michelle rodriguez star trek

The Future of ‘Star Trek’: From ‘Starfleet Academy’ to New Movies and Michelle Yeoh, How the 58-Year-Old Franchise Is Planning for the Next Generation of Fans

“I can’t believe I get to play the captain of the Enterprise.”

“Strange New Worlds” is the 12th “Star Trek” TV show since the original series debuted on NBC in 1966, introducing Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a hopeful future for humanity. In the 58 years since, the “Star Trek” galaxy has logged 900 television episodes and 13 feature films, amounting to 668 hours — nearly 28 days — of content to date. Even compared with “Star Wars” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Star Trek” stands as the only storytelling venture to deliver a single narrative experience for this long across TV and film.

In other words, “Star Trek” is not just a franchise. As Alex Kurtzman , who oversees all “Star Trek” TV production, puts it, “‘Star Trek’ is an institution.”

Without a steady infusion of new blood, though, institutions have a way of fading into oblivion (see soap operas, MySpace, Blockbuster Video). To keep “Star Trek” thriving has meant charting a precarious course to satisfy the fans who have fueled it for decades while also discovering innovative ways to get new audiences on board.

“Doing ‘Star Trek’ means that you have to deliver something that’s entirely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time,” Kurtzman says.

The franchise has certainly weathered its share of fallow periods, most recently after “Nemesis” bombed in theaters in 2002 and UPN canceled “Enterprise” in 2005. It took 12 years for “Star Trek” to return to television with the premiere of “Discovery” in 2017; since then, however, there has been more “Star Trek” on TV than ever: The adventure series “Strange New Worlds,” the animated comedy “Lower Decks” and the kids series “Prodigy” are all in various stages of production, and the serialized thriller “Picard” concluded last year, when it ranked, along with “Strange New Worlds,” among Nielsen’s 10 most-watched streaming original series for multiple weeks. Nearly one in five Paramount+ subscribers in the U.S. is watching at least one “Star Trek” series, according to the company, and more than 50% of fans watching one of the new “Trek” shows also watch at least two others. The new shows air in 200 international markets and are dubbed into 35 languages. As “Discovery” launches its fifth and final season in April, “Star Trek” is in many ways stronger than it’s ever been.

“’Star Trek’s fans have kept it alive more times than seems possible,” says Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., who executive produces the TV series through Roddenberry Entertainment. “While many shows rightfully thank their fans for supporting them, we literally wouldn’t be here without them.”

But the depth of fan devotion to “Star Trek” also belies a curious paradox about its enduring success: “It’s not the largest fan base,” says Akiva Goldsman, “Strange New Worlds” executive producer and co-showrunner. “It’s not ‘Star Wars.’ It’s certainly not Marvel.”

When J.J. Abrams rebooted “Star Trek” in 2009 — with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldaña playing Kirk, Spock and Uhura — the movie grossed more than any previous “Star Trek” film by a comfortable margin. But neither that film nor its two sequels broke $500 million in global grosses, a hurdle every other top-tier franchise can clear without breaking a sweat.

There’s also the fact that “Star Trek” fans are aging. I ask “The Next Generation” star Jonathan Frakes, who’s acted in or directed more versions of “Star Trek” than any other person alive, how often he meets fans for whom the new “Star Trek” shows are their first. “Of the fans who come to talk to me, I would say very, very few,” he says. “‘Star Trek’ fans, as we know, are very, very, very loyal — and not very young.”

As Stapf puts it: “There’s a tried and true ‘Trek’ fan that is probably going to come to every ‘Star Trek,’ no matter what it is — and we want to expand the universe.”

Every single person I spoke to for this story talked about “Star Trek” with a joyful earnestness as rare in the industry as (nerd alert) a Klingon pacifist.

“When I’m meeting fans, sometimes they’re coming to be confirmed, like I’m kind of a priest,” Ethan Peck says during a break in filming on the “Strange New Worlds” set. He’s in full Spock regalia — pointy ears, severe eyebrows, bowl haircut — and when asked about his earliest memories of “Star Trek,” he stares off into space in what looks like Vulcan contemplation. “I remember being on the playground in second or third grade and doing the Vulcan salute, not really knowing where it came from,” he says. “When I thought of ‘Star Trek,’ I thought of Spock. And now I’m him. It’s crazy.”

To love “Star Trek” is to love abstruse science and cowboy diplomacy, complex moral dilemmas and questions about the meaning of existence. “It’s ultimately a show with the most amazing vision of optimism, I think, ever put on-screen in science fiction,” says Kurtzman, who is 50. “All you need is two minutes on the news to feel hopeless now. ‘Star Trek’ is honestly the best balm you could ever hope for.”

I’m getting a tour of the USS Enterprise from Scotty — or, rather, “Strange New World” production designer Jonathan Lee, who is gushing in his native Scottish burr as we step into the starship’s transporter room. “I got such a buzzer from doing this, I can’t tell you,” he says. “I actually designed four versions of it.”

Lee is especially proud of the walkway he created to run behind the transporter pads — an innovation that allows the production to shoot the characters from a brand-new set of angles as they beam up from a far-flung planet. It’s one of the countless ways that this show has been engineered to be as cinematic as possible, part of Kurtzman’s overall vision to make “Star Trek” on TV feel like “a movie every week.”

Kurtzman’s tenure with “Star Trek” began with co-writing the screenplay for Abrams’ 2009 movie, which was suffused with a fast-paced visual style that was new to the franchise. When CBS Studios approached Kurtzman in the mid-2010s about bringing “Star Trek” back to TV, he knew instinctively that it needed to be just as exciting as that film.

“The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on ‘Next Gen,’” says Frakes, who’s helmed two feature films with the “Next Generation” cast and directed episodes of almost every live-action “Trek” TV series, including “Discovery” and “Strange New Worlds.” “Every department has the resources to create.”

A new science lab set for Season 3, for example, boasts a transparent floor atop a four-foot pool of water that swirls underneath the central workbench, and the surrounding walls sport a half dozen viewscreens with live schematics custom designed by a six-person team. “I like being able to paint on a really big canvas,” Kurtzman says. “The biggest challenge is always making sure that no matter how big something gets, you’re never losing focus on that tiny little emotional story.”

At this point, is there a genre that “Strange New Worlds” can’t do? “As long as we’re in storytelling that is cogent and sure handed, I’m not sure there is,” Goldsman says with an impish smile. “Could it do Muppets? Sure. Could it do black and white, silent, slapstick? Maybe!”

This approach is also meant to appeal to people who might want to watch “Star Trek” but regard those 668 hours of backstory as an insurmountable burden. “You shouldn’t have to watch a ‘previously on’ to follow our show,” Myers says.

To achieve so many hairpin shifts in tone and setting while maintaining Kurtzman’s cinematic mandate, “Strange New Worlds” has embraced one of the newest innovations in visual effects: virtual production. First popularized on the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” the technology — called the AR wall — involves a towering circular partition of LED screens projecting a highly detailed, computer-generated backdrop. Rather than act against a greenscreen, the actors can see whatever fantastical surroundings their characters are inhabiting, lending a richer level of verisimilitude to the show.

But there is a catch. While the technology is calibrated to maintain a proper sense of three-dimensional perspective through the camera lens, it can be a bit dizzying for anyone standing on the set. “The images on the walls start to move in a way that makes no sense,” says Mount. “You end up having to focus on something that’s right in front of you so you don’t fall down.”

And yet, even as he’s talking about it, Mount can’t help but break into a boyish grin. “Sometimes we call it the holodeck,” he says. In fact, the pathway to the AR wall on the set is dotted with posters of the virtual reality room from “The Next Generation” and the words “Enter Holodeck” in a classic “Trek” font.

“I want to take one of those home with me,” Peck says. Does the AR wall also affect him? “I don’t really get disoriented by it. Spock would not get ill, so I’m Method acting.”

I’m on the set of the “Star Trek” TV movie “Section 31,” seated in an opulent nightclub with a view of a brilliant, swirling nebula, watching Yeoh rehearse with director Olatunde Osunsanmi and her castmates. Originally, the project was announced as a TV series centered on Philippa Georgiou, the semi-reformed tyrant Yeoh originated on “Discovery.” But between COVID delays and the phenomenon of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” there wasn’t room in the veteran actress’s schedule to fit a season of television. Yeoh was undaunted.

“We’d never let go of her,” she says of her character. “I was just blown away by all the different things I could do with her. Honestly, it was like, ‘Let’s just get it done, because I believe in this.’”

If that means nothing to you, don’t worry: The enormity of the revelation that Garrett is being brought back is meant only for fans. If you don’t know who the character is, you’re not missing anything.

“It was always my goal to deliver an entertaining experience that is true to the universe but appeals to newcomers,” says screenwriter Craig Sweeny. “I wanted a low barrier of entry so that anybody could enjoy it.”

Nevertheless, including Garrett on the show is exactly the kind of gasp-worthy detail meant to flood “Star Trek” fans with geeky good feeling.

“You cannot create new fans to the exclusion of old fans,” Kurtzman says. “You must serve your primary fan base first and you must keep them happy. That is one of the most important steps to building new fans.”

