On the heels of the news that Star Trek‘s cinematic ventures have been shelved, CBS has announced a brand new Star Trek show premiering on CBS All Access. The series will star Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou and will follow her adventures with Section 51. Yeoh will also appear in season two of Star Trek: Discovery.
This makes the fourth official Trek series and the third currently in development. Outside of Discovery, we have this series, a new Picard show, and and animated.
(Spoilers for the first season of Star Trek: Discovery to follow.)
One of the breakout characters from season one of Star Trek: Discovery was Michelle Yeoh’s Captain Georgiou. While the character from the Prime universe perished in the second episode of the show, Georgiou came back via the Mirror Universe. The first season ended with her being approached by the mysterious Section 31, a semi-secret and autonomous part of Starfleet that has been part of the canon for twenty years but has never been the focus of a series or film. Discovery writers Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt will helm the series.
Executive producer Alex Kurtzman said of the show, as reported by Deadline: “Michelle has shattered ceilings, broken boundaries, and astonished us with her grace and gravitas for decades. As a human, I adore her. As an actor, I revere her. Erika and Boey are remarkable, exciting writers who bring a fresh perspective to the world of Star Trek, and we’re all thrilled to explore the next wild chapter in the life of Captain Philippa Georgiou.”
Yeoh herself said, “I’m so excited to continue telling these rich Star Trek stories. Being a part of this Universe and this character specifically has been such a joy for me to play. I can’t wait to see where it all goes—certainly I believe it will go ‘where no WOMAN has ever gone before!’”
It’s worth noting that, now, the Star Trek franchise has two television shows focused on women of color, and if my Google-fu and Trek knowledge have not failed me, this will be the first Trek show run by two women. The importance of this series cannot be overstated.
And it means all the more with Yeoh’s accent. When the #StarTrekDiscovery trailer first came out, I wrote about what it meant to me to see it on screen, as a child of immigrants: https://t.co/SGJgezJ9sh
— Swapna Krishna is on maternity leave (@skrishna) January 14, 2019
It’s also important to note that Yeoh is an older woman, and to have more representation of badass, awesome women who aren’t just in their twenties is deeply important to dealing with ageism and stigma around women growing older in media.
Yeoh deserves her own series, and her turn as Georgiou has been stellar. I cannot wait for her to continue stealing the show as she continues to kick ass and take names as an intergalactic super-spy. There is so much to explore with her character, and the fact that this show will highlight women in front of and behind the camera means so much to me as a longtime Trek fan. Let this show live long and prosper.
(via Deadline, image: CBS All Access)
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