Michelle Yeoh Isn't Done Kicking Ass
In Section 31, the Oscar-winning actress is back. Here's why she'll never stop loving Star Trek.
For most mainstream Western audiences, Michelle Yeoh’s first major spy movie was the 1997 James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies. And so, in some ways, playing a reluctant, quippy spy in the new standalone streaming Star Trek movie, Section 31, is a return to those ‘90s espionage roots. But, as Yeoh points out, she’s been playing this kind of badass well before her James Bond era.
“I’ve been playing that kind of agent for a while — even when I did SuperCop with Jackie Chan!” she tells Inverse enthusiastically. “It’s the same kind of thing. You have to go undercover and get things done.”
As usual, Yeoh puts it best: She’s back and she’s getting things done.
After a very long wait — five years since her last appearance in Star Trek: Discovery's third season in 2020 — and seven years since a Michelle Yeoh Trek spinoff was announced in 2018, Section 31 is finally here. The format is a little different than what fans anticipated years ago, and the tone is decidedly a radical departure even from the edgier Discovery. But, Yeoh is insistent that you can’t “write off” her duplicitous Trek anti-hero just yet. And as the Oscar winner's sci-fi thriller drops, Inverse caught up with Yeoh to get a sense of how she views her place in the Final Frontier, what her colleagues got from working with her, and whether or not Philippa Georgiou will ever truly be gone.
Mild spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Section 31.
Michelle Yeoh in action in Section 31. (And there’s a lot of action.)
“Philippa Georgiou is very dark,” Yeoh says of her onscreen Trek alter-ego. “But you can’t just say she’s evil. Yes, it’s murder and mayhem all around her. But we know where she comes from.”
Where Georgiou comes from is the dark side of Trek, the wicked Mirror Universe, which, in the era of Discovery and The Original Series, is dominated by the Terran Empire, the moral opposite of Trek’s primary enlightened Federation. In the ‘60s, this was a one-off in which evil Spock had a goatee. But in Discovery, we got Georgiou, the Emperor of those evil humans, and the alternate universe double of a slain, heroic Starfleet captain. Back in 2017 and 2018, this was Discovery’s greatest twist: After killing off Yeoh’s Georgiou in the pilot episode, she returned mid-season as an evil version of herself. And then, she stayed around.
“I think [screenwriter] Craig Sweeny did a good job reminding me where she came from,” Yeoh says. “There was this Terran World, and what she did to become Emperor of that planet, of this universe,” Yeoh says. “She’s very intriguing on many levels.”
One of the many levels that Yeoh is talking about is the physical level. A martial arts expert, Yeoh’s cinematic combat skills are on full display in Section 31. Back in 2018, Discovery co-star Jason Isaacs told Inverse what it was like to get your ass handed to you by Yeoh, saying: “Michelle has a fluidity to [her fighting] that is beautiful.”
Seven years later, her Section 31 co-stars echo that sentiment. When asked what it was like to work with Yeoh in Section 31, Kacey Rohl — who plays future Enterprise captain Rachel Garrett — does a high-kick in the middle of our interview. “Kacey’s kick says it all,” adds Omari Hardwick, who plays the de facto leader of the group, Alok. “Working with her made me feel super empowered. Her eyes were encouraging me every day.”
Michelle Yeoh as Georgiou and Omari Hardwick as Alok; unlikely partners in Section 31.
Similar to Georgiou’s arc in Discovery Season 2, the basic story of Section 31 finds Georgiou being recruited to fight the good fight, after crossing the multiverse. Sound familiar? Well, before Yeoh starred in the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once, she was crossing the multiverse in Star Trek. This similarity is mostly superficial, but it is notable that Yeoh’s return to the Trekverse was largely her idea. When Georgiou left the 32nd century in Discovery Season 3, she stepped through the most famous Trek time portal of them all, the Guardian of Forever. Her destination was unknown and her arc, though somewhat satisfying, seemed unfinished. And even though Yeoh’s Section 31 spinoff languished in development limbo, she didn’t let it go.
“I knew this was too good of a character to just let walk through the portal,” Yeoh says. “And I went to Alex Kurtzman and said: ‘Spinoff, come on. We have to do this.’ Oh gosh, now how many years later? Almost a decade later now we have Section 31. I’ve been in the business for a while and it's not often you come across a character this diverse.”
Michelle Yeoh with Discovery co-star Sonequa Martin-Green.
Whether or not Section 31 is really the end of Yeoh’s involvement in the Star Trek mythos remains unclear. She’s already played two versions of the same character, and there’s certainly a precedent for actors to return to the franchise as various other characters or different incarnations of similar, strange, new lifeforms. (Jeffrey Combs has played nine different characters in the Star Trek franchise, while Brent Spiner has played seven, or maybe eight.)
So, because the ending of Section 31 seems to set up further clandestine adventures, it seems that Michelle Yeoh isn’t done kicking ass — not in the 21st century nor the 24th century.
In the end, Yeoh knows that her character's journey isn’t just about explosions and high kicks. She’s in touch with that Trek ethos of finding decency even in people who seem evil.
“I think that it’s all about being a human being,” Yeoh says. “When she stepped through the portal, obviously there was something in her that she could have a second chance. We all have compassion in us, and we believe that this life is always worth saving.”