On its face, that maxim would make “Section 31” a genuine risk. The titular black-ops organization has been controversial with “Star Trek” fans since it was introduced in the 1990s. “The concept is almost antagonistic to some of the values of ‘Star Trek,’” Sweeny says. But he still saw “Section 31” as an opportunity to broaden what a “Star Trek” project could be while embracing the radical inclusivity at the heart of the franchise’s appeal.

“Famously, there’s a spot for everybody in Roddenberry’s utopia, so I was like, ‘Well, who would be the people who don’t quite fit in?’” he says. “I didn’t want to make the John le Carré version, where you’re in the headquarters and it’s backbiting and shades of gray. I wanted to do the people who were at the edges, out in the field. These are not people who necessarily work together the way you would see on a ‘Star Trek’ bridge.”

For Osunsanmi, who grew up watching “The Next Generation” with his father, it boils down to a simple question: “Is it putting good into the world?” he asks. “Are these characters ultimately putting good into the world? And, taking a step back, are we putting good into the world? Are we inspiring humans watching this to be good? That’s for me what I’ve always admired about ‘Star Trek.’”

Should “Section 31” prove successful, Yeoh says she’s game for a sequel. And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.” The franchise’s gung-ho sojourn into streaming movies, however, stands in awkward contrast to the persistent difficulty Paramount Pictures and Abrams’ production company Bad Robot have had making a feature film following 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond” — the longest theaters have gone without a “Star Trek” movie since Paramount started making them.

First, a movie reuniting Pine’s Capt. Kirk with his late father — played in the 2009 “Star Trek” by Chris Hemsworth — fell apart in 2018. Around the same time, Quentin Tarantino publicly flirted with, then walked away from, directing a “Star Trek” movie with a 1930s gangster backdrop. Noah Hawley was well into preproduction on a “Star Trek” movie with a brand-new cast, until then-studio chief Emma Watts abruptly shelved it in 2020. And four months after Abrams announced at Paramount’s 2022 shareholders meeting that his 2009 cast would return for a movie directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”), Shakman left the project to make “The Fantastic Four” for Marvel. (It probably didn’t help that none of the cast had been approached before Abrams made his announcement.)

The studio still intends to make what it’s dubbed the “final chapter” for the Pine-Quinto-Saldaña cast, and Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”) is writing a new draft of the script. Even further along is another prospective “Star Trek” film written by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and to be directed by Toby Haynes (“Andor,” “Black Mirror: USS Callister”) that studio insiders say is on track to start preproduction by the end of the year. That project will serve as an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire franchise. In both cases, the studio is said to be focused on rightsizing the budgets to fit within the clear box office ceiling for “Star Trek” feature films.

Far from complaining, everyone seems to relish the challenge. Visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman says that “working with Alex, the references are always at least $100 million movies, if not more, so we just kind of reverse engineer how do we do that without having to spend the same amount of money and time.”

The workload doesn’t seem to faze him either. “Visual effects people are a big, big ‘Star Trek’ fandom,” he says. “You naturally just get all these people who go a little bit above and beyond, and you can’t trade that for anything.”

In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.

But this is a “Star Trek” show, so there do need to be starships, and Kurtzman is discussing with Davies about how one of them should look. The issue is that “Starfleet Academy” is set in the 32nd century, an era so far into the future Kurtzman and his team need to invent much of its design language.

“For me, this design is almost too Klingon,” Kurtzman says. “I want to see the outline and instinctively, on a blink, recognize it as a Federation ship.”

The time period was first introduced on Season 3 of “Discovery,” when the lead character, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), transported the namesake starship and its crew there from the 23rd century. “It was exciting, because every time we would make a decision, we would say, ‘And now that’s canon,’” says Martin-Green.

“We listened to a lot of it,” Kurtzman says. “I think I’ve been able to separate the toxic fandom from really true fans who love ‘Star Trek’ and want you to hear what they have to say about what they would like to see.”

By Season 2, the “Discovery” writers pivoted from its dour, war-torn first season and sent the show on its trajectory 900-plus years into the future. “We had to be very aware of making sure that Spock was in the right place and that Burnham’s existence was explained properly, because she was never mentioned in the original series,” says executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise. “What was fun about jumping into the future is that it was very much fresh snow.”

That freedom affords “Starfleet Academy” far more creative latitude while also dramatically reducing how much the show’s target audience of tweens and teens needs to know about “Star Trek” before watching — which puts them on the same footing as the students depicted in the show. “These are kids who’ve never had a red alert before,” Noga Landau, executive producer and co-showrunner, says. “They never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight.”

In the “Starfleet Academy” writers’ room in Secret Hideout’s Santa Monica offices, Kurtzman tells the staff — a mix of “Star Trek” die-hards, part-time fans and total newbies — that he wants to take a 30,000-foot view for a moment. “I think we need to ground in science more throughout the show,” he says, a giant framed photograph of Spock ears just over his shoulder. “The kids need to use science more to solve problems.”

Immediately, one of the writers brightens. “Are you saying we can amp up the techno-babble?” she says. “I’m just excited I get to use my computer science degree.”

After they break for lunch, Kurtzman is asked how much longer he plans to keep making “Star Trek.” 

“The minute I fall out of love with it is the minute that it’s not for me anymore. I’m not there yet,” he says. “To be able to build in this universe to tell stories that are fundamentally about optimism and a better future at a time when the world seems to be falling apart — it’s a really powerful place to live every day.”

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Chris Pine, Hugh Grant & Michelle Rodriguez Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions

Released on 03/10/2023

I'm Hugh Grant.

I'm Michelle Rodriguez.

I'm Chris Pine.

And this is the Wired Complete,

[letters clacking]

incomplete -

I got this, I got this.

And this is the Wired Complete.

[all laughing]

[jaunty music]

Why don't you have him say it, he's the best.

No, no, no, no, no.

This is the Wired Autocomplete Interview.

What made Chris Pine famous?

Star Trek, the first one.

And the first week that it came out

when there were paparazzi outside of my tiny apartment

that I was living at on Silver Lake Boulevard.

That was a very eye-opening experience.

[Michelle and crew laughing]

How is Chris Pine alive in Wonder Woman in 1984?

Oh [bleeped].

Um, um, 'cause, um -

We may have some simpler ones, do you want me to -

Yeah I know -

No, no, no hold on, hold on, hold on I know this!

I know this, I know this, I know -

There there's like a stone of um -

There's a stone of some sort.

There's a stone of some sort and it was wished upon.

And then, and then I came back.

That really clears that up.

[Michelle] Who is Chris Pine's legendary grandmother?

This is an easy one.

Anne Gwynne was my mom's mom.

Came out to Los Angeles in the 30's

and worked at Republic Pictures and Universal.

She was a scream queen and then she ended up being

she was at Bullocks at the hair department.

She was the secretary for years.

[Hugh And Chris] What are Chris Pine's fans called?

[Hugh] Yeah.

They're called Pine Nuts.

[Hugh laughing]

That's a thing?

How many Chris Pine Star Treks?

[Chris] Is that in English?

What does that mean?

[Michelle and Chris laughing]

How many Chris Pine Star Treks.

I've made three Star Treks.

I've been involved in three Star Treks, hopefully many more.

[Chris] What is Hugh Grant's favorite film, Hugh Grant?

Sound of Music.

It's a difficult situation.

I'm married to a Swedish woman who comes

from the north of Sweden, where men are really men.

They're so manly they hardly speak and they chop wood.

What they don't do is watch The Sound of Music

in the afternoons [Michelle laughing]

and sing along with the Mother Superior when she sings

Climb Every Mountain.

And they certainly don't cry when the father,

Christopher Plummer is touched by his children singing

and then joins in.

But I do cry.

But it's impeccable.

The film is impeccable.

There's not a single moment I don't love.

And I sometimes go to those, uh-

you know you can have a whole party

where you, you screen the film

and everyone dresses up as characters.

[Chris] Mm-hmm.

I think it was Elton John's 60th was like that.

I went as the Baroness.

[crew laughing]

Next question?

Okay, great.

[Chris] What is Hugh Grant's last line in Love, Actually?

Uh, unwatchable.

Oh, yes, I do know.

I think I improvised it.

So she jumps into my arms at the airport

and I say, god, you weigh a ton.

[faint laughter from crew]

[Chris] What did Hugh Grant study at Oxford?

[exhales forcefully] Well, English literature.

Fat lot of good that did me. [crew laughs]

But I didn't do much of that towards the end.

I became a socialite, really.

I went to parties and was pretentious.

Nothing much has changed.

Yeah, exactly. [Michelle laughs]

Okay, what book is Hugh Grant reading in Notting Hill?

In that nauseating moment on the bench at the end

I'm reading Captain Corelli's Mandolin

by Louis de Bernières.

[Michelle purrs]

Which was gonna be his next film.

So it's a little in-joke from Roger Michell.

God rest his soul.

And ah, passed away

[Chris] What movie was Hugh Grant and Meryl Streep in?

We made a film called Florence Foster Jenkins

in which she plays the worst singer in the world.

It was a true story.

I play her sort of, husband/manager/

possibly the man who sort of used her a bit.

You're not quite sure whether I'm good or bad.

That's the genius of my performance.

You just don't know - You're not quite sure,

everyone else is though.

