David Benjamin Tomlinson And Doug Jones Talk About More Linus In ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 3

The third season of Star Trek: Discovery mostly remains a mystery, but a new panel discussion gave us a hint about a character returning from season two, plus we’ve got highlights from other panels featuring Mary Chieffo, Kenneth Mitchell, Raven Dauda, and Hannah Spear.

Learning about Linus and more in season three of Discovery

On Sunday Virtual Trek Con held a Star Trek: Discovery panel with Doug Jones (Saru), Raven Dauda (Dr. Pollard), Hannah Spear (Siranna), and David Benjamin Tomlinson (Linus).

While Linus the Saurian has garnered a lot of fan interest after being introduced in the second season of Discovery, Tomlinson has not spoken much publicly about him. During the panel, he offered some insights into what it takes to create the character and revealed that before being offered the role he didn’t even know what a Saurian was. The actor also talked about what the role now means to him:

David Benjamin Tomlinson: When I walked into the prosthetics trailer for my first camera test and I saw the prosthetic I gasped. I fell so in love. It is such a beautiful work of art and finding the character was amazing. I don’t know how or why it has all happened the way it has, but I am really excited and honored and grateful to be a part of it and to have a relationship with this character… It’s amazing that fans love Linus as much as I do. I feel huge affection for this character.

Doug Jones also gave a hint of more Linus for season three:

Doug Jones: I love [Saru and Linus’] screentime together and you are going to see a couple more moments with us in season three, together.

Later the pair got a bit more specific about a particular scene:

David Benjamin Tomlinson: When I have had to eat onscreen it is mostly greens. I have had a lot of spinach and a lot of leafy greens…We see a little more in season three of what he eats.

Jones: We do, and I am just going to say it: it is one of the funniest moments of the entire season. I love Linus so much!

One might think this could possibly be the often-referred Saurian Brandy, but Tomlinson indicated that was something he hopes to see down the road:

Tomlinson: I do think at some point there does have to be a brandy tip of the hat moment, though. It has been so talked about. I would love to see Linus get explored more, but it is a series with so many characters and so much story, you just fit in where you fit in.

Hannah Spear, who played Saru’s sister Siranna, holds out hope she could return for more Star Trek. She pointed to how Siranna appeared in the season two finale of Discovery as evidence the character was ready for more adventures off her native isolated home planet of Kaminar:

Hannah Spear: [Returning to star Trek] would be a dream come true. I also feel like Siranna really leveled up. She was piloting a Ba’ul fighter. Maybe she’s not content anymore with the quaint life. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw her.

One question that many fans have wondered is: who is the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Discovery. If it isn’t Dr. Culber, is it Dr. Pollard? When asked if she wants to see Pollard as CMO, Raven Dauda said:

Raven Dauda: There are powers that be that control all of that. All I can speak to is that I would love the promotion. It would be brilliant and beautiful. Yes please, more of that. For me, I am this girl that came from Ottawa, Ontario from a small place and to be on Star Trek and be part of this legacy in this capacity, is just brilliant. I love where Dr. Pollard is now and there is something so exciting to think about the possibility of where she can go with the crew in her standing and position. We get to see what a person is made of, when they are given more of that. We’ll see what happens.

Doug Jones also had high praise for Dauda:

Jones: When you are an actor playing a position of authority, and as a doctor she has a lot to say and she can give orders to people above her for medical reasons. Raven really knows how to own that authority. You never once look at her and think, ‘Oh, she memorized something and she trying to beef up her personality to deliver that. Never once. She has owned that doctor since day one. I love being on film with you Raven.

Check out the full panel:

Chieffo and Mitchell for the Empire

On Thursday there was a Virtual Trek Con panel on Discovery Klingons featuring Mary Chieffo (L’Rell) and Kenneth Mitchell (Kol, Kol-Sha, Tenevik). It was both an insightful look into the hard work both put into playing Klingons, as well as a touching tribute to Ken who played three different Klingons before his diagnosis with ALS.

 


Keep up with all the Star Trek: Discovery news, analysis, and reviews at TrekMovie.com.

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Linus is very cute for an alien. He should show up again. Dr. Culber is not Chief Medical Officer anymore by the looks of it.

I don’t care when are we getting Star Trek: Discovery season 3. At least we are getting Star Trek: Lower Decks in August so I will forgive CBS for that.

Culber never was Chief Medical Officer, he was always just a doctor on Discovery.

Yes, in season 1 it was underscored that Culber wasn’t the CMO. Stamets threatened him with going to the CMO when they clashed over experimentation on the tardigrade.

Kenneth Mitchell, it breaks my heart to see him struggling with ALS. Such a great guy. I am glad his family and medical team are taking care of him. He is surrounded by love. His fans are also sending good vibes. He seemed so grateful that he was able to join everyone on the previous Star Trek Cruise. Glad no one was infected with this crazy virus during that voyage. They all looked like they had a wonderful time, specially Kenneth! God bless this guy, health and happiness for him and his family.

