SDCC17 Interview: Sonequa Martin-Green On Ass-Kicking Michelle Yeoh And Inspiring Story Of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

At San Diego Comic-Con, TrekMovie spoke to Star Trek: Discovery lead actress Sonequa Martin-Green.

Inspired by kick-ass Michelle Yeoh

TrekMovie asked Martin-Green if she drew inspiration from any past or present actors from Trek or otherwise,and she pointed to co-star Michelle Yeoh:

I feel like I have been inspired by so many things that it is hard to point to them. Michelle Yeoh [Captain Georgiou of the U.S.S. Shenzhou] is a big inspiration. So I feel honored to be serving alongside her, because she has been such a big part of the movie-watching experience from woman’s perspective. She has been kicking ass for years. And she is such a picture of grace and humility so I’ve learned a lot from her immediately because we were working together. Day by day we are working together so I get to learn so much from her.

Captain Philippa Georgiou and Michael Burnham in desert clothes on Star Trek: Discovery

Michelle Yeoh (Captain Philippa Georgiou) and Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham) in Star Trek: Discovery

Inspired by the legacy and the story of Discovery

Martin Green went on to talk about being inspired by Trek’s past and the story of Discovery:

I just find inspiration from the entire [Star Trek] canon and from all the legacy that stands before us and behind us. And I find tremendous inspiration on the story itself that we are telling.

Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery

More TrekMovie SDCC17 interviews

Anthony Rapp on Lt. Stamets in ‘Star Trek: Discovery

Shazid Latif on Lt. Tyler in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

‘Discovery’ showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg and executive producer Heather Kadin

Mary Wiseman on Ensign Tilly in ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

(and more to come)

More TrekMovie SDCC17 coverage

‘The Orville’ panel report and new trailer

‘Discovery’ press conference report

‘Discovery’ panel report

New trailer and images from ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

IDW Panel reveals details for ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ and Boldly Go comics

See ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Federation and Starfleet Props and Costumes

See ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Klingon Costumes And Props

Klingon Torchbearer Revealed + Gentle Giant Announces Discovery Collectibles

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Concept Art Details Klingon And Federation Ships

Stay tuned for even more coverage of San Diego Comic-Con.

Star Trek: Discovery premieres on September 24th on CBS with all subsequent episodes on CBS All Access in the US.  Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news at TrekMovie.

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Let me just say: GREAT JOB, TREKMOVIE.COM! Thanks for the awesome in-depth coverage over last week!
While – to be perfectly honest – some of the recent revelations about DSC left me a tiiiny bit disenchanted (“war”, “wartime”, “conflict” – doesn’t really sound like a fresh take on the franchise to me), the information provided on this site nevertheless kept me invested (+the mesenger is never to blame anyway) and it also worked really well as platform for some highly interesting conversations in this very comments section!
So, thanks a lot, kudos and keep up the good work!

Firstly: *over THE last week – I hate when I notice those things too late.
Secondly: I’ve left enough ramblings and ruminations in this comments section over the last couple of days, but I just want to clarify: I’m still looking forward to the series and the information we got so far was obviously very limited.
I’m also NOT of the opinion that Trek should generally be “conflict-free” – I just don’t really get why they need to revisit conflicts that are “long past” from an in-universe perspective and why anyone would think that stuff like interspecies war was one of Star Trek’s cornerstones.

I too have enjoyed reading and participating in conversations with other people in the comments section….even the ones I haven’t agreed with because it’s given me a perspective I wouldn’t have thought of. Also big thanks to TrekMovie for all of your hard work covering SDCC and Star Trek in general, it’s been much appreciated!

As for Sonequa’s comments….I really appreciate that she genuinely seems to understand and respect the Star Trek universe. This kind of thinking can help to enrich the character and make it more authentic on the screen for the fans of the franchise. As for Michelle Yeoh’s character, I have liked what I have seen so far, here’s to hoping we get more.

You’re very welcome. Hope you had a good time at SDCC (and all the queueing didn’t turn it into an “all work and no play”-affair).

It is very much appreciated, especially by us who live in the distant land of Europe and cannot attend these events in person! I hope TrekMovie is also going to cover the Star Trek Las Vegas convention.

Totally agree with Xon. Us European readers love and really appreciate all your hard work – and I’m slightly envious you have the possibility to go along to things like Comic Con and STLV. Getting to exchange tweets with the likes of Brian and Kayla here and there closes the gap a little. Thanks guys! 🖖🏼

Here’s hoping that Trekmovie heads to Vegas for more Discovery interviews

@Xon & Gary 8.5:
From what I could gather from the last podcast, it would seem that two of the three regular “Shuttle Pod” hosts (namely Kayla Iacovino and Brian Drew) will be going to Las Vegas this year (so there might be an even greater number of trekmovie.com staff members going). Maybe you can also find something on twitter, but since I’m not a fan of that platform, I couldn’t tell.
I might be wrong of course — please note that I’ve merely extrapolated that information from a bit of banter near the end of the episode (about a potential TNG:”Masks”-cosplay and the apparent obscurity of the phrase “Masaka is waking.”) and obviously can’t speak on behalf of trekmovie.com (hence: twitter).

Great Job Kayla.
Keep it up!

They probably chose the beginnings of the Federation/Klingon Conflict.
Because nobody knows anything about it.

It gives them room to maneuver.

I don’t think that INCLUDING the UFP/Klingon-conflict was a bad idea either. But having it act as a Dominion War-like backdrop seems sorta bland since that actually LIMITS their room to maneuver. I’d rather have a show where they… well, where they make some sort of epic discovery (befitting the show’s title) and have to concentrate their efforts on understanding it. It might be a sort of discovery that would lead to the development of some technology seen in TOS which wasn’t around during the time of ENT… but even as I’m writing, I have to admit that I’m having second thoughts on that idea — simply because by the time ENT ended, there already WAS pretty much all the technology seen on TOS. Dangit. But hey, it doesn’t need to be a technological sort of discovery. It might also be wholly abstract or ideological in nature. And who knows… maybe that’ll be just what they’ll be doing. Oh, my opinion on what I’ve seen so far is terribly inconsistent as you might’ve noticed. The only thing I know is that I haven’t seen a lot of brightness and plain old optimism in anything that has been released and talked about.

I love her hair TOO!!!

I for one like her voice. She’s an “inverse Kate Mulgrew” in that regard (although I sorta came to like Mulgrew’s voice as well – I mean she DOES have a certain Katherine Hepburn-vibe to her – but it’s an acquired taste).

Meh, things get confusing when you mention KATHARINE Hepburn in a comment partly concerned with KATHERINE Mulgrew, the actress who portrayed KATHRYN Janeway

Michelle Yeoh was a huge get. I can’t wait to see her work her magic.

I hope they let her do some ass-kicking on the show. She’s a proper action star.