[Chris laughing]

I enjoyed it and I think Meryl learned a lot

from watching me. [all laughing]

Ah, yeah. [board whooshing]

[Hugh] Well, Michelle, what kind of car do you drive?

[Chris chuckles]

[Hugh] When does Michelle Rodriguez appear in Lost?

I have no idea.

I'm a horrible calendar person.

But uh, I did in the second season I think?

I was a little disappointed they went the bible route.

I was expecting them to go maybe a little more Sci-Fi,

black hole, you know, Rosen Bridge, you know, vibes.

But they kind of went bible with it, so.

But it's okay, it was still fun.

How many Resident Evil movies is Michelle --

Two. Rodriguez in?

Two, two. [laughs]

I only did two because I died in the first one.

And they only brought me back to life once

and then killed me again. Oh.

It was a clone thing, you know.

I'm always being brought back to life in movies.

I don't know why this happens.

They always kill me.

They're like, She doesn't have a boyfriend,

we don't know what the purpose of this strong female,

you know, is -

Because they really want you back.

Fans really want you back. Afterwards.

Yeah, it's a good sign.

It is a good sign.

You know what I mean?

But you know why kill me in the first place?

They're so mean. Misogynists.

Hugh, do you have any more questions?

Show us your dead face. [crew laughing]

It's really difficult, dead.

Yeah, [crew laughs]

I'd go with open eyes.

[Chris] Oh.

[Hugh] Yeah, better. [crew laughs]

That's terrifying.

Now come back to life. [snaps]

She's gone. [crew chuckling]

Very difficult.

Okay, here we go, here we go.

[Chris] How long to play Dungeons and Dragons?

I don't know if there's like a time limit on it.

You can play for as long as you want.

And I think some campaigns go on for quite a long time.

Can you play Dungeons and Dragons?

Is that the next one?

It's the next one.

Oh right, so sorry -

[crew voicing directions]

What's the next one?

♪ Duh duh duh dun ♪

By yourself. [Michelle laughs]

You absolutely can't, I don't think you can

play Dungeons and Dragons by yourself.

Well, I think the whole thing about it's that you play

with other people and it's a jam.

It's a good time.

Let's play.

We gotta, we've got to play.

[Chris] Yeah, we should.

We're coming to the end of knowing each other

and we've never played. [Michelle laughs]

Why are we coming to the end of knowing each other?

Well, the film's coming out and -

Yeah, but there could be more films.

[Michelle laughs]

[Chris] Can you die in Dungeons and Dragons?

I think you can.

Yeah, you can.

Yeah, you can, you can die.

You can die in Dungeons and Dragons

And then you create another character.

Yeah, I've died before.

Ah, right on.

How Dungeons and Dragons works.

There's dice involved.

You have to choose a character.

Are we talking about in the game?

Yeah, the game.

[Michelle laughing]

Uh, and you go on campaigns and um...

Do you dress up?

You can, sure.

Could I be the Baroness?

[Chris] What is the plot of the new

Dungeons and Dragons movie?

We can't say the whole new plot

but essentially a gang of thieves

and a motley crew of Ruffians

managed to unleash this secret evil power.

I don't remember that bit at all.

[Chris] Yeah.

Which evil power?

He's in denial.

Well, we're not really allowed to give

away the plot anyway.

I...uh... Anyway...

[Chris and Michelle laughing]

we're delightful.

[Michelle] Yeah. Yeah.

[Chris] Okay.

[Michelle] How's Dungeons and Dragons fun?

I'll tell you what, I...

I, well, I haven't seen it yet.

I see it tonight, but um...

I, I hate all script.

I thought it was a very funny script.

I thought it was like Monty Python

but with moving bits and, um,

and you know, if you like monsters and dragons

and what's the,

there's a very good fish that eats babies or something.

What's that bit?

I may have put that wrong, I can't remember.

I'm not in that scene.

[Michelle] Does Chris Pine do BMW commercials?

[Chris] Oh my god.

That's a good question.

Do you do BMW commercials?

Yes, I do do BMW commercials.

For 12 years!

The voiceover.

What would you say?

What do I say?

I say a lot of things.

You, I say a lot of things, about the cars.

[Michelle] Does Chris Pine have a flip phone?

Uh, I do not anymore, unfortunately, have a flip phone.

I gave it up, which is very hard!

I really liked my flip phone,

but I find that

I think 2022 makes it very difficult to be analog-ed.

The main issue is that I was trying to do

group texts with my friends and,

and on my flip phone , if you had a group text going on,

you would send...

If a text came in, it wouldn't be in the group text.

It would be from every single person

[Michelle and Hugh laughing]

on the group text.

And it'd be the same text.

Long story short, it was just too difficult.

But I do miss it.

[Michelle] Is Chris Pine Shy?

I would say 50/50, Introvert, Extrovert.

[Michelle] Is Chris Pine really singing Into the Woods?

That is actually Chris Pine's voice.

Chris Pine likes to sing.

Well, what does it mean Into the Woods?

Into the Woods is a...

Oh, the, the Sondheim musical.

[Michelle] Are Chris Pine's eyes really that blue?

Chris Pine's eyes are blue.

Chris Pine's eyes are uh, are blue.

[Chris] Who does Hugh Grant play in Paddington?

I play uh...

Aw, you're in Paddington!

Yeah, Paddington 2.

The better of the two. Many people's opinion.

I'm the the baddie.

And he's a, he's a actor

A great London thespian called Phoenix Buchanan.

Who uh, turns out to be rather evil.

Anyway, children love it.

And I, well I say that, I took my children

to the very first screening ever of it

and at the end of it, they just said,

Why are you in it so much?

So, that was odd.

Then I took my ancient father.

Old, military man to... bit confused...

to the premiere at Leicester Square.

And halfway through he turned to me and he said,

Is that a real bear?

[Chris and crew laughing]

I said, Well, no dad.

'cause he's, he's talking and it's...

Anyway, he thought it was marvelous.

Actually. It's a very well reviewed film.

It's the second best reviewed film ever on Rotten Tomatoes.

[Chris] Does Hugh Grand actually sing in Music and...

[Michelle] Oh, sorry, didn't see that.

[Chris] ...Lyrics?

Yeah. So, well I do but

I'm auto-tuned beyond belief.

Actually that's not true.

I'm auto-tuned a bit, but um, not as much as some.

Drew Barrymore was in that film with me,

and I don't think she'd mind me saying,

her singing is just horrendous.

I mean, I...

I've heard dogs...

...bark better than she sings.

But having said that, once they tuned her up

she sounded way better than me.

Because she's got heart and voice and rock and roll.

Whereas I sounded like Julie Andrews

and I meant to be kind of rock and roll as well.

[Chris] Does Hugh Grant know sign language?

I did learn sign language for

Four Weddings and a Funeral.

'Cause I have these touching scenes

with my brother who's deaf in that film.

[Chris] Can Hugh Grant tap dance?

I, I tap dance a little bit at the end of Paddington 2.

[Chris] Can Hugh Grant play Te-

Oh yeah, I know.

Can Hugh Grant play tennis?

Yeah, I do play, but I'm a very, very angry player.

I mean, really horrible.

There's, I was thinking the other day

why does no one ask me to play?

And it's because I'm so unpleasant.

I imitate the other player if I think they're not

really playing proper tennis and just nudging it around.

I nudge it around as well.

Or they're playing moon balls.

I moon ball it.

A Frenchman walked off the court the other day.

He said, [using french accent]

You know if you don't want to play,

we don't have to play, uh?

No, he didn't.

Yeah, he did.

I, no, I'm not nice.

[throwing board]

Michelle, who did you play in Avatar?

Trudy Chacon, helicopter pilot.

[Hugh] Who do you play in Fast and Furious?

I play Leticia Ortez.

A kid from from uh, Los Angeles

who grew up in the race, race car scene.

And she used to live on the other side of the tracks

and now works with the government on and off.

When they're not mad at her or her team.

She gets to do really cool stuff around the world.

Are you a boxer?

I um, played a boxer.

Diana Guzman in my first feature film called Girl Fight.

It was an independent film.

It was the thesis of the director, Karyn Kusama

It basically took her six years to get it

off the ground 'cause all the producers that

she tried to make the movie with

basically wanted the guy to win at the end.

Even though the thing was loosely based

on Lucia Rijker winning a Golden Gloves fight against a guy.

She made this movie and it was fun.

So in male boxing, you're not allowed to hit

below the belt.

In female boxing, often wondered this,

are you allowed to hit a girl in the boobs?

Yeah. They wear these cups so it protects the tits.

So you can hit them?

You can. You can totally punch 'em as hard as you want.

It still seems wrong.

Right in the tits.

Yeah. Just knock 'em right there, you know?

Just keep pounding it out as much as you want.

That's awful.

I know, right?

[Hugh] Do you do your own stunts?

Only when they let me.

You know, I'm not as lucky as Tom Cruise or Jackie Chan.

The insurance throughout the years has become a lot

more responsible and as it's become more responsible

they've allowed me to do a lot less.

So I don't drive cars anymore,

I just pull them in, you know.

I don't do extraordinary fight sequences.

I just land or do the drop.

Resident Evil had some wild stuff.

Boy, the, the gun rules in Germany before they were part

of the EU, let me tell you, it was fun!

I mean, you got to shoot mp fives you know,

like no joke, at the range.

