If you haven’t watched the first season of Star Trek: Discovery , spoilers ahead.
IndieWire reports that Michelle Yeoh might be given her own Star Trek spin off show after her impressive turn in Season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery .
“Deadline notes that, though still in the early planning stages, the spinoff looks likely to focus on a continuation of her Discovery Season 2 adventures in Starfleet’s Section 31 division. The semi-secret and autonomous organization has been a part of ‘Trek’ lore since it was first introduced in the 1990s on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series.”
Michelle Yeoh might well bring more loyal fans with her to Star Trek: Discovery than any other actor on the cast, including the star and focus of the show. Her only competition for most fans would be Jason Isaacs. Unfortunately for both stars, they were on the wrong side of the law. And both suffered bad deaths. Yeoh’s Captain Georgiou fell in the second episode.
But don’t be so quick to cry for Captain Georgiou. After all, this is Star Trek . Dead isn’t always what you think it is. She came back with a vengeance in the mirror universe where Season 1 spent its entire second half. This time, she was the even more dynamic Emperor Georgiou.
After the season’s plot was done twisting, Georgiou found herself on our side of the looking glass. And she was set free after helping the cast of the Discovery get out of a jam. The fans were left hanging, and left wanting more.
Yeoh is such an onscreen presence that spinning her off to her own part of the Star Trek universe might be the only way to give Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham the space to shine as the central figure. Her character is interesting, But she is not the captain. She is not even the first officer anymore. She is a disgraced officer trying to earn her way back into favor. She isn’t even sure of her own place with the crew.
The ambiguity of the character’s position is bad enough. Worse is the fact that she is surrounded by actors that gobble the scenery whenever they are around. Jason Isaacs sucked the oxygen from every scene he was in. Even the secondary characters are larger than life. Tilly (Mary Wiseman) is a relative nobody on the crew. But she is the person you want to see in every scene.
Burnham does not need to be given more to do. The script keeps her plenty busy. She just needs to figure out who she wants to be. Can she forgive herself and move forward? We don’t know yet. But none of the other characters have that problem, especially Emperor Georgiou, may she live forever.