Michelle Yeoh is in her villain era: 'There's a dark side in us all'

While her career was thriving well before her Best Actress gong in 2023, ever since she's been unstoppable. Recently, that's culminated in a series of gloriously villainous roles, with her return to Star Trek as Philippa Georgiou being perhaps the most long-awaited of them all.

Following on from Star Trek: Discovery, Paramount Plus's new film Section 31 follows Yeoh's Emperor Georgiou as she teams up with a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets. But can she be trusted?

Clearly, Yeoh had an absolute blast returning to the character, glamming up in red carpet-worthy costumes, dripping with diamonds and sarcasm alike, and giving looks that could (and sometimes do) kill in the action-packed romp.

Somehow, despite her chilling backstory, Philippa Georgiou is a villain you just can't hate, and that's all down to the complexity that Yeoh brings to her villains and anti-heroes.

"I think that's why it's interesting and important to have those kind of roles, because you can't just always be the good guy," Yeoh points out.

"What is good and bad? There can't be light without darkness. It can't be just one tone. So, as a storyteller, as an actor, it's very important to be able to explore that side of it - just don't go into method acting with those kind of characters!

"It shines a light on the complexities of these people. It doesn't mean that you have to be those people, you can recognise that's the kind of path they have chosen, and you have a choice as someone that watches the movies. I hope it opens your eyes and inspires you to be mindful of how you can be sucked into that dark side."

She adds of Georgiou: "There's always a little dark side and a little evil in all of us that comes out, and I think with the hair and makeup, the nails... she's always taking liberty with the way she talks, the way she walks, and how she looks at you.

"As an actor, to have the opportunity to explore that, without being a caricature, without being too much - it's like, how do you keep it contained in such a way where people look and go, 'I wouldn't mind dressing up like that for a change, because she seems deliciously wicked?'"

Section 31 has been a long time coming, for the creatives, for the fans, and for Yeoh. It was first announced as a series in 2019, but was delayed due to the pandemic and then reworked as a film before finally coming to screens in January 2025.

"When we were filming Star Trek: Discovery season 1, I'd go to Alex [Kurtzman] and say, 'We have to do a spin-off, it's a no-brainer!'" Yeoh recalls.

"And so, between the two of us and Tunde [Section 31 director Olatunde Osunsanmi], we waited. We really worked on it. We never gave up. We never lost sight of it. I always knew I would make time for Star Trek, and I would always make time for Philippa Georgiou."

At the time of our interview, we're days away from the 2025 Oscar nominations being announced, with many predicting that Yeoh's co-star Cynthia Erivo will be nominated, following in Yeoh's footsteps in the Best Actress category.

Of course, in 2023, Yeoh won for her mesmerising performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

While reflecting on how the accolade has changed her life, Yeoh can't help but contemplate how it's also changed the industry at large, after she became first Asian woman to win the category, and the first Malaysian person to win an Academy Award ever.

"I think my voice is a little bit louder right now," she explains.

"And it's important to keep pushing and keep that door open, not just for myself, but for everyone that looks like me. It's not easy. Luckily, for me, even after Everything Everywhere All at Once, I was filming Wicked, so I was already very blessed, I was on a certain path.

"But it's brought the attention to many storytellers, especially people at the top, to go, 'Why is she the first one in so many years? Is there something that we are not getting out there?' It is a challenge to keep finding stories, to keep finding the storytellers that want to include the diversity that we so desperately need to have."

Yeoh adds: "It's changed my life, it will continue to change my life, and it's changed the perception and the lives of many others, because it's inspired them to believe that it can be done.

"And now, with Shōgun, with Pachinko, [there's] the ability for the audience to accept and embrace cultures that are not their own, but to enjoy and love them as well. I think it's so important."

"When I was doing the Oscar campaign, I was filming Wicked, and I remember bringing the Oscar back to the set," she remembers.

"[If you] define the phrase jumping for joy, that would be Jon M Chu. I was so afraid that he would jump off the stage, because it was when they had a huge song and dance number. And I remember coming back and being celebrated because it made such a big difference.

"For Jon, to be able to see that happening for me, to feel the love from the set. And I remember going up to Cynthia and going, 'You're next, girl,' and to Ariana. So we hope it will go that way."

As for her experience playing Madame Morrible? "Well, I have already come to terms with the fact that Madame Morrible truly is the Wicked Witch!

"Madame Morrible is so fixated on her own ambitions and on her own dreams that she's pushed aside, and she doesn't care anymore, because in her mind, 'This is how I make Oz great.' This is how Madame Morrible is going to change the lives of her people, the Munchkins.

"She doesn't care if other people will be hurt along the way. It is a terrifying notion."

Yeoh already boasts an incredible cinematic legacy, with plenty of her roles sticking in the cultural consciousness - Yu Shu Lien in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies to Eleanor in Crazy Rich Asians to Evelyn Quan Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

"I always look forward to something different and challenging," she explains of the roles she takes on. "But I always knew that Emperor Georgiou was a character I really, really wanted to explore and expand on, and I think in Section 31 we did just that."

Although, there was one other time that Yeoh considered reprising a role, when she was asked to bring her James Bond character Wai Lin back for Die Another Day.

"I was asked, one time, to come back to do a cameo," she recalls when asked about rumours that circulated. "Unfortunately, I was producing my own movie. Sometimes life throws tough choices at you!"

Next, aside from the global phenomenon that is Wicked, Yeoh is set to join the little known franchises of Blade Runner and Avatar (not to mention that she's been cast, very aptly, her LGBTQ+ fan base might tell you, in upcoming action thriller The Mother).

As for how she approaches joining these huge franchises, she explains: "It's a great sense of responsibility you feel. Then you go, 'No, there are so many people looking after this, I'm just gonna go in and enjoy myself.'

"And I think this, for me, is the best attitude, because I do my best work when I'm not crazy stressed out. I am a perfectionist, but I cannot be over-stressed.

"What's the point of doing it if you're not having fun with your passion? So I'm very blessed. We're still filming Blade Runner, I'm still going back for Avatar. There are more adventures to be had."

Star Trek: Section 31 arrives on Paramount Plus on Friday 24th January 2025.

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