I almost took people's head off in Swat.

Sam Jackson, I remember him ducking behind me

because of the guns.

I've really loved everything I've done,

and I trained really hard for it.

With all the guns and all the fighting choreography.

[Hugh] Do you ride a motorbike?

I used to drive a Ducati, but I just sold it.

Took me a while to learn to use it,

'cause my brother lost his arm on a bike

while I was getting my license.

And so it took me like a year to get

the courage to ride a bike again.

Once I did, you know, I did some riding in, uh, Scotland.

I did some riding in, New Zealand and it was fun.

I did a couple hundred miles in both places

and I think, you know, that's enough for me.

Uh, hopefully that we were a good time, right?

Right Hugh?

What, watching this?

We could apologize.

We're sorry.

I love his honesty.

Yeah. But you'll like the film.

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Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Discovery spin-off is now a Section 31 movie event

The Oscar winner is officially returning to Star Trek.

Michelle Yeoh is officially returning to Star Trek for her own spin-off, only it'll be slightly different than what fans were expecting.

In 2019, the olden days when Paramount+ was called CBS All Access, the Trek gate-keepers announced that Yeoh would be returning to the franchise for a Section 31 spin-off series focused on her Star Trek: Discovery character Philippa Georgiou. That project has been in development all this time, but it now stands as a movie event coming to Paramount+.

Philippa Georgiou led multiple lives on Star Trek: Discovery , mainly that of Starfleet captain of the Shenzhou. That version of Philippa was killed off the show, but an alternate universe version of her from the mirror dimension persisted: the emperor of the Terran Empire, who became an immediate fan favorite.

Star Trek: Section 31 will focus on Yeoh's Emperor Philippa Georgiou as she joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, while facing the sins of her past. Could a certain bald-headed golden statue have helped make this a reality?

"I'm beyond thrilled to return to my Star Trek family and to the role I've loved for so long," the newly minted Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar winner says in a statement. " Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of Star Trek launched."

"To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that's shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams," she continues. "We can't wait to share what's in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!"

Olatunde Osunsanmi, a co-executive producer and director on Star Trek: Discovery , will helm Star Trek: Section 31 , which was written by Craig Sweeny ( Medium ). The project is set to start filming later this year.

"All the way back in 2017, before the first season of Star Trek: Discovery had even aired, Michelle had the idea to do a spin-off for her character, Philippa Georgiou," executive producer Alex Kurtzman says. "She broke new ground as one of the first two women on screen in the pilot to usher in a new age of Trek , and now, six years later, Star Trek: Section 31 finally arrives on the heels of her latest groundbreaking win. Everyone on Team Trek couldn't be more thrilled to have our legendary friend return home to us as we expand our storytelling into new and uncharted corners of the Trekverse. Long live Emperor Georgiou; long live Michelle Yeoh!"

Yeoh costarred with Sonequa Martin-Green on Star Trek: Discovery starting in season 1, which premiered in 2017. The show is now heading into its fifth and final season , set to debut in 2024. Star Trek: Picard , the Patrick Stewart-led offshoot, is also ending with its third season, concluding this week. However, Section 31 joins the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series in the next phase of Trek.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Lower Decks were also renewed for more seasons.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly 's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series will beam up a new generation of cadets
• Star Trek: Picard 's latest Next Generation cameo was all about 'doing a paranoia thriller'
• Star Trek: Discovery will end with season 5, Sonequa Martin-Green calls it a 'mind-blowing journey'

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Michelle Rodriguez (I)

IMDbPro Starmeter Top 5,000 178

• Contact info
• 13 wins & 31 nominations

• TSgt. Elena Santos

• Chris Sanchez
• Letty Ortiz
• Pre-production

• Supervisor Garrett

• Letty (voice)

• Gelda (uncredited)

• Michelle Rodriguez

• SmurfStorm (voice)

• Ms. Ferguson

• Frank Kitchen

• executive producer
• performer: "Juice of the Vine"
• In-development projects at IMDbPro

Personal details

• Michelle Rodríguez
• 5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
• July 12 , 1978
• San Antonio, Texas, USA
• Parents Carmen Milady Pared Espinal
• Relatives Raul (Half Sibling)
• Other works Music video: Appeared in Ja Rule 's video "Always on Time". She was the woman in the hot air balloon at the end of the video.
• 4 Interviews
• 6 Pictorials
• 24 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

• Trivia Didn't have a driver's license before filming The Fast and the Furious (2001) and had to obtain one during her training for the car chase sequences.
• Quotes I think empathy is a beautiful thing. I think that's the power of film though. We have one of the most powerful, one of the greatest communicative tools known to man. It's a form of communication and it's gonna reach you in a way of growth - most of the time.
• Trademark Often plays tough, yet, handy characters
• Salaries Widows ( 2018 ) $750,000

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Michelle Yeoh to reprise role in upcoming Star Trek film

Paramount+  is officially moving forward on a “ Star Trek : Section 31” project starring  Michelle Yeoh , but it will now be an event film instead of a series, Variety has learned.

It was first reported that a Section 31 series with Yeoh was in development  back in 2019 . In the film, Yeoh will reprise the role of Emperor Philippa Georgiou, whom she began playing during Season 1 of “Star Trek: Discovery.”

Per the official logline, “Emperor Philippa Georgiou joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past.” Rumors of a Yeoh-led Section 31 project began upon the conclusion of Season 1 of “Discovery,” after a deleted scene revealed Georgiou being approached by a member of the shadowy intelligence organization on the Klingon homeworld.

“I’m beyond thrilled to return to my ‘Star Trek’ family and to the role I’ve loved for so long,” said Yeoh. “Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of ‘Star Trek’ launched. To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that’s shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams. We can’t wait to share what’s in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!”

Production will begin on the film later this year.

The news comes about a month after  Yeoh won the Academy Award  for best actress for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” making her the first Asian person to win the award. She also picked up wins at the SAG Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and the Golden Globes for her work in the film. She is also known for her roles in films like “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 1 & 2,” “Memoirs Of A Geisha,” the James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies,” and “Sunshine.”

She is repped by Artist International Group and Cohen & Gardner.

“All the way back in 2017, before the first season of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ had even aired, Michelle had the idea to do a spin-off for her character, Philippa Georgiou,” said executive producer Alex Kurtzman. “She broke new ground as one of the first two women on screen in the pilot to usher in a new age of ‘Trek,’ and now, six years later, ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ finally arrives on the heels of her latest groundbreaking win. Everyone on Team ‘Trek’ couldn’t be more thrilled to have our legendary friend return home to us as we expand our storytelling into new and uncharted corners of the Trekverse. Long live Emperor Georgiou; long live Michelle Yeoh!”

Craig Sweeny (“Limitless,” “Medium”) serves as writer and executive producer on “Star Trek: Section 31.” Olatunde Osunsanmi (“Star Trek: Discovery,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth”) will direct and executive produce. Yeoh will executive produce in addition to starring. Alex Kurtzman and Aaron Baiers executive produce via Secret Hideout. Rod Rodenberry and Trevor Roth of Rodenberry Entertainment also executive produce along with Frank Siracusa and John Weber. CBS Studios will produce. Sweeny, Osunsanmi, and Kurtzman are all currently under overall deals at CBS Studios.

“For years, we’ve been looking forward to Michelle Yeoh one day returning to ‘Star Trek,’” said David Stapf, president of CBS Studios. “Her powerful performance as Captain and Emperor Georgiou was a pivotal moment for the return of the franchise, and her portrayal resonated with fans around the world in a multitude of ways. We couldn’t be prouder to join forces with Michelle once again as we continue to explore the ‘Star Trek’ universe, celebrate its legacy and chart a course for the future of the franchise.”

Section 31 was first introduced in the “Star Trek” series “Deep Space Nine.” The organization has since been featured in the “Star Trek” shows “Enterprise,” “Discovery,” “Lower Decks,” and “Picard,” as well as the film “Into Darkness.”

“We’re thrilled that ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ will be the next title in our ‘Star Trek’ universe,” said Domenic DiMeglio, chief marketing officer and head of data at Paramount Streaming. “Michelle Yeoh is an incomparable talent — she brought Emperor Georgiou to life in such an incredibly fun and nuanced way that the character immediately became a fan favorite. We’re so thrilled to welcome Michelle back to the ‘Star Trek’ and Paramount+ family and can’t wait for fans to see what this special movie event has in store.”

The film is the latest development of the next generation of the revamped “Star Trek” era at Paramount+. The series finale of “Star Trek: Picard” is set to debut on the streamer this week, with the main cast of “Next Generation” reuniting for the show’s third and final season. It was announced in March that a  Starfleet Academy show  has been ordered to series.

Beyond that, it was announced that both “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks” had been  renewed ahead of their new season premieres  and that “Star Trek: Discovery”  will end with its fifth season in 2024 .

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Michelle Yeoh To Reprise Emperor Philippa Georgiou In ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Movie For Paramount+

By Lynette Rice

Lynette Rice

Senior TV Writer

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Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh is officially returning to Starfleet.

Paramount+ has greenlit Star Trek: Section 31 , an original movie for the streamer. Yeoh will reprise her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, a character she first played in Star Trek: Discovery ‘s first season.

