Starfleet has a new captain...just not the captain you were expecting.
Deadline revealed yesterday that the upcoming CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery has cast Michelle Yeoh as recurring character Captain Han Bo. However, it turns out Captain Han won't be the Discovery's captain, but rather the captain of the USS Shenzhou, another ship "set to play a big role in Discovery‘s first season."
Yeoh was first reported to board Star Trek: Discovery in an interview with consulting producer Nicholas Meyer, published by Coming Soon, which provided no information about her character.
Yeoh, 54, is a Chinese-Malaysian actress best known as Wai Lin in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, and as Yu Shu Lien in the films Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. She's also appeared in the films Moonlight Express, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Reign of Assassins, Kung Fu Panda 2, Police Story 3: Super Cop, Mechanic: Resurrection, and Morgan. In addition, she appeared on the 2016 Marco Polo TV series as Lotus.
According to previous reports, the show's main character will be a human but not the Discovery's captain. She is a "Lieutenant Commander — with caveats," said former showrunner Bryan Fuller. "We've seen six characters from the captain's point of view. In order to understand something that is so completely alien from her, she must first understand herself. That's part of our journey on this planet to get along, and that's part of our journey in this first season."
In addition, the new series will be set in the Prime Universe (as opposed to the Kelvin Timeline used in the J.J. Abrams-produced films) and will take place about 10 years before Captain Kirk's five-year mission. This means Discovery will bridge the first two series in the timeline, about a century after Star Trek: Enterprise (which was a prequel) and a decade before The Original Series.
Star Trek: Discovery is currently scheduled to premiere on CBS in May 2017, with the next 12 episodes airing on CBS All Access.