Posted in: Movies, Paramount+, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: section 31, star trek

Section 31: Michelle Yeoh on What Went Wrong with "Star Trek" Spinoff

Michelle Yeoh (Ne Zha 2) discusses what worked (and what didn't) with Section 31, while remaining hopeful for another Star Trek opportunity.

Any time you're continuing to world-build, especially at a franchise level, there comes an inevitability of hiccups along the way. That hasn't been made more abundantly clear with two of the biggest sci-fi franchises in pop culture, with Disney's Star Wars and Paramount's Star Trek. Just as the Mouse has had to reevaluate Star Wars' creative output cinematically, keeping several projects in prolonged development, Paramount has yet to produce a theatrical Trek film since 2016's Star Trek Beyond. While inroads have been made at the creative level for the fourth Kelvin film, none of the actors are set to film anything as of this writing. As far as the streamer front is concerned, one attempt has been made with Paramount+'s Section 31, which was a spinoff film from Star Trek: Discovery starring Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou. Originally conceived as a series, the film was written by Craig Sweeny and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, which pits the former Terran emperor in a reluctant hero role as she is recruited into Starfleet's secret organization to save the galaxy. While promoting her role in the A24 Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2, Yeoh spoke to Collider on putting into perspective Section 31's maligned response when it was released in January.

Section 31 Star Michelle Yeoh on How the Film Tried to Balance Star Trek and Section 31

When asked where Section 31 might have gone wrong, "Well, as all things go, you do your best for what you believe in. I think there were some things that we could have done better, but on the whole, I thought, Olatunde, our director, our showrunner, our writer… Because we are walking a very fine balance between Star Trek and Section 31, because we wanted to push the boundaries of what 'Star Trek: Section 31' is about, but really being so respectful to the Star Trek world," Yeoh said. "So, I think we treaded carefully. But I think visually, the characters that we built and the rapport that we had with each other were amazing. Every time I finish a movie or something, I always think, "I could have done better," so it's nothing new. That's how you always have to think to improve yourself and to hopefully be better the next time. But it's very hard to please all of your audience all of the time."

Yeoh made her Star Trek franchise debut on Discovery, initially as the more benevolent prime universe captain of the USS Shenzou. She died tragically while trying to fend off a Klingon attack, but not before drumming out her first officer, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), for mutiny. As the rare second chance presented itself, Burnham would encounter Geogriou's mirrorverse counterpart, who eventually developed a similar bond, once you look past the Emperor's genocidal record. As she became an invaluable member of the USS Discovery, fate would intervene as Terran Georgiou was having difficulty remaining phased in the Prime universe. Ultimately, the decision to go with the Guardian of Forever was made to save her life during season two.

As we get into the world of Section 31, Georgiou is embracing her life in decadence, running her nightclub in the galaxy when Rachel Garrett (Kacey Roh), the future captain of the USS Enterprise-C, recruits her along with their ragtag group to prevent universal Armageddon when they try to stop the Godsend from getting triggered. Section 31, which also stars Omari Hardwick, Sam Richardson, Robert Kazinsky, Sven Ruygrok, James Hiroyuki Liao, Humberly González, and Joe Pingue, is available on Paramount+. Ne Zha 2 is in theaters.

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