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Production on the movie from CBS Studios will begin later this year.

“I’m beyond thrilled to return to my Star Trek family and to the role I’ve loved for so long,” said Yeoh. “Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of Star Trek launched. To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that’s shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams. We can’t wait to share what’s in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!”

“All the way back in 2017, before the first season of Star Trek: Discovery had even aired, Michelle had the idea to do a spin-off for her character, Philippa Georgiou,” said executive producer Alex Kurtzman in a statement. “She broke new ground as one of the first two women on screen in the pilot to usher in a new age of Trek, and now, six years later, Star Trek: Section 31 finally arrives on the heels of her latest groundbreaking win. Everyone on Team Trek couldn’t be more thrilled to have our legendary friend return home to us as we expand our storytelling into new and uncharted corners of the Trekverse. Long live Emperor Georgiou. Long live Michelle Yeoh!” 

“For years, we’ve been looking forward to Michelle Yeoh one day returning to Star Trek,” added David Stapf , president of CBS Studios. “Her powerful performance as Captain and Emperor Georgiou was a pivotal moment for the return of the franchise, and her portrayal resonated with fans around the world in a multitude of ways. We couldn’t be prouder to join forces with Michelle once again as we continue to explore the Star Trek universe, celebrate its legacy and chart a course for the future of the franchise.”

Written by Craig Sweeny and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, Section 31 is executive produced by Alex Kurtzman, Craig Sweeny, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth and Michelle Yeoh, and is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.

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Michelle Yeoh to Reprise Role from 'Star Trek: Discovery' in New 'Star Trek' Movie: 'Dream Come True'

Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Discovery character Emperor Philippa Georgiou will lead Star Trek: Section 31

Michelle Yeoh is returning to Star Trek !

On Tuesday, Paramount+ announced that it is moving forward with a new Star Trek original movie titled Star Trek: Section 31 starring Academy Award winner Yeoh, who will reprise her Star Trek: Discovery role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou.

Yeoh, 60, began playing the character in Discovery 's first season on the streaming service back in 2017. She appeared in 24 episodes of the series as Georgiou, who returns to the Star Trek universe in the new movie to "join a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and face the sins of her past," according to an official synopsis of the project.

"I'm beyond thrilled to return to my Star Trek family and to the role I've loved for so long," Yeoh said of the upcoming film in a statement Tuesday. "Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of Star Trek launched."

Yeoh added in her statement that the spinoff movie for her character "is a dream come true in a year that's shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams."

"We can't wait to share what's in store for you," Yeoh shared. "Until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!"

In a press release shared Tuesday, Star Trek: Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman said that Yeoh first presented an idea to create a spinoff based on her character before the series began airing back in 2017.

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"She broke new ground as one of the first two women on screen in the pilot to usher in a new age of Trek , and now, six years later, Star Trek: Section 31 finally arrives on the heels of her latest groundbreaking win," Kurtzman said in a statement, noting Yeoh's recent Oscar victory for her role in 2022's Everything Everywhere All at Once .

RELATED VIDEO: Michelle Yeoh Revisits Her Most Iconic Roles: From 'Bond Girl' to Crazy Rich Asians and Star Trek

"Everyone on Team Trek couldn't be more thrilled to have our legendary friend return home to us as we expand our storytelling into new and uncharted corners of the Trekverse," he added.

Olatunde Osunsanmi will direct Star Trek: Section 31 from a script written by Craig Sweeny, according to a release. Both filmmakers currently work on the Discovery Paramount+ series. Production is expected to begin later this year.

Yeoh recently brought her Oscar trophy to her home country Malaysia to share her awards season victory with her family after Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven Oscars in March , including Best Picture.

In addition to the new Star Trek movie, Yeoh will voice the Transformers character Airazor in June's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and is set to play Madame Morrible in the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked .

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Michelle Yeoh is beaming back into Star Trek

The oscar-winning actress is returning for a new film based on her vaguely villainous character from star trek: discovery..

By Alex Cranz , managing editor and co-host of The Vergecast. She oversaw consumer tech coverage at Gizmodo for five years. Her work has also appeared in the WSJ and Wired.

Share this story

Michelle Yeoh just won an Oscar and is now back to making movies. This time, she’ll be returning to her Star Trek: Discovery character for a new film based on the Star Trek black ops organization known as Section 31.

Star Trek: Section 31 follows her character, the Emperor Philippa Georgiou. And if you are not very familiar with Star Trek , you might be confused. There are Emperors? Yes, yes, there are. Settle in, folks, as I explain the history of this character.

Philippa Georgiou was the original captain of the ship Shenzhou but was killed in the pilot episode, and her death creates much of the friction for the surviving characters in the first season. Later in the season, her “evil” Mirrorverse counterpart shows up. The Mirrorverse is a universe like our own, only where people often have questionable facial hair choices and often are the moral opposites of their main universe counterparts.

• You are not prepared for the final season of Star Trek: Picard

So where one Philippa had been a kind and maternal captain who loved her crew dearly, the other was a ruthless (and maternal) Emperor who ate sentient creatures, took slaves, and generally was a terrible human being. The Emperor then found herself stranded in the primary Star Trek universe onboard the Discovery and slowly came around to being less of a monster — but still a prickly character next to the genuinely good and kind crew of the ship.

The reaction to her character was good enough that rumors popped up that Paramount Plus and Yeoh were developing a spinoff series about her character joining Section 31, which is kind of the Star Trek equivalent of the CIA. In 2019, the series was confirmed to be in development . Then there was silence, and with the success of shows like Picard , which are set in a very different time period, it was easy to assume that the series might have died a quiet death in development hell.

But Section 31 is still happening! Only it will be a film instead of a TV series. This will be the first film based on characters from Star Trek: Discovery and the first Star Trek film to be based on a single character rather than an entire crew. While details on the plot are scarce so far, today’s announcement suggests that Yeoh’s Emperor will be reckoning with her villainous past — think Xena in space.

“Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of ‘Star Trek’ launched,” Yeoh said in a press release. “To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that’s shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams. We can’t wait to share what’s in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!”

Star Trek: Section 31 will appear on Paramount Plus at a later date and begins production later this year.

Correction April 18, 12:25pm ET: An earlier version of this article stated that Philippa Georgiou was the captain of the Discovery, not the Shenzhou. I deeply regret this error.

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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves review: thrilling franchise starter almost rolls a Natural 20

Chris pine, michelle rodriguez, and regé-jean page star in an enjoyable adaptation of the classic tabletop rpg that even non-gamers will like.

At some point in my youth I heard the old cliché that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” For me—and probably for a great many other dorks—this was a moment of great clarity. You see, as a veteran of many noble campaigns in far-flung realms, I was already familiar with the concept of a Beholder—a giant, nefarious living eyeball (also known as an Eye Tyrant or Sphere of Many Eyes) from the original Monster Manual , Gary Gygax’s hardbound collection of foes one might face in the world of (what was then called) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons . Lo! How this fiendish creature dwelled in my nightmares, ready to pounce should I ever let down my guard!

With great excitement, though, I proclaim that l’essence du Beholder is redolent in the thrilling and enjoyable Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves . The entire picture exudes the wide-eyed (some might say immature) wonderment found around slobbering beasts and magic spells. No, you absolutely do not need to know a thing about D&D to like this. But if you have a familiarity with the Forgotten Realms, the 1980s D&D cartoon show , or if you’re just a Led Zeppelin fan, there’s something here for you. Otherwise, there’s too much going on to ever feel left out.

Chris Pine, Hollywood’s finest Chris, is in terrific form as the dopey bard-adventurer Edgin Darvis, leader of a clan of delightful thieves. At his side is Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) a kick-ass barbarian. We meet them already imprisoned after a botched robbery attempt. They aren’t bad guys, per se , but they could use (and will get!) an ethical course-correction during the film. Along the way, they team up with a sorcerer (Justice Smith) and a druid (Sophia Lillis, who will make every young nerd’s heart float), and encounter various rogues, wizards, paladins, undead warriors, obese dragons, displacer beasts, illithids, mimics, and lurkers .

What’s key—and why this movie really gets it—is that the world is more important than the story itself. D&D has always been a case of the singer, not the song—the journey as much as the destination. It’s a game system people have loved for decades, but without need of a board or a monitor. It’s bullshitting with your friends. And this movie is two hours of glorious bullshit.

The film is written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daly, whose previous enjoyable outings include the scripts for Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 , Spider-Man: Homecoming , and writing-directing Game Night . One of the brilliant touches here is that our band keeps getting distracted by increasingly zany side quests. The primary goal is to rescue Edgin’s daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman) from a castle tower. But to do that, they need a magic slate, which rests in a vault, but to get into the vault they need a charmed helmet, but to get the helmet they must engage in some necromancy, but to do that … well, it goes on and on.

Suffice to say, with this much buildup, the final battle needs to have some oomph, and it all comes together in clever and gratifying ways. Visually, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is defiant in its determination to show action in daylight, and to maintain a buoyant color palette. (Even The Underdark isn’t too dark!) When the effects-heavy sequences happen, you can actually see them, and that includes shots of a very entertaining fire-breathing winged creature who, like many of us, ought to renew his gym membership.

