With the strikes over, Star Trek production is just starting to get back into gear, but there is one show expected to release a new season on Paramount+ in early 2024: Star Trek: Discovery. For the fifth and final season, the show is changing things up and introducing some new characters. Now that he can finally talk about it, one of the new actors for season 5 is happy to start hyping the show.
A message from L’ak about his ship
One of the new characters in season 5 is an alien named L’ak, played by Elias Toufexis. After the SAG-AFTRA strike ended, he turned to Twitter/X to share a shot (from the sneak peek shown at SDCC), proudly exclaiming “I have my own #StarTrek ship! That’s absolutely bonkers to me brain.”
Now that the strike is over I can finally share this:
I have my own #StarTrek ship! That's absolutely bonkers to me brain. #StarTrekDiscovery pic.twitter.com/SKQREtWNhm
— ᴇʟɪᴀꜱ ᴛᴏᴜꜰᴇxɪꜱ 🖖 (@EliasToufexis) November 9, 2023
Playing L’ak is not Toufexis’ first brush with Star Trek: Discovery. In season 1 he had a small part playing a human Federation prisoner (back when the show was set in the 23rd century). He also provides voice work for the recent Star Trek: Resurgence video game. Toufexis considers himself a fan and wasn’t shy about weighing in on the issue of nacelle design in the 32nd century on Twitter.
I love it.
— ᴇʟɪᴀꜱ ᴛᴏᴜꜰᴇxɪꜱ 🖖 (@EliasToufexis) November 10, 2023
L’ak and Moll take on Captain Burnham and the Discovery crew in an “epic adventure”
The ten-episode fifth season of Discovery switches the tone of the show with a “an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries,” according to the official synopsis. But the crew of the USS Discovery will face others on the hunt for this ancient power, including “dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.” L’ak (played by Elias Toufexis) is one of those foes, along with his partner in crime, Moll, played by Eve Harlow. At the 57-Year Mission convention in Las Vegas, Toufexis confirmed that he is playing the “main villain” of season 5.
Elias Toufexis
Here is the official description for L’ak and Moll:
L’ak is a former courier turned outlaw, who is tough, impulsive and fiercely protective of his beloved partner, Moll. So long as he knows she’s safe, he doesn’t care about collateral damage or its consequences – a perspective that makes him very dangerous at times and will put him on the opposite side of Captain Burnham and the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery when they come into conflict.
Moll is a former courier turned outlaw, who is highly intelligent and dangerous, with an impressive strategic mind and a sharp wit. She goes into every situation with a clear plan and stays focused and clear-headed on her goal, even when things go awry. She’s not intimidated by Captain Burnham or the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery, and will face down anyone who stands in her way in order to get what she wants.
Elias Toufexis as L’ak and Eve Harlow as Moll in season 5 preview image
L’ak is an alien, although exactly what kind of alien isn’t clear. According to Toufexis, it took him up to 5 1/2 hours to get into makeup.
4.5 a day. 5.5 if it was a hands day.
— ᴇʟɪᴀꜱ ᴛᴏᴜꜰᴇxɪꜱ 🖖 (@EliasToufexis) November 14, 2023
You can see L’ak and Moll right at the top of the SDCC sneak peek of the first five minutes of season. You can also hear the voice of Callum Keith Rennie, playing the new character Captain Rayner.
Waiting for 2024 release date
Production on season 5 wrapped around a year ago. Earlier this year, Paramount+ decided to make it the final season but allowed the team to make changes, so they shot additional footage in the spring, to turn what was a season finale into a series. finale. Speaking at NYCC last month, co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman confirmed the fifth season is complete and offered some of his own hype:
“We have finished it. It will be airing early next year. It’s an incredibly satisfying ending to a show that is so near and dear to my heart. Sonequa Martin-Green gave the performance of her life. I think you guys are going to love it.”
Season 5 cast members include Sonequa Martin-Green (Captain Michael Burnham), Doug Jones (Saru), Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets), Mary Wiseman (Sylvia Tilly), Wilson Cruz (Dr. Hugh Culber), David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker), and Blu del Barrio (Adira).
