Summary
- Sonequa Martin-Green was unaware of the switch from Captain Georgiou to Mirror Universe Georgiou in Star Trek: Discovery season 1.
- Martin-Green knew about Jason Isaacs' storyline as Lorca but not the change involving Michelle Yeoh's characters.
- The series began on the USS Shenzhou, captained by Georgiou, before transitioning to the USS Discovery in episode 3.
One of the biggest turns of Star Trek: Discovery season 1 surprised Sonequa Martin-Green, who wasn't aware it would happen. As Michael Burnham, Martin-Green was the unique series lead of Star Trek: Discovery, who was a Specialist and former mutineer in season 1 before ultimately becoming Captain of the USS Discovery. But while Sonequa starred as Sasha in The Walking Dead, the two more famous actors who helped establish Star Trek: Discovery in season 1 were Jason Isaacs, who played Captain Gabriel Lorca, and Michelle Yeoh, who played Captain Philippa Georgiou and her Mirror Universe counterpart, Emperor Georgiou.
Appearing as a guest on The D-Con Chamber podcast, Sonequa Martin-Green was asked by hosts Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer about the beginning of Star Trek: Discovery, and whether Jason Isaacs and Michelle Yeoh were "meant to stay" or if they were always going to exit the series at some point. Martin-Green revealed that she knew about Isaacs' storyline as Lorca, but that she was surprised by Star Trek: Discovery season 1 switching Captain Georgiou for the Mirror Universe Georgiou. Read Sonequa's quote and watch The D-Con Chamber video below:
I knew about Jason. I knew about Lorca. We knew that whole storyline, all of us knew that. But I didn’t know at the very beginning that they were going to turn Michelle Yeoh, that they were going to kill Prime Georgiou so they could bring up Mirror Georgiou. I didn’t know that part.
I also didn’t even know when we started that… ‘Cause we started on the Shenzhou, which was Captained by Georgiou. And I didn’t know that we were gonna turn to Discovery [in episode 3]. The first two episodes are basically a prequel… We were a prequel to our own selves, episodes one and two. And episode three of season 1 is where Discovery starts.
What Happened To Lorca & Georgiou In Star Trek: Discovery
Jason Isaacs and Michelle Yeoh both exited the series
Jason Isaacs' tenure on Star Trek: Discovery was only meant to last one season, with Lorca revealed to be a villain who was a doppelganger from the Mirror Universe. As Sonequa Martin-Green said, Star Trek: Discovery season 1's Mirror Universe arc was known to her and the cast in season 1. Lorca ultimately perished in the Mirror Universe, and the focus shifted to Michelle Yeoh's Emperor Georgiou, who posed as her Prime Universe counterpart, Captain Georgiou, and tried to commit genocide on the Klingon homeworld at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 1.
Star Trek: Section 31 , Paramount+'s first made-for-streaming Star Trek movie starring Michelle Yeoh as Emperor Georgiou, awaits a release date.
Michelle Yeoh continued playing Emperor Georgiou before exiting in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Originally, Yeoh left Discovery to segue into starring in her own series, Star Trek: Section 31. However, production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Yeoh winning a Best Actress Academy Award for Everything Everywhere All At Once forced plans to radically shift, with Star Trek: Section 31 instead becoming the first made-for-streaming Star Trek movie on Paramount+, Emperor Georgiou will soon return to Star Trek, but with Star Trek: Discovery now over, the book on Jason Isaacs' Lorca appears closed for good.