But the movie does have more to it than spells and beasts. Like every action-adventure property these days it’s really about family. But the cast here is so charming that it’s hard to roll your eyes too much. Indeed, the final scenes, in which our leader must make a difficult choice, are surprisingly effective. I won’t go so far as to say tears were streaming down my eyes, but it all comes together in a way that, while you can still see it a mile away, doesn’t feel too corny.

Since the release of the (spectacular) Star Trek Beyond in 2016 there’s been talk of bringing Chris Pine back to the bridge of the USS Enterprise. With the release of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, that’s less of an issue now. He’s found a new game to play.

Michelle Rodriguez

Actress • Writer • DJ

Birth date: july 12, 1978, age: 45 years old, birth place: bexar county, texas.

In a karmic twist of fate, Michelle Rodriquez's signature roles came in productions whose titles eerily sum up her Hollywood career. Between her striking debut in the female boxing movie "Girlfight" (2000), her turn as Vin Diesel's gearhead girlfriend in the action film "The Fast and the Furious" (2001), and her role as a tough ex-cop on the hit TV series "Lost" (ABC, 2004-10), the titles mirrored her hardened personality and sometimes troubled personal life. She was a raw, talented actress who found the Byzantine maze of Hollywood almost as hard to navigate as the American legal system. Her various arrests for everything from assault to drunk driving temporarily sidetracked her promising career and landed her in jail, but her fighting spirit would not allow her to go down for the count.

Mayte Michelle Rodriguez was born on July 12, 1978, in Bexar County, TX into a complicated home life. Her mother was from the Dominican Republic and a devout Jehovah's Witness; her father was a Puerto Rican who had served in the military and fathered several children with other women. When the marriage broke up, Rodriguez left Texas and moved with her mother and two older twin brothers to the Dominican Republic when she was nine. Once there, she chafed under her mother's strict religious beliefs, so joined her father in Puerto Rico when she was 11 years old. Rodriguez rebelled again, getting kicked out of several schools before finally joining her mother and brothers in Jersey City, NJ. Although a voracious reader and clearly intelligent, she hated high school and dropped out at age 15. It did not matter. She was going to get kicked out anyway.

After Rodriguez got her GED, she drifted, attending a business school before quitting yet again. Much of it was due to boredom. She started hanging out with a rough crowd, got in fights. But at the same time, she read a lot of books, watched a lot of movies, and formulated vague notions of becoming a writer, director or actress. Her striking looks - a blend of Latina femininity mixed with a street tough edge - landed her extra work in a few movies, but like countless aspiring actresses with no connections to Hollywood, she was still looking for her big break.

Amazingly she got it. Rodriguez read an ad in Backstage magazine, advertising for a hard, troubled Latina who could box. She knew immediately she didn't need to act the part; she was the part. Rodriguez beat out over 350 other applicants to win the part of Diana Guzman in the low-budget independent film "Girlfight." Although a complete unknown, the director, Karyn Kusama, saw in Rodriguez a toughness and attitude that could not be faked. Although she had never applied herself to school, Rodriguez embraced the physical challenges to get in shape for the role - which included four and a half months of intense training at the famous Gleason's gym in Brooklyn. Her boxing skills were as convincing as her acting. Not only did Rodriguez win several prestigious acting awards, including an Independent Spirit Award and National Board of Review award, but she was also asked by a boxing promoter to turn pro.

Instead of pursuing a boxing career, she used the visibility that "Girlfight" gave her to break into the Hollywood mainstream, co-starring with Danny Glover in a Showtime made-for-TV drama called "3 A.M." (2001). She then catapulted into her first big budget studio movie, "The Fast and the Furious." The story - set in the underworld subculture of Los Angeles street racers - was not as critically acclaimed as "Girlfight," but it made a killing at the box-office and established Rodriguez as a convincing female action hero. She followed up with yet another "tough-as-nails" character - Rain Ocampo, a soldier in body armor battling flesh-eating zombies in the feature video game adaptation "Resident Evil" (2002). Her physicality and natural beauty were next put to use in the female surfing flick "Blue Crush" (2002), which provided Rodriguez to visit Hawaii and wear a bikini while riding some big waves, but she was soon back to wearing body armor and shooting a big gun as an L.A. cop in the mega budget popcorn movie "S.W.A.T." (2003).

While Rodriguez was building up her resume, she was also building up her rap sheet. In March 2002, Rodriguez was arrested for assault after getting in a fistfight with her roommate in Jersey City. The charges were later dropped, but her legal problems continued. In November 2003, she pleaded no contest in Los Angeles to charges of hit-and-run, drunken driving, and driving with a suspended license. She served 48 hours in jail, performed community service, and was placed on probation for three years. Her career stalled and a troubling trend became clear - the young actress who had played a volatile boxer and reckless street racer in the movies seemed to be living those roles in real life.

While Rodriguez's film career seemed to go on probation right along with her, she found work as a voice actor in several popular video games. Fans who loved her work in violent, adrenaline-fueled movies now got their fix as she lent her Latina accent to "True Crime: Streets of LA" (2003), "Driv3r" (2004), and "Halo 2" (2004). For Rodriguez, an avid video game player, the work sustained her until Hollywood offered her another film role. Perhaps not surprisingly, that role came in another video game adaptation, "BloodRayne" (2005). Rodriguez had only a supporting role in the story of a half-human, half-vampire avenger, so she was ultimately not blamed for the movie's dismal box-office performance and reviews. But without any promising parts being offered her, she did what many movie actors do when their careers are sputtering: TV.

From a professional standpoint, it was a smart move. Joining the ensemble cast of the hit show "Lost" during the second season, Rodriguez resurrected her career. She also got to return to Hawaii, where she had enjoyed a wonderful experience during the filming of "Blue Crush." However, her personal problems followed her across the ocean. In 2005, Honolulu police arrested her several times for speeding. Finally, she was pulled over and busted for driving under the influence on Dec. 1, 2005. She pleaded not guilty at her arraignment but the damage was done. The tabloids mocked her as "The Lost Girl" and it was not long before she was written off the show. Rodriguez and the producers claim her exit had been planned before the season began and her arrest was just coincidental.

Despite any personal shortcomings, her solid work on "Lost" had rekindled the interest of film producers. Rodriguez had wanted to get back to work, but her first audition was for the Los Angeles County Court System. Since the Hawaii incident was a violation of her Los Angeles probation, Rodriquez was sentenced to 60 days in jail, a 30-day alcohol rehabilitation program, and 30 days of community service. Because of overcrowding, she was released from jail the same day she entered it. She used her freedom to take on a role as a World Trade Organization protestor in the film "Battle in Seattle" (2007). A devoted animal rights and environmental activist, it was a movie that showcased Rodriguez's commitment to humanitarian causes.

Unfortunately, she did not show the same commitment to her legal situation. In October of 2007, Rodriguez was sentenced to 180 days in jail for violating her probation by not completing her community service and alcohol education program. The judge ordered her to remain in jail for the entire sentence. Rodriguez publicly admitted her mistake and apologized to her fans. Whether this latest setback knocked out her acting career remained to be seen, but Michelle Rodriguez was always a fighter, through her difficult upbringing, her breakout role as a female boxer, and her more recent role as an environmental activist.

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Michelle Yeoh’s ‘Star Trek’ Movie Adds 7 To Cast, Including Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, Sam Richardson, As Production Begins

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

Production is underway on Star Trek: Section 31 , Paramount+’s upcoming original movie starring Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh. Rounding out the cast are Omari Hardwick ( Power ), Kacey Rahl ( Hanniba l), Emmy winner Sam Richardson ( Ted Lasso ), Sven Ruygrok ( One Piece ), Robert Kazinsky ( Pacific Rim ), Humberly Gonzalez ( Ginny & Georgia ) and James Hiroyuki Liao ( Barry ) .

Yeoh reprises her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, a character she first played in  Star Trek: Discovery ‘s first season, who joins a secret division of Starfleet. Tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, she also must face the sins of her past.

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Deadline first  revealed  that Yeoh was in talks for the project in 2018 and it was  later confirmed in 2019  that it was in development as a series at CBS All Access. It was then retooled as a  streaming  movie for Paramount+.

“And we’re off to the races! Thrilled to report principal photography has started on  Star Trek: Section 31 ,” said executive producer Alex Kurtzman. “We welcome our incredible cast of new characters as they join our beloved Michelle Yeoh on her next wild adventure across the ‘Trek’ universe.”

Written by Craig Sweeny and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi,  Star Trek: Section 31  is executive produced by Alex Kurtzman, Craig Sweeny, Aaron Baiers, Olatunde Osunsanmi, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry , Trevor Roth and Michelle Yeoh and is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.

Star Trek: Section 31   will stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and in all international markets where the service is available. The movie is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

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Report: Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore planned significant payroll cuts with Timberwolves

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Michelle Yeoh’s Star Trek spinoff gets official filming date

Paramount+ has given the green light for Star Trek: Section 31 to start filming in January, Comicbook.com reported.

Star Trek: Section 31 will star Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh, reprising her role in the movie as Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery. Hollywood North Buzz set the start date in Toronto as Jan. 29 and the expected filming end date is March 13.

Michelle Yeoh IS Emperor Philippa Georgiou

The Paramount+ press release stated, “Emperor Philippa Georgiou, joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past.” The movie will be produced by CBS Studios.

