drama Everything Everywhere All at Once, there were suddenly a lot more constraints on her time.
Still, the 62-year-old star couldn’t shake the idea of playing Georgiou and returning to the world of Star Trek. “She’s so badass,” Yeoh tells Postmedia over Zoom from New York City. “She has this nonchalant way of acting like, ‘I’m dealing with a bunch of idiots.’ And she doesn’t say it out loud.”
So, after being retooled by Kurtzman and screenwriter Craig Sweeny, Star Trek: Section 31 was reimagined as the franchise’s first-ever television movie, now streaming on Paramount+.
Section 31 finds the murderous Georgiou (the “good” incarnation of Georgiou died in an early episode of Discovery) running a nightclub on the outer reaches of the galaxy when she’s recruited to join the film’s titular squadron to track down a device with ties to her past that threatens life across the universe.
The film features a younger version of Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), who first appeared in an early episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, alongside team leader Alok (Omari Hardwick), a Chameloid (Sam Richardson), a Vulcan hacker (Sven Ruygrok), a Deltan “femme fatale” (Humberly Gonzalez) and a mech-enhanced operative (Rob Kazinsky) with a penchant for violence.
Director Olatunde Osunsanmi calls Section 31 “a new flavour of ice cream, another colour of the rainbow that is a fresh fit in (the Star Trek) universe.”
“Part of what makes this movie so unique is that it is tied inextricably to Georgiou. She’s got a fantastic backstory, which is epic in its breadth. It spans time and space in ways that most characters don’t have the opportunity to explore.”
Yeoh likens Section 31 to an off-the-wall spy movie with “a whole bunch of weird characters who have fallen through the cracks.”
“They’ve been around in the Star Trek world forever … They’re always in the background, lurking, because they are not supposed to be out in the open. They’re like Mission: Impossible in space! They’re like the Guardians of the Galaxy,” she says, describing the ragtag group. “They get to do things that other people go, ‘Oh no, no, no.’ But it’s, ‘Hell yeah, we’re Section 31. We’re doing it our way’ … For any fan, I think that’s the excitement. You’re going to a new frontier.”
But with Osunsanmi’s embrace of handheld camera work and heavy emphasis on action, the movie has a distinct feel that sets it apart from other new Trek entries like Strange New Worlds, Picard and the animated Lower Decks.
Coming off her recent scene-stealing role as Madame Morrible in Wicked, Yeoh says the stunt work was a cinch compared to her scenes singing opposite Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in the Oscar-nominated musical smash.
“I would do the action in Section 31, anytime. But singing?” she says, her voice trailing off in laughter.
Yeoh returns to the land of Oz later this year in the sequel Wicked: For Good. Now that she’s mastered the art of song (she sings The Wizard and I alongside Erivo in one of the film’s standout moments), she’s hoping director Jon M. Chu and choreographer Christopher Scott can work in a dance number for Madame Morrible.
“I haven’t danced yet,” she says, reflecting on a career that stretches back to the 1980s before Yeoh broke out opposite Jackie Chan in 1992’s Police Story 3: Supercop. “Every time I see John and Chris doing the amazing choreography with Jonathan Bailey and Cynthia and Ariana, I want to do that too.”
On the horizon, she’s booked parts in Avatar 4 and an upcoming Blade Runner TV series.
And of course, if Kurtzman invites her to come back for another Trek adventure she’ll gladly take his call.
“What I say to my audience is, ‘Take your phaser out and put it on fun,’” she smiles. “I would love to come back. It’s an incredible premise, to go on all these stand-alone adventures and visiting new frontiers. That’s what Star Trek: Section 31 is all about.”
Star Trek: Section 31 is now streaming on Paramount+.