We are still waiting for Paramount+ to set a premiere date for Discovery season 5. Now that the SAG-AFTRA strike is over, they can finally coordinate timing with the cast for the promotional rollout, so hopefully an announcement comes soon.
Until then, here is the trailer released at NYCC 2022:
Keep up with news for the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
I have a feeling the series finale, with its extra shooting period, will offer some solid catharsis and fitting sendoffs for various characters (some of whom, I suspect, will pop in occasionally on Starfleet Academy).
It’s harder for me to believe this fifth season will feel like a sendoff on the whole, given it wasn’t originally intended as such. The plot sounds potentially rad, but – with all respect to Elias Toufexis, whose past works I’ve greatly enjoyed – I’m not sure this is the antagonist to conclude things on, haha.
Who knows where things go, however. Discovery doesn’t exactly shy away from conflict both internal and external, and the ‘ancient power’ here could involve sentient life, a fraction of which goes head-to-head with the USS Discovery. (The rest would be more open to diplomacy; it just reads to me like textbook Star Trek.)
Regardless, I’ll be sad to see this show go. It’s been uneven as heck. It didn’t follow the quasi-traditional ‘third season is liftoff’ trend; in fact, the season I’ve seen the most prolonged enthusiasm toward is the second, and that could very well hold true in the final analysis. But I think this is a cast that has never brought less than their absolute best to their roles, and it’s elevated even the weakest episodes in a way that not every Star Trek series can.
Interesting choice to okay a bad makeup job for their villain. Then again, Discovery has always made some really interesting choices.
It’s an improvement over those awful Orion makeups. Discovery has always been hit and miss with their alien makeups.
*Poor – that was the word instead of “interesting”
Then again, Picard’s season 3’s makeup on the baddie had a very good actress looking like a crack junkie
There is, THAT ! But, to be fair, its possible that Amanda Plummer WANTED Vadic to look that way,
Yeah, maybe the Borg Queen will wind up being the ultimate villain for this season of Discovery, too.
I actually would have no problem with that lol. I’m just curious what the Borg are like in the 32nd century.
The only ones left are the Jurati Borg right. They ask if you want to be assimilated. I’ll pass.
Oooh she was just WOW! She could have been dressed in a black bin liner and just have had baking flour thrown over her face!
But she would still have been amazing ! How she pulled the character off,she was just truly Amazing!
Ooh Fun fact! …
Though I bet most of you know allready ☺️ but the actress who plays Vadic , she’s actually the daughter of Christopher Plummer , the actor who played the 1st villain , General Chang! In the very begining ! On the original series !🤩
Wow. OK
Cool! Who did they cast to play Londo and Zathras?
You’re really telling me that you’re trying to compare make-up and film technology from 30 years – THREE DECADES – ago to try support your point?
That’s scraping the bottom of the barrel matey
Sorry Lin, the head makeup makes the character look very much like the Narn from Babylon 5, regardless of when the makeup work was done. That’s not scraping the barrel, that’s just pointing out the truth in a sardonic way.
And the makeup work on B5 was pretty damn great, by the way. Easily as good as any of the Trek series of the time. Often better.
He’s kind of Narn-like. I’ll give you that. Not very, but a little.
My first thought was that he looks like an albino Narn. You’re not crazy.
That’s where my mind immediately went as well, so I think you’re right. And you’re right, comparing make-up to B5 is not necessarily an insult. The alien doesn’t feel that original unfortunately.
This isn’t about tech, it’s about design and this species feels very Babylon 5.
And the rest of the crew of Moya. You got Chiana partnering with a Narn. This looks to be the Babylon 5 / Farscape crossover event I never wanted.
I think that would potentially be awesome, actually… :D
As if that would be a bad thing?
All of this time I’ve been trying to figure out who this alien looks like and that’s it, he looks like a Narn from Babylon 5! Thank you!
Isn’t “an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries” and “dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.” literally the description of every season of Discovery? I’m sure we’ll get another underwritten villain, a mysery box stlye storytelling approach that needs to tie up three dozen lose ends in the last 45 minutes, little to no worldbuilding in the 32nd century (or wherever they are, can’t even remember) and some random and usually out of place memberberries thrown in for good measure. Let me know if I’m wrong once you’ve watched it.