In a statement regarding the film’s announcement, Yeoh said, “I’m beyond thrilled to return to my Star Trek family and to the role I’ve loved for so long.”

“Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of Star Trek launched. To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that’s shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams. We can’t wait to share what’s in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!” she added in the statement.

Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Discovery’s executive producer said, “All the way back in 2017, before the first season of  Star Trek: Discovery  had even aired, Michelle had the idea to do a spin-off for her character, Philippa Georgiou. She broke new ground as one of the first two women on screen in the pilot to usher in a new age of Trek, and now, six years later,  Star Trek: Section 31  finally arrives on the heels of her latest groundbreaking win. Everyone on Team Trek couldn’t be more thrilled to have our legendary friend return home to us as we expand our storytelling into new and uncharted corners of the Trekverse. Long live Emperor Georgiou; long live Michelle Yeoh!”

Star Trek: Section 31’s screenplay was written by Craig Sweeny and will be directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. Yeoh, Kurtzman, Sweeny, Osunsanmi also serve as executive producers on the film. Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor are also EPs. The film is produced with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment.

Section 31: From movie to series

Originally, the film was conceived as series spinoff of Discovery, with Yeoh as lead. The pilot episode was supposed to shoot immediately after Star Trek: Discovery’s season three wrapped up. However, the COVID-19 wreaked havoc on those plans and Paramount+ decided to turn it into a movie.

Yeoh described the movie, when it was supposed to be a series, as “Mission: Impossible meets Guardians of the Galaxy.” She would know, seeing as former Bond girl did a cameo in 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

The post Michelle Yeoh’s Star Trek spinoff gets official filming date appeared first on ClutchPoints .

We Now Know Exactly When Michelle Yeoh’s Star Trek Movie is Taking Place

Section 31 will feature at least one captain of a starship called Enterprise.

Michelle Yeoh is back in the Final Frontier. As the duplicitous Mirror Universe character Philippa Georgiou, Yeoh starred in three seasons of Star Trek: Discovery , but later in 2024 she’ll return in her own movie — Section 31 . Named for the clandestine espionage organization within Starfleet, Section 31 has just been described as a “spy thriller” by a new article in Variety . We’ve also got a new image of Yeoh as Georgiou, seemingly integrating someone with some very cyberpunk-looking gear. But the big news for Trek fans is something even bigger. It seems like we finally know when exactly Section 31 will be set.

Here’s why the revelation of a very specific Starfleet captain reveals roughly where we can expect Section 31 to take place.

Section 31 will feature an Enterprise captain

Kacey Rohl in 2019. In Section 31 , she’ll be the first person to play Rachel Garrett since Tricia O’Neil originated the role in 1990’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise.”

As reported by Adam B. Vary for Variety , the character of Rachel Garrett will appear in Section 31 and be played by actress Kacey Rohl. In the larger Trek canon, Rachel Garrett is famous for being the captain of the USS Enterprise-C which was destroyed fighting the Romulans in the year 2344. At that point, Captain Garrett (as played by Tricia O'Neil) was a woman in her mid-forties. But, in Section 31 it seems we’ll be meeting “...a young Rachel Garrett.”

This one detail all but confirms that at least one aspect of the storyline for Section 31 will have to take place sometime before 2344, likely in the 2320s or 2330s. Which, believe it or not, is a largely undocumented and unexplored period of the larger Star Trek timeline.

A 24th-century TNG prequel

Captain Garrett’s time on the Enterprise-C is largely untold. But what happened before that is even hazier.

Because Section 31 features a younger version of Rachel Garrett, this means that at least part of the movie will be a full-on prequel to the era of The Next Generation . And, interestingly, this period of Trek history, from roughly the end of the TOS -era movies, to the start of TNG is a roughly 70 year-gap. The Undiscovered Country and the first part of Generations take place in 2293. The first TNG episode takes place in 2364. During this gap, a lot of Trek history happens, including the Federation’s war with the Cardassians, the finalization of peace with the Klingons, and Jean-Luc Picard’s tenure as Captain on the USS Stargazer .

But if Section 31 takes place in the 2320s, even some of those events are still in the future. If you take a hardcore deep-dive onto the ever-reliable Star Trek wiki, Memory Alpha, you’ll find that there are almost no notable events in the 2320 s at all, other than Jean-Luc Picard starting his studies at Starfleet Academy. When Georgiou was sent back in time in Discovery Season 31 by the Guardian of Forever, we were told that it would be close to a time period in which the Prime Universe and Mirror Universes had yet to fully drift apart.

Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) steps into the Guardian of Forever in Discovery Season 3.

And yet, by putting Georgiou in the early 24th century, the new movie will likely sport a lot of retro Star Trek aesthetics. We know Starfleet officers were still rocking the “monster maroon” uniforms first introduced in The Wrath of Khan, and Strange New Worlds Season 1 even gave us a taste of what a modern redesign of those uniforms might look like. Plus, if this movie is filling in the backstory of Rache Garrett, this means the show will not only be a prequel for The Next Generation but also the origin story of an underrated Enterprise captain!

As of this writing, Section 31 is a stand-alone movie starring Michelle Yeoh. But, with this cut into the timeline of Trek, one can’t help but wonder if there’s not room for even more adventures in this very specific slice of Trek history.

Section 31 is expected to hit Paramount+ in late 2024.

• Science Fiction

Screen Rant

How michelle rodriguez helped the original fast & furious avoid sexism.

Michelle Rodriguez reveals she almost quit the 2001 The Fast and the Furious film over the way her character, Letty, was written using sexist tropes.

Michelle Rodriguez  was an integral part in ensuring that  The Fast and the Furious  avoided sexist tropes. Rodriguez has always been a proponent for the  Fast & Furious  franchise's female characters, tweeting in 2017 that she hoped future installments of the franchise would show the female characters more. In the films, Rodriguez plays Letty, a skilled mechanic and street racer, appearing in all but two of the movies in the main arm of the franchise.

Rodriguez's character has had a tumultuous journey in the  Fast & Furious  world, helping her eventual husband Dom in the first few films. When  Letty seemingly dies and is subsequently resurrected , she comes back with amnesia before regaining her memory and rejoining the team more confident than ever. Rodriguez's character has taken on a more prominent role in the franchise since, acting as Dom's partner in crime and in life. It wasn't always meant to be that way, though.

Related: Fast & Furious: Every Car Letty Drives In The Movies

In a new oral history from  EW , Rodriguez and her co-star, Jordana Brewster, detail how Rodriguez almost quit the film. Brewster says that Rodriguez read the script and, when she didn't like what she read, she flipped it. Read what Brewster said about her co-star below:

When Michelle [Rodriguez] read her role, she was like, 'No, I'm not playing that.' And then she changed it completely. It went from a trophy girlfriend to this really layered character.

Rodriguez dives a little deeper into what happened, describing the ways in which her own experience helped her make the Hollywood writers see that Dom and Letty's relationship wouldn't work if she was relegated to being a trophy girlfriend. Rodriguez threatened to leave the film if they didn't change it and, luckily, they worked it out. Check out what Rodriguez said below:

It was a reality check for them to realize that the streets don't work like that. You don't just get with a guy because he's hot. There's a hierarchy there. Can that hot guy get beat up by who you're dating? If he can, then you don't date him, because why would you want to lose the hierarchy? In order to keep it real, I had to school them: 'I know you guys like Hollywood and all that, but if you want it to be realistic, this is how it really works, and I'm not going to be a slut in front of millions of people, so you're going to lose me if you don't change this.' And they figured it out.

Rodriguez's latest reveal mirrors another problem she had with  The Fast and the Furious '  script. Initially, Letty was going to be in the middle of a love triangle with Dom and Paul Walker's character, Brian O'Connor. Fortunately for all involved, Rodriguez's criticisms were heard, despite her being relatively new to the industry, and Letty became the strong character fans have come to know and love. It's safe to say that the  Fast & Furious  films wouldn't be the same without her.

With the franchise heading into its endgame after  F9 , Letty will continue to be an integral member of the team. The franchise's themes of family only serve to highlight the ways in which the team and the movies themselves have overcome various obstacles.  The Fast and the Furious kicked off one of the most successful franchises of all time and that is thanks, in part, to Rodriguez's willingness to advocate for her character and create a stronger female lead that is at the forefront of the films.

More: F9: What Mia's Return Means For Brian's Ending

Key Release Dates

F9: the fast saga.

Could Michelle Rodriguez Return In Avatar 3?

The Fast and Furious star was pivotal in Avatar and her name alone makes a her an interesting casting option for Avatar 3.

A sequel now looks to be all but guaranteed for Avatar: The Way of Water. However, as James Cameron’s Avatar plans continue to unfold, so does speculation about future plots, settings and cast. Surely, among the few absentees from the first film, one name definitely stands out, which begs the question: could Michelle Rodriguez return in Avatar 3 ?

After all, Avatar: The Way of Water brought back Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, and Matt Gerald to reprise their parts from the original film. Even Sigourney Weaver returned in a mysterious new role. Given that Cameron has a vision for at least three more Avatar movies, and he’s already shown his willingness to expand the cast with Kate Winslet as the more notable addition. Still, there might be some leeway for fans to see Rodriguez meet up with her blue friends once more.