I really love Raven Dauda’s Dr. Pollard.

She seems to be able to pull off the McCoy snark without being abrasive the way Pulaski was written and performed.

I’ve seen her in a lot of other very different supporting and guest roles in Canadian television, (including a hard-working lone mum role on the tween show Annedroids that our kids were into a few years ago). She really has a lot of range. It’s good to see her getting recognition.

To TrekMovie – you have a typo: it’s Ottawa, Ontario (the national capital), not Ottowa, even if Dauda as a hometown Ottawan might say it that way (just as Toronto is Traana, and Vancouver is Vangkoover when pronounced by those who grew up there).

Honestly I don’t pronounce those cities that way. Pronunciation of American cities is just as confusing, Canada is not alone there.

In America, this country is a place of madness. Something crazy happens here every day on the news. Nothing is surprising anymore. Those are just my personal everyday experiences.

My dad’s birthday was today. He’s in his early 50s. My family and I went to an Indian restaurant for launch. We later went on a boat ride down the river in Stillwater, Minnesota. My dad is my best friend, he is my rock and my teacher in need. The humanity I need to keep going.

America is a dumpster fire of stupidity. What a mess.

”…this country is a place of madness.”

It’s like that all over the world buddy.

Not really

Push it to the limit. Walk along the razor’s edge but don’t look down, just keep your head or you’ll be finished. Open up the limit; past the point of no return- you’ve reached the top but still you gotta learn how to keep it. Hit the wheel and double the stakes; throttle wide open like a bat out of hell, you crash the gates. Going for the back of beyond; nothing gonna stop you, there’s nothing that strong- so close now, you’re nearly at the brink. So, push it, oh yeah. Welcome to the limit. Take it, baby, one step more; the power game’s still playing so you better win it. Push it to the limit.

If there is one thing bashers and gushers of Discovery, as well as warriors of ALL political factions agree on, it’s “More Linus, more good!”

“More Linus, more good!”

Yep

Linus is LIFE!!!!!!! :)

Well said! :)

Since they refuse to develop male side officers (instead giving us Nhan, Owo, Detmer, Airiam), more Linus would be welcome, even though all those quotes were extremely careful to never once refer to Linus’ gender *rolls eyes*

Let’s see: 5 main ensemble characters for S2 with actors listed in the titles were male: Pike, Spock, Saru, Stamets and Culber compared to 2 who were female ( Burnham, Tilly).

But you’re still feeling there is underrepresentation of men because a few of the female characters who appear in the closing credits got some modest moments to shine.

From my perspective, even with a female lead, there is an issue with balance of representation, but it’s not the one you see.

Oh please. Let’s talk about characters outside the main cast in season 2 who actually contribute (therefore no Bryce or Rhys):

Female:
Georgiou
Admr. Cornwell
Detmer
Owo
Airiam
Nhan
L’Rell
Amanda
Doctor Kashkooli
May
Admiral Patar
75% of the Enterprise bridge

Male:
Leland
Sarek

The issue with the balance of representation is that the pendulum has swung so far the other way that it’s almost comical.

Oh and add Reno to the female pile.

Well, you’ve left out Tyler, Kanrim, Kol’sha, Tenavik and assorted male admirals on the male column.

Yes, Georgiou and Cornwell got significant screen time but not enough to make up for a 5 to 2 principal ensemble balance.

This really is in the “oh, come on, you can’t be serious column.”

Dr Pollard is making an impression. Reno and Nhan got some action, Airiam and Owo got one episode each to come out of the shadows. Detmer has hardly been been given profile at all.

This hardly compensates, within one series, let alone overcompensates for 5 previous series where the balance of the casts were males.

I keep thinking about my mum-in-law who’s been a committed SF fan since the 1950s. Good thing that women like her kept buying books and watching Trek all those decades when they were hardly represented, or guys like you wouldn’t have a franchise to grumble about not feeling sufficiently represented in now.

Tyler is part of the main cast.

Who’s Kanrim? I had to look up who Kol’sha was, that’s really scraping the bottom of the barrel, come on. Tenavik was in three scenes of 1 episode. Hardly the same.

Given the show revolves around Burnham and the overwhelmingly female supporting cast + their refusal to give us anything of the male bridge officers, you can’t say that females aren’t being represented on the show, because the opposite is true. Never mind white male idiots like Connolly being introduced and killed off for the sole reason to give feminists something to cheer about.

Why are you so aggrieved about this issue? You come across as a whiney snowflake, Steve.

In reality it’s true to nature for there to be more female characters. Lest you forget females out number males 2 to 1. It has to be that way because the human race would die out with more males. At least in a monogamous society. One thing all Star Trek series get wrong is showing whites still exist 200 years from now. I think by then there will have been so much interbreeding that there will be no white people like now. By then everyone will have some color.

Honestly, if I accept your premise as true, I don’t get why it matters?

Did you grumble about the imbalances in TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT?

If not, why the specific grumble here? Why is it “comical” for 1 out of 6 shows to be balanced in a different way?

