Star Trek: Discovery premieres this Sunday on CBS. Before the series begins, lets get to know the second captain on the show, Philippa Georgiou.
Philippa Georgiou is the captain of the U.S.S. Shenzhou. Georgiou is portrayed by Michelle Yeoh. You may recognize Yeoh from the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies or the martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yeoh even had a cameo at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 as a Ravager captain.
Make It Shenzhou
Captain Georgiou has spent over a decade as captain of the Shenzhou. During her time as captain, she spent seven years mentoring First Officer Michael Burnham. Burnham was adopted by a Vulcan family in her youth after her human parents were killed, so Captain Georgiou became a surrogate mother to Burnham.
Since the show is titled Star Trek: Discovery, it’s likely the series will focus on Captain Lorca‘s ship, the U.S.S. Discovery. That means that Georgiou and her ship the Shenzhou may only feature in the first episode. If the Shenzhou does have a prominent role in the series, perhaps Georgiou will be the more level-headed yin to Lorca’s hot-tempered yang.
Since we’re talking about female captains, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Starfleet’s first female TV captain, Captain Janeway. Janeway (portrayed by Kate Mulgrew) captained the U.S.S. Voyager for seven seasons on the series Star Trek: Voyager. While there have been many female captains in Star Trek history, Janeway was the first to be given her own show.
As Georgiou, Yeoh joins the ranks of powerful women in Starfleet, this time as television’s first female captain of Chinese dissent. Yeoh is of Chinese-Malaysian heritage and her character’s background reflects that as well.
To learn more about Captain Georgiou, check out the video above.
Star Trek: Discovery airs on CBS this Sunday, September 24 in the U.S. and the next day in the U.K. on Netflix.