Exactly!
Among Discovery’s litany of low points – and there were many – I think the lowest was the Burn arc.
Some mysterious, dark force that caused all Dilithium to go bang and kill millions. Must be a seriously powerful villain.
Oh! No. No, wait, just some kid in a primary school Amateur Drama who cried for his mommy…
Discovery had such amazing potential, but really, it was as if they tried to set the bar lower every season
I do not enjoy Discovery at all, but the reason for the Burn actually felt like classic Star Trek. If they’d just made it yet another “seriously powerful villain” as you put it, it would be tedious, predictable, lame and the very thing fans complain about year after year.
Im with you, that “just another powerful villain” would’ve been pretty lame as well. But comparing it to classic Trek kinda shows the problem. Even if you consider some of the stories in Discovery classic Trek, those were allways over after 40 to 90 Minutes. As good as stories like the inner light or measure of a man were, I wouldn’t want to see 10 hour versions of those.
Or a better point of comparison might be voyagers dinosaur episode. I actually kinda like that one, but stretch it over 10 hours and it becomes work … hard work …
Yeah that was great Star Trek actually
Yeah, it was absolutely a good idea.
As classic as a giant hand grabbing the Enterprise.
I really enjoyed where the first season was heading. Desipte all the criticism it got, at its core it was intriguing. That behind the scenes drama completely derailed the show in a way that felt kind of reminiscent of the early years of TNG. However, the time jump completely killed my interest in the show. It felt like a deus ex machina solution that was completely unneccessary. Where drastic changes such as the Dominion War or seasons 3 and 4 of Enterprise added value to a show, the future never added anything. The first couple of episodes of season 3 felt like it could be interesting, but by the end of the season, everything was back to normal. You get the feeling that they don’t trust their own ideas and try to play it as safe as possible.
I don’t get the ships. Why are the nacelles detached? What’s up with the weird shapes? In 900 years, why are they still using warpdrive and not something like quantum slipstream? They wave the answers in a single line of dialogue. The world building is disappointing.
Like forget even slipstream. Daniel’s in ENT had iconian like capabilities to walk through a door and end up lightyears away. All of that mysteriously disappeared. That kid blowing up WARP drive should have meant next to nothing to the 32nd century Federation.
Resources man, even in the 30th century not everyone shall be a time traveller. Warpdrive is cheap, available, goot enough for most part.
Fair but the way they showed it in S3 everyone was completely 100 cut off. It was like the 32nd century version of a post apocalyptic Kevin Costner movie lol.
Ultimately, it probably would have been better to create a scifi show around this and not call it Star Trek. Outside existing lore, it’s an interesting concept (that sadly was never used to it’s full potential other than give us a variation of the “she’s the only ship in the quadrant” trope).
Totally agreed. I’ve been saying forever now I would like DIS a whole lot better if it was a SciFi show that didn’t mess with Trek canon or obliterate the future of the Federation.
Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda did this already: A captain from the past trying to rebuild a federation that had fallen apart (I forget how and why). The difference is that Kevin Sorbo & Co, while not making it a comedy or dramedy, kept it light, while Discovery couldn’t make it heavier if they made it from cement.
Unlike Picard season 3 of course… Oh, wait?
Good Lord, you just can’t stop sounding off about P3 anywhere, can you? What did that season do to you, steal your lunch money or something? It’s sad and tedious to read.
Oh, come on, drop the fake rage — this is near-gatekeeping on me, and frankly I’m getting sick if it.
It’s perfectly fine to compare recent Star Treks to each other, and I will continue to make comparisons if I want to — and especially when I continuously see critiques on DSC’s elements that some of the same freaking fans either had no issues or made weak excuses for on Pic S3.
If you don’t like my comments when I compare shows from time to time like then, then just ignore them please and stop these continued petty attempts to bully me away. Thanks!
This dumb show is still going?
At least it gave us Admiral Vance and Captain Pike, so there’s that. But the fact that the criminally insubordinate mutineer is still around is the pits.
