Michelle Yeoh may lead ‘Star Trek’ spinoff on CBS All Access
‘CRAZY Rich Asians’ star Michelle Yeoh is in talks to reprise her Star Trek Discovery role of Captain Emperor Georgiou for a stand- alone CBS All Access series.
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 organisation has been a part of Trek lore since it was first introduced in the 1990s on the ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’ series.
A CBS spokesperson declined comment when contacted by Deadline about the status of any Yeoh-led spinoff. When the Alex Kurtzman-run expansion was first announced in June, a Georgiou series was one that Deadline postulated.
Yeoh's availability
The first revealed casting of the Discovery series, the recruitment of Yeoh’s Georgiou into Section 31 is a storyline for the Jan 17- debuting Season 2 of Discovery that she teased online when she appeared at New York Comic- Con in October.
Yet, with those seeds planted for a Yeoh-led spinoff, the series is one of several ideas being pursued by Discovery EP Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout and David Stapf’s CBS TV Studios for the multi-project, multi-year Trekverse expansion, sources say. “My goal is that there should be a Star Trek something on all the time on All Access,” Stapf told Deadline in August.
In this particular case, a major factor is Yeoh’s own packed dance card. With projects including a not-yet- officially- greenlighted Crazy Rich Asians sequel and the overall deal and recent formation of her own production shingle with SK Global Entertainment, the actor’s availability could be limited for a commitment of a series lead.
If the Georgiou series were to make to the cut, it would join the now well- established Discovery and the upcoming and untitled Picard series. The Trekverse expansion also already includes the recently announced halfhour adult animated comedy series ‘Star Trek: Below Decks’ and the now-showing ‘Star Trek: Short Treks’.