Michelle Yeoh Describes Star Trek: Section 31 as Mission: Impossible Meets Guardians of the Galaxy

Michelle Yeoh teases her return to Star Trek in Section 31 as a blend of Mission: Impossible and Guardians of the Galaxy. Yeoh is currently enjoying the spotlight cast on her by her new, critically acclaimed film. However, she’s still plotting a course back to the Star Trek universe as Philippa Georgiou, former Terran Emperor, and current Section 31 agent. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in support of Everything Everywhere All at Once, Yeoh offered a brief description of what fans should expect from the Section 31 series.

“Section 31 is that [Star Trek] universe but different,” Yeoh says. “It’s like Mission: Impossible meets Guardians of the Galaxy in space.”

Section 31 spins out of Yeoh’s role in Star Trek: Discovery. News of the series first hit in early 2019, with plans to film the pilot immediately after Discovery wrapped on its third season. However, that timing proved poor as Discovery wrapped filming season three as the world went into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 

Section 31 has been put on the back burner until one of the currently running Star Trek shows comes to a close (Star Trek: Picard will end with its third season). In February, Nicole Clemens, Paramount+’s president of original scripted series, confirmed at the TCA Press Tour that the streaming service is “still in development on Section 31.” She also teased that “there will be more news on [Section 31] soon.”

Section 31 before Paramount paused work on the show. Star Trek head producer Alex Kurtzman remains optimistic that the scripts they have already will eventually make it to production.

“We actually have a couple of [Section 31] scripts. COVID frankly, just changed the game for everybody and every show,” Kurtzman explained during a Producers Guild of America interview. “We were on a very specific schedule that then got thrown completely into whack because of COVID. Even Discovery season four started many months later than originally planned, Picard too. Everything got pushed… So we’re actually on a great track with Section 31 and I’m very optimistic about it.”

Yeoh appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as Aleta, one of the original Ravagers (the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the original Guardians of the Galaxy). Director James Gunn recently commented on the possibility of seeing those original Ravagers pop up again in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 or elsewhere.

Star Trek: Discovery is streaming now on Paramount+.