No, she will not helm a travel documentary but instead will take charge of Starship Shenzhou in the latest franchise under the most successful science fiction series of all-time, Star Trek.

However, even though Yeoh plays a captain of her own starship, based on the series title Star Trek: Discovery, the lead actor will be Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays a lieutenant-commander on board the Starship Discovery.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Martin-Green is the first African-American woman to lead a Star Trek series.

Yeoh, meanwhile, plays Captain Georgio on Starship Shenzhou. It is not known how regularly her character will be featured on the series, with the focus being the title Starship Discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery follows in the footsteps of ST: The Next Generation, ST: Deep Space Nine, ST: Voyager and ST: Enterprise, all of which were produced at different intervals, sometimes overlapping, between the late 1980s and 2005.

The original Star Trek series ran from 1966 to 1969 and later spawned a successful movie franchise, starting with ST: The Motion Picture in 1979.

With the series keeping to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s theme of diversity in the cast of characters, ST: Discovery, will for the first time feature a gay character.

Anthony Rapp, who starred in Dazed and Confused, will play Lt Stamets, a science officer on board the Starship Discovery, who will be the first original, openly gay Star Trek character.