[2] Initial reports indicated that she would appear as a character named "Han Bo" who, at the time, was rumored to be one of two female leads in Star Trek: Discovery, and was captain of the Shenzhou.

[8][9] She explained that, while preparing to take on the role, she worked closely with showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg, pilot director David Semel, and writer Ted Sullivan to get a feel for the character and to understand some of Georgiou's backstory.

[10] Even during production of Discovery's first season, Yeoh expressed interest in starring in a spinoff series focusing on Georgiou to executive producer Alex Kurtzman, noting that she loved playing the character and wanted to be a role model to other Asian women.

[11] Following positive feedback to Yeoh's character, the writers began exploring the Starfleet black ops organization Section 31 as part of her storyline during season two, leading to further discussions around a potential spinoff.

[15] In March 2023, Kurtzman announced that the spinoff would instead be moving forward as an "event film", and explained that he had begun converting the scripts in mid-2022 once he realized that Yeoh could potentially win an Oscar for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once which would limit her schedule.

[17] Prior to the beginning of the series, Captain Georgiou was given command of the USS Shenzhou and visited the planet Vulcan, where she recruited Michael Burnham as her new officer at the request of her adoptive father Sarek with whom she was previously acquainted.

As a captain, Georgiou fostered a relaxed and encouraging environment on the Shenzhou and enjoyed a friendly rivalry with her crew while still knowing when to set boundaries and assert her authority appropriately.

Following this, the Shenzhou is dispatched to a binary star system to investigate a damaged relay and Burnham identifies an unknown object of Klingon origin, though Georgiou is reluctant to believe this.

Burnham ultimately mutinies and disables Georgiou with a Vulcan nerve pinch, but she quickly recovers and orders her to be taken to the brig as a whole fleet of Klingon vessels arrive in the system.

[20] Some time later, following a navigation error involving Paul Stamets and his experimental spore drive technology, the USS Discovery finds itself in the Mirror Universe.

[21] Burnham confesses to Discovery captain Gabriel Lorca that she is afraid about confronting the Terran Emperor due to her guilt over betraying the prime universe Georgiou.

[22] Resuming his coup against her, Lorca kills a large group of Georgiou's guards, leading her to hide in her quarters with a special bracelet that blocks her life signs from appearing on sensors.

[23] Furious at being denied an honorable death, Georgiou demands to return to the mirror universe, but Burnham insists to Starfleet command that she be granted political asylum and they assert to use her knowledge of conquest to ascertain how to defeat the Klingons and end the war.

To Burnham, she recommends attacking the planetary defense systems of their homeworld of Qo'noS, while privately admitting to Sarek that a bomb destroying the planet would end things once and for all, stating that she would do this in exchange for freedom from Starfleet.

[24] On Qo'noS, Georgiou plants a hydro bomb into one of the volcanoes but is prevented from committing genocide by Burnham, who gives the detonator to their ally L'Rell so she can force the Klingons to unify under her leadership and end the war.

She maintains her cover, stating that she is a retired Starfleet captain assigned to ensure L'Rell remains in power, privately advising her to send Tyler and their baby away so they cannot be used against her.

[30] The Discovery and Enterprise then prepare to battle with Leland/Control's Section 31 fleet, and Georgiou mocks Leland, noting that everyone hates him, but he responded by unleashing a host of new ships to greatly outnumber those of Starfleet.

[33] The Discovery reunites with the remains of Starfleet, which was decimated by a mysterious event known as "the Burn", and their scanners immediately identify her as a Terran and proves unfazed by the holographic interrogators.

After disabling the holograms, an elderly Starfleet officer tells Georgiou he has been fascinated by the Terran Empire since he was a boy, but reveals that it fell some time ago, a revelation with rattles her.

[36] Dr. Culber reveals that time travel can cause a person's molecules to become unstable but, since Georgiou is additionally from a different dimension that is drifting further and further from the prime universe, she is experience an unprecedented impact on her health and that her condition is rapidly deteriorating.

Watching an elaborate celebration of her ruthless leadership of the Terran Empire, Georgiou is visibly unsettled, but is able to prevent an assassination attempt by mirror Stamets and warns of a plot against her life.

[37] Georgiou has a resistant Burnham continually tortured, starved, and beaten in an attempt to mentally break her and get her to reveal the names of Lorca's other conspirators and so she can return to the Empire.

In her quarters, Georgiou confesses to mirror Saru, that she feels things are going to plan, and encourages him not to fear upcoming biological change, stating that it will make him stronger.

The mysterious man reveals himself to be a Guardian of Forever, and tells Georgiou he was testing her to see whether she would make better choices following her time in this universe and deserved a second chance at life.

He summons a portal and tells her to walk through, promising it will send her back in time to an era where the prime and mirror universes are close enough together that she can live out her days without fear of death.