Related: Best Quotes In Avatar: The Way Of Water

Who Did Michelle Rodriguez Play in Avatar ?

In the first Avatar film, Rodriguez plays Captain Trudy Chacon, one of the former marines currently deployed on Pandora for reconnaissance purposes by the powerful Resources Development Administration (RDA), although her role is mostly that of an aircraft pilot who’s not enlisted for battle. This is obvious from the first time Trudy meets Jake Sully, as she’s mainly assigned to showing him around the RDA’s base.

Furthermore, Trudy’s job is seen when she first takes the human science team, made up of Jake, Dr. Grace Augustine and Dr. Norm Spellman, to inner Na’vi territory. Her superior, Colonel Quaritch, takes on Corporal Lyle Wainfleet to watch over the entire operation. Rodriguez’s character is overall the same type of tough, driven woman her fans often see her play, and Trudy’s differences with the rest of the SecOps forces are obvious from the start.

Trudy’s breakthrough moment in Avatar comes when she refuses to participate in the bombing of the Na’vi Hometree, as violent conflict wasn’t why she signed up to come to Pandora. From then on, she joins the pro-Na’vi humans. This results in Trudy helping Jake, Norm, and Grace escape the RDA’s facilities. But in the movie’s final act, her Samson airship is gunned down by Quaritch, killing her in the resulting explosion.

Was Michelle Rodriguez In Avatar 2 ?

Avatar: The Way of Water takes place 12 years after the first film. Jake and Neytiri have formed a family that includes Dr. Grace’s intriguing daughter Kiri , and even Norm has adjusted to his new lab life. All in all, Avatar 2 makes it seem like the time to mourn heroes of the past is well beyond the protagonists. Grace’s body is the biggest throwback, and not out of nostalgia, but due to its importance in Kiri’s story arc.

While Trudy’s sacrifice in Avatar is probably well remembered by Jake, Neytiri , and the rest of the settlement, not only is she completely absent from the sequel after her death, she’s not really mentioned at all. The characters have had time to accept and move past her loss.

How Can Michelle Rodriguez Return In Avatar 3 ?

Nevertheless, The Way of Water brought back from the dead Avatar’s big bad guy, Colonel Miles Quaritch. In the sequel, he adopts a Na’vi avatar, as before deployment he had already signed off his entire self to the RDA. Quaritch’s consciousness in The Way of Water predates the events of the first movie, but even in Na’vi form, he does become aware of how he died during the film.

This means Cameron essentially opened the doors for any character killed in Avatar to come back in the future via this same experiment. Regardless of that, can Michelle Rodriguez' character specifically return this way? Although it is a possibility, that would require Trudy to have landed on Pandora in a similar capacity to the actual soldiers Quaritch commands.

As mentioned above, Captain Trudy Chacon did not arrive at Pandora in a military capacity. She wasn’t privy to most details of the RDA’s operation on the planet on the same level as Quaritch and his troops, so it’s unlikely her consciousness would have been uploaded for safekeeping under the same agreement. Quaritch’s revival already comes with a few asterisks , and pulling off the same trick twice would be strange for Cameron, especially if he has so many other ideas on his mind.

If Trudy were brought back, applying the same rules from Quaritch’s case would give her a personality that’s not interested in fighting the Na’vi or destroying Pandora. As such, the humans have no reason to revive her, whereas her friends lack the means or set of beliefs to do it if given the chance. Simply put, in spite of the fact that former RDA members can be revived, Michelle Rodriguez’s coming back as Trudy is quite the long shot at best.

Cameron has plenty of plans for Avatar 3 , like introducing potentially evil Na’vi tribes, and plenty of more characters to develop from The Way of Water . Fans should likely not count on Michelle Rodriguez returning for this family story.

Avatar: The Way of Water is currently available in theaters.

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Star Trek: Discovery's Alex Kurtzman & Michelle Paradise Talk Final Season

In an interview with CBR, Star Trek: Discovery co-creator Alex Kurtzman and showrunner Michelle Paradise tease the Paramount+ series' last mission.

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery finds the USS Discovery continuing to rebuild the United Federation of Planets in the 32nd century. But the crew are tasked with a secret mission that could shake the galaxy to its core. And as Discovery embarks on its final voyage, it brings the characters and series full circle. The season is filled with plenty of action and emotional moments for new viewers and longtime fans alike.

In an interview with CBR before the April 5, 2024 season premiere, Star Trek: Discovery showrunner/executive producer Michelle Paradise and co-creator/executive producer Alex Kurtzman talk about the evolution of the series. They also reflect on shifting to make Season 5 close out the show and explain the creative joys of moving to the 32nd century.

CBR: Star Trek: Discovery started as a war drama and became a series focused on rediscovering hope. How has it been charting the show's evolution?

10 best star trek spinoffs, ranked.

Alex Kurtzman: It's been a wonderful experience! It's funny that you characterize it starting out as a war show. It's true that we started out in the middle of the Klingon War, but that was never really the intention of the show long-term. Really, the purpose was for Burnham to start out as a mutineer and come full circle as who she is at the end of Season 1 -- facing her demons and coming out the other side of it.

What it did was it also set a compass for us in terms of exploration, in the kind of show we wanted to make. We always knew we wanted to get Burnham into the captain's chair . That's what was always so exciting – how do you get from mutineer to captain? We knew that it was going to take multiple seasons to get there. The more the characters have grown and our relationships with the actors have grown, the two become very symbiotic.

You'll see that the last season of Discovery comes back to a fundamental question of Discovery , which is "Where did we come from?" It feels like a very fitting way to go.

How was it pivoting during production on Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 -- going from finishing the story in Season 5 to telling a coda for Discovery as a whole?

Every finale in the star trek franchise, ranked according to imdb.

Michelle Paradise: We found out after we finished shooting the entirety of the season that this would be our final season. We are so appreciative to CBS and Paramount+ for giving us the opportunity to go back and shoot some more material... It will feel like we planned it all out this way because it's thematically so resonant.

Like Alex said, it comes back around, in many ways, to the basis of Discovery , which is about ourselves. Getting some additional material to wrap it up in a way that feels satisfying to the series, feels satisfying in [and] of itself.

You've reimagined classic Star Trek elements 900 years into the future, and that's something that's right there in the Discovery Season 5 premiere.

Review: discovery's final season is a bittersweet star trek symphony.

Kurtzman: It's really fun! We knew that, by jumping to the 32nd century, we were able to remix Star Trek in a way. All the enemies would be allies, all the allies would be enemies, everything would be upside-down. Ultimately, I think the thing we never wanted to betray was the core of Star Trek and the core of who those characters and species were. It was fun to play with it because it was suddenly fresh snow. You're not necessarily married to one way of doing things because a show that's already come 100 years ahead tells you that this is what happened to the Romulans, so you can't necessarily deviate. Now, we're in a new era.

Created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 premieres April 4, 2024 on Paramount+, with new episodes released Thursdays.

Star Trek: Discovery

The fifth and final season will find Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well... dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

Star Trek Discovery showrunner says that they will be following up a 30-year-old mystery that was never addressed: "You don’t just let that go"

SFX talks to Star Trek Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise about *that* TNG callback

Star Trek Discovery may have gone far, far beyond any other point in the franchise’s timeline after its third season leap to the 32nd Century – but its final season is still finding time to address one of the biggest, oldest mysteries in the Star Trek universe.

Having being given a Red Directive (essentially, a Starfleet mission that must succeed at any cost) during the Discovery season 5 premiere, Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) discovers that she’s on the hunt for technology belonging to a group known as the Progenitors. 

You may not recognize the name, but Star Trek fans of a certain vintage will certainly know of the ancient, life-creating beings: they form the basis of the 1993 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode ‘The Chase’, which sees Patrick Stewart’s Picard uncover perhaps the great mystery left in the universe: where do we come from?

As it turns out, all sentient life was formed thanks to the one race (now known as the Progenitors) – who had hoped to fill the galaxy with all manner of beings in part due to their desire to leave a lasting legacy.

Audiences in the early ‘90s must have had their minds blown but, frustratingly, it was never brought up again – until now.

Speaking to SFX , Star Trek Discovery showrunner Michelle Paradise opened up about why now was the right time to follow up on a mystery 30 years in the making.

"The Chase was such an incredible episode. It raises these huge ideas, huge thematic explorations. Who are we? Where did we come from? And then the episode ends and Picard goes on and there's just this huge thing that they've discovered, and we just found ourselves wondering, 'Well, what happened after that? What did the message mean? And what was it all about? And then what did Picard do?' And you just don't let that go," Paradise explained.

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The showrunner continued, "And so we found ourselves wondering about what might have happened after, and that really became the catalyst for the journey this season. We know in The Chase that these beings seeded life as we know it. And so we take that and we ask the question, 'Well, how did they do that?' 

"They must have had a technology and this technology is out there. And it seemed kind of fun to explore, where would that be and what if it's still out there somewhere? And ultimately, that's what our heroes and the bad guys are now in a race to find. And it's just a really cool thing."

Star Trek Discovery season 5 is currently airing weekly on Paramount Plus. Not a subscriber to SFX? Then head on over here to get the latest issues sent directly to your home/device .

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.

• Darren Scott

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