‘Star Trek: Discovery’: Michelle Yeoh Reveals How Georgiou Uses Section 31

Michelle’s Yeoh Terran Emperor Philippa Georgiou was inducted into Section 31 in a Star Trek: Discovery deleted scene revealed at WonderCon. Now Yeoh says that’s exactly where Georgiou wants to be.

Speaking to IGN at New York Comic Con, Yeoh says there’s likely no place in the prime timeline that Georgiou would rather be.

“In the whole universe, this is probably her best toy,” Yeoh said. “Because Section 31 has all the most updated gadgets because they are the most informed, and she, as an engineer, she can hack into Section 31. And Leland thinks he’s in charge of the ship. But she finds out secrets. Because that’s what Section 31 does. It’s collected secrets all over the universe about certain people, and history, and things like that. And so, when you have [those] kind of secrets, it’s power. And for Philippa Georgiou, that’s perfect! So, if she has to be here, she wants to be in Section 31, and she wants to run it, right?”

Of course, this is all Georgiou making the best of a bad situation since she never wanted to go to the prime timeline in the first. That choice was made for her by Michael Burnham.

“I think she never wanted to leave it in the first place, but Michael truly believed that she was going to die,” said Yeoh. “Because she wasn’t sacrificing herself for Michael Burnham, she was ready to fight … And with her skills, you never know which way it would have gone, right? But I think being here in this universe, she’s finding a lot more interesting flavors to what life is about. It’s not just about killing, it’s not just about taking over the next territory, and having to watch over your shoulder the whole time. Where you don’t have friends, where you don’t trust anyone. And that is a horrible way to live. You’re lonely. You’re single. You have no choice. But here in this world, she’s beginning to feel that humanity actually could be quite interesting. And there’s hope for her.”

That said, Georgiou is still the mirror universe version of the late captain of the USS Shenzhou.

“I think it makes you who you are, because you have no choice,” concludes Yeoh. “You have to fight. And that’s the only way to survive, right? Because, if you didn’t… Michael Burnham? Dead, a long time ago. She would have never survived. It would be, okay, bye bye! And that’s the reality of what the Terran world was about. But not in this universe. In this universe, she’s beginning to realize, I don’t have to be like that. I don’t have to be killing just to get ahead. And I think that makes a big difference.”

Are you excited for the return of Section 31? Let us know in the comments!

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the U.S., through CraveTV in Canada and through Netflix in other international markets.

Star Trek: Discovery Season Two is now filming in Toronto and will premiere on January 17, 2019.