Two wrongs don’t make a right. Balance the show properly, don’t overcompensate the other direction.

What is “properly”? Are we to assume all Starfleet vessels are 50-50 male/female?

I don’t see why not?

Did you have a problem with the 100% Vulcan crew on the USS Intrepid (TOS: The Immunity Syndrome)? With the “balance” argument, we could say that that decision was racist/speciesist? Why aren’t all Federation worlds equally represented on all starships? (obviously for “real world” production reasons, but not obvious “in-universe.”)

I’m not too interested in what the production team decided to do on a show from over 50 years ago. Just strike a realistic balance, that’s all. Don’t swing the pendulum so far the other way it becomes as egregious as previous series.

Of course you’re not interested. It was largely a rhetorical question on my part, that I assumed you’d not engage in (since the thought exercise doesn’t fit your pre-existing narrative).

I don’t see this as an issue at all. Your comments don’t seem to be stemming from a place of sparking intelligent, congenial debate, but rather, bashing anything you view as feminist.

True, you certainly try to cast your comments now as “two wrongs don’t make a right” but you clearly have an axe to grind with how you define feminism and what you perceive as those ideals coming to fruition on-screen.

And with that, I respectfully bow out of the conversation, as I don’t see it having a fruitful ending. IDIC!

If you ever served you would know the military is not 50/50. Neither is law enforcement or emergency services. USN ships never have been 50/50. In fact at one time sailing vessels were entirely male. There were no female astronauts(American) in space until the shuttles were built. The Soviets beats us there.

Ps. Just an interesting tidbit. The sniper with the largest number of kills in WWII was a Russian woman. I guess us guys aren’t always the best at everything huh?

The human race isn’t balanced to begin with duh!

I have never posted here before. I am very tired of hearing this misogynistic “Steve” poster insult women at every turn. This is supposed to be a safe space for Star Trek fans to discuss the series, not to belittle female characters, female actresses, female writers, and female producers and directors. Was he so concerned about every previous Star Trek series that had predominantly male casts?

He is doing everything possible to marginalize women and perpetuate power imbalances. His repeated invectives make me, as a woman, feel unwelcome here at best and unsafe at worst.

I call on the moderators to ban him. He should not have the right to disrupt and destroy communities with hate speech.

Thanks for joining in, and welcome Feminist fan.

Unfortunately it seems that there are quite a few folks out there who can watch Star Trek for a lifetime and yet, as Sarek would put it “Never accept the lesson.”

Hope that you’ll participate more often and help us find the “teachable moments”, if not for Steve, then for others.

My posts make you feel “unsafe”? That’s the funniest thing I’ve read online in ages.

I’ve never once criticised female writers, producers or directors. Kindly stop making things up to suit your agenda. The only character/actress I’ve criticised is Burnham/SMG because I think the character is awful and bland, and the actress is extremely annoying. And I’m certainly not alone in that view.

This isn’t about marginalising female characters, (I’m a big Rey fan from the Star Wars sequels), it’s about addressing the fact that beyond Sarek, there’s basically no male supporting characters on the show, now that Leland is dead. Try and think of one.

Previous series with predominantly male casts were a problem too. Just as modern series with predominantly female supporting casts are a problem now. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Just strike a good balance, that’s all.

“Previous series with predominantly male casts were a problem too. Just as modern series with predominantly female supporting casts are a problem now. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Just strike a good balance, that’s all.”

I get your argument. There should be room for ALL voices and views.” I’m delighted to disagree with you, Sir”, as Surak said in “Savage Curtain”. THAT is the lesson of Star Trek.

And no, this is NOT a safe space, but a space for discussion. Life is not a safe space I’m afraid, life is full of wonder and risk and danger (to loosely quote Q); the only safe space comes afterwards ;)

And it has always been the uncomfortable out-of-the-box thinkers not afraid to offend and ruffle some feathers, as Pike put it in season 2, that have innovated and pushed this civilization out of the caves. These are two sides of the same coin. If the now-dominant appeasers and conformists and thought police had their way centuries earlier already, we’d still be sitting around those campfires.

Now, to throw one more wrench into the harmony machine, the lack of Asians in Trek as the dominant ethnicity on this planet is as inexplicable and egregious, especially in the new series (with Lower Decks the worst offender). As for Discovery, male or not, Rhys is the smallest speaking part of the already under-featured support bridge crew, in all of these seasons so far. So if we talk about lopsided, unrealistic representation, that one is the worst.

I don’t understand why it matters who is represented and who isn’t. Humans are all human regardless of physical appearance. The point is that the human race survived. Let’s all try to chill.

“Can’t we all just get along?” – Limbo(Paul Giamatti) : Planet of the Apes 2001

I whole heartily agree with you. I think guys like This Steve are closet misogynists. I mean they say they aren’t sexist but in fact are in denial. They sometimes make me feel ashamed to be a white(aka European American)male. I think we need to drop the Caucasian term. Caucasians are technical people of Asia.