I’ll just go enjoy SNW instead. So many better characters
I cared more about SNW’s underused helmswoman after one episode than I do about Discovery’s underused helmswoman after four seasons. I don’t know what they’re doing differently on SNW to make such a huge difference, but I really CARE about SNW’s characters. I think the only Discovery character I’ll actually miss is Saru.
One of the big factors is that Kurtzman isn’t involved in SNW except by way of it being produced by his company.
Or it could be because Henry Alonso Myers is involved with SNW but not with any of the other new Treks.
I honestly believe that DISCO is the first Trek show since TOS that is not an ensemble cast, or at least doesn’t feel like one, SNW has that in spaces OTOH
That’s true, but I liked Ortegas long before she had very much to do; she just felt more PRESENT than Detmer, from S1 E1. I don’t know if it’s the writers, the showrunners, or the actors, but the SNW characters just feel more vivid and real.
I think the problem with Discovery’s ensemble is that they are too scattered about the ship. I was sure that after session one and surely after Burnham became captain they would get the main ensemble together on the bridge but that never happen so you had the glorified extras as the bridge crew with no story for them – you know what, never mind. I like Discovery’s cast. The problem has always been the writing, with the exception of Session 2.
saru … and reno.
Ah, yes, and Reno!
You’re telling me! 😂🙄
Discovery is a really dumb and bad show and Cry Baby Burnham should be crying behind bars, not in a Captain chair.
But I really do like Admiral Vance and wouldn’t mind seeing him back in the Academy show.
But it will all finally be over soon.
Maybe the final scene will be of Burnham waking up in her federation prison cell revealing the entire show had been a dream.
That would be pretty crazy and pretty awesome at the same time. ;)
😂
It’s still going, as are you near-gatekeeping posts here
I myself am more hyped about season two of Prodigy and season three of SNW than the final season of DSC.
Definitely agree on that.
Look… Picard Season 3 was a huge surprise to everyone, but that was because someone else was in charge of the show.
I genuinely have 0 hope for Discovery s5 to be any different from the last 4 (preachy flat garbage).
It’s really a shame that the first Trek show I got to watch live was such a mess, especially with how much potential it had.
Now if this last season is good or even mid I will watch it… but if it’s more of the same I will do what I did halfway through season 4 and just not even bother.
After Pic S3, I stop being excited for Disco and SNW. I miss the silver age of trek. I miss the ships, characters, compelling stories, and even the LCARS. I’d rather be in the 25th century now. I consider it present day trek.
I think Disco has lost its momentum.
The 25th century really excites me the most although I do like all the other periods we are in right now. But if I had to choose ONLY one it would be more 25th century stories because you have so many legacy characters to interact with and I’m very curious about the galaxy in a post-Dominiion war setting we got just a hint of in shows like LDS and Picard.
Kind of unfortunate that there will be comparisons of Moll with Shin Hati from Star Wars Ahsoka…. down to the same hairstyle, even though Discovery was meant to premiere before it.
I didn’t hate the floating nacelles I just never got the point. What benefit did that serve?
It’s always nice to hear that a true fan gets to be a part of the franchise. It give a tiny bit of rays to all us fans out there.
As for what this ancient race is, I’m guessing Iconian but I am ALWAYS wrong on these things lol
If you know a bit of physics, everything is populated by fields. why have solid structures if you can have flexible tunable fields? Modularization. consider the nacelles zigbee connected. im okay with it.
Ok that’s fair
Not a lover of Discovery, but I’m actually looking forward to it. I prefer to start with a positive attitude and give S5 a chance instead of judging a season I haven’t seen. But, they do have to make up for a lot of bad writing in the past.
Awe, you’re a warm and fuzzy guy after all!
Sure, warm and fuzzy with some spines (retractable) but most of all, fair (or I try to be).
Per usual we completely agree! :)
I have basically given up on DIS at this point but I still have hope its final season will be a good one and will make me love the show in the end. I really thought it would be the case in seasons 2 and 3 but sadly it wasn’t. But I do like the basic idea around this season and hoping it won’t be about saving the galaxy once again. I’m hoping we get something closer to TNG’s The Chase, just a season of it but I’m probably setting myself up for disappointment. ;)
I’m still waiting for season 2 to reveal it was the Iconians who was the Red Angel and not Burnhams dead mom so you’re probably right haha.
Maybe whatever they are looking for in season 5 will reveal the Iconians? Ok, I’m going to stop typing now.
I like some aspects of Discovery, but it’s been floundering since day one and is, hands down, the weakest of the modern shows. So I just hope the current season is finally great, after four attempts at greatness proved uneven at best. What saddens me is that “Calypso” will likely never be explained now, since this was not intended to be the final season, which means they very likely never built that in.
Yep DIS is still my worst show of the lot. Hopefully this season will be a big turnaround like I felt Picard got (and I didn’t love everything about season 3 either but it was a huge improvement at least).
Yeah I wanted to see how they explain Calypso as well. Maybe if they got another season they would’ve.
I can’t wait for some Real Star Trek again. It’s been too long since the end of Season 4. Can’t wait for Academy and S31.
Good one! ☝️🤣👍
Disgusting, ain’t it? Fans bashing each other over what they think is the “wrong” Trek, like their whole little world revolves around it. Clearly, they missed the damn point that Trek’s been tryin’ to hammer into their thick skulls. Lessons in tolerance and understanding, but hell, who’s payin’ attention when you’re too busy throwing punches over starships?
I’m afraid I don’t quite follow… So WERE you, or WEREN’T you joking, or being sarcastic, when talking about “Real Star Trek” in comparison to “wrong” Trek?!?
🫲🤨🫱
There’s the problem, I can wait……
LOL!
So long as his plot doesn’t put the entire galaxy at stake, I’m happy. His ship could be made of fruitcake and powered by unicorn farts and I’d still take it more seriously than yet another galaxy ending threat.
Oy Discovery. 😐
I’m trying to keep it positive though and hope the last season finally gets me on board completely. This is the only show I still think is awful after four seasons but my mind can still be changed. I liked Beyond after writing off JJ verse for good after hating the first two movies and loved season 3 of Picard after the other dismal seasons. So maybe fifth time the charm for Discovery.
Yeah that’s the thing with me too. It’s just been so long now.
We are agreement as usual my friend!
Looking forward to seeing S5. Discovery is still my favourite of the current shows and will be a sad day when the last episode airs. I hope we see the cast of Discovery again in a future Trek show.
One day, there will be a documentary looking back at what went wrong with DSC. Like Shatner’s chaos on the bridge documentary about early TNG. And to echo what everyone else is saying, yes – the makeup looks bad.
….perhaps. And I won’t watch that, either. Just a terrible show from Day One, imo. I don’t even consider it Trek.
‘One day, there will be a documentary looking back at what went wrong with DSC’ I would rather have one for SNW to explain what happened to that show. It had so much promise yet it fails to live up to the quality of previous shows and out of the modern shows it sets at the bottom of the list when it comes to quality writing.
Prioritising casting choices over having likeable characters and good writing, would be reason #1 I would suggest.
Horrendous first half of S1, filled by an okay 2nd half S1, a good S2 then a disjointed and inconsistent S3 and disappointing S4.
Let’s hope S5 can salvage Discovery, the way Picard S3 recovered after a truly abominable 2nd season.
IMHO, depending on S5, Discovery’s legacy will ultimately be that it spawned SNW, Picard, LDS, Prodigy and the rest of the shows to follow. That alone makes it worthwhile, but boy, some of those episodes, characters and story arcs were so terrible, and very hard to watch.
i wouldn’t be surprised if Kurtzman & co. don’t tie-up the loose end that is ‘Calypso’ from Short Treks. i hope the reshoots to make it a finale dovetails why Discovery is where it is in that episode.
I wouldn’t bet on it either…I seem to recall speculation that only the ship was going to be transported to the future at the end of Season2, explaining “Calypso” but of course that never happened.
The Final Adventures of Captain Weepy
Really poor prosthetic on the main villain of ths show?! Not only is it generic, it looks so cheap!
Krall been on the Dunkin’s?
lol it does kind of look like Krall…although others mentioned Babylon 5 as well. The prosthetic is distracting. I hope the character is great so he overcomes the makeup.
Looks like a fun ride.
Given the comments it’s going to be interesting to see how many of y’all hate-watch the final season. If you don’t like it, let it go.
I just want the season to be better. That’s all I care about at this point. It doesn’t have to wow me, just don’t suck. I’m not even sure I would be watching this season and just wait to binge it if it wasn’t for the fact it’s now the last season. But hopefully it will end on a high note.
That’s how I feel too. It’s now the only Trek for a good long while so it will probably get my attention but that’s the only reason why,
Same bro same!
Yeah sadly true. If they aired DIS earlier this year when they were suppose to, we may have waited until summer for anything new. I suspect Prodigy season 2 won’t air until next Spring the earliest and who knows if SNW will even come out next year? I’m guessing it will be in 2025 if they don’t start shooting it until early next year.
I will watch it, I will try to be open minded…. But, I feel like its like trying to light a firework during a monsoon ☹️🔥
Love this comment! Atleast your being honest and open minded ! Giving it a chance, just look at picard series 3! ☺️ you never know lol
Lol what even is this? Listen I am gonna watch, but I also am glad Discovery is coming to an end.
With all of it’s flaws the one thing Discovery gave us is all this great new Star Trek. And I think we can thank Season 2 for that. Star Trek is it’s stories. And from the beginning the writing never lived up to it’s own ambitions (except Season 2), that might end up being this shows saddest epitaph.
I too think season 2 was the show’s best as well and that equals an average season of TNG, DS9 or VOY but I’ll take it. But once Michelle Paradise took over completely in seasons 3 and 4, it’s been a total snoozefest and some of the cringiest and melodramatic plot lines in Star Trek. I’m so happy she will be nowhere close to the Academy show at least.
There’s so many mixed views on Discovery, i just wanted to share my views, after watching every single episode last year , from the 1st from TOS – picard season 2 , then obviously picard season 3 this year and SNW . I’ve a nice story to share with it too , 😊
I know we all have our own storys,opinions etc… I’ve never done this before,but I’d love to share my thoughts,if I do receive any replies,though I doubt it lol, but if I do please if you don’t agree with me,that is absolutely fine! I don’t mind hearing your opinion!not at all! I love that, i just ask , can you please not be rude ☺️ I’d appreciate it.
But finding Star Trek when i did, it helped me so much! I was going through a breakdown, but also ,me and my hubby were struggling, but now were the complete opposite 🥰
I’m still kind of a star trek newbie lol,my hubby has watched it since he was young,but for the 1st time I said I’ll try watching it with you! When the last series , series 4 of Discovery started .
He thought I was joking lol,but I often wanted to try it, i thought its something we could actually watch,enjoy together? If i liked it ,just he allways watched it on his own,
Well I watched it, OMG!!! I loved it! After watching that series ,I wanted to watch the whole thing! From the original series episode 1 until the latest . Which fell lucky! We finished picard series 2 ,just as picard series 3 was starting!
After seeing them all ,I can honestly say,Discovery is in a different place to star trek! I did enjoy it, I liked series 2, but to me , it’s not like star trek as I now know it!
Strange new worlds ,I love! Now that’s how I see star trek! Colourfull , happy, exciting, Sci fi with adventure and monsters and aliens.
Discovery was very dark,depressing,full of stress,trauma, which yes ,happens in real life! It needs to be made aware of too , but I feel, people watch star trek ,to get away from all of that! It’s an escape! Wether just for that 40 minute episode or if we’re binge watching it for hours!
Well atleast, I know that is just some of the reasons I love to watch it myself!
I may be new to star trek,but omg I’m deffinitly 1 of its biggest fans! I just cannot believe it took me 40 years to find it! I just know I would’ve got throuh so much in my life if I’d have had it in there when I was younger , especially DS9!
Oh wow,if I’d have had quark ,odo ,kiera and WORF😍 to look forward to each week! It would have helped me get through those awfull school days !
Sorry for the long post! I’ve never posted before or shared my story,but it’s such a positive thing star trek has done for me , and for my marriage even! I just really wanted to share it 🥰
Hey look, it’s Evil Neelix.
…Neelix was always evil ;)
“Elias Toufexis”
That sounds like an alien name alright