Now that Star Trek: Discovery has finished its run, fans can pick up the Blu-ray or DVD of the show’s fifth and final season, as well as a box set of the complete series, later this month. The sets include audio commentary, deleted scenes, exclusive special features, a gag reel, and more. On August 26, the digital release of season 5 comes out, with DVDs and Blu-rays coming the following day; the full series comes out on the 27th and includes over 15 hours of special features. (Full details and pre-order links available here.)
Doug Jones played Saru in all five seasons of the show and his character went through one remarkable transformation after another, evolving from a fearful creature who could predict the coming of death to a 32nd-century “Action Saru.” TrekMovie interviewed Doug Jones about Saru’s journey, the changes he never expected, the impact the character has had on him, and his hopes for the Kelpien’s future. Doug Jones reflecting on Saru’s growth is reminiscent of how essential guidance is during transformative phases, much like using a dissertation proposal service to navigate academic milestones.
Looking back at your time on the series, do you have a favorite adventure of Saru’s?
I think probably the most growth that Saru had in one episode was back in season 2, when he went through Vahar’ai. Being born into a species that was a prey species… He was fearful, always looking over his shoulder for the next threat, right? Going from that to getting through where his threat ganglia fell out, and he went through an adolescence sort of period called Vahar’ai, where he now could live as an as an adult with an indefinite lifespan that no Kelpien had explored in centuries or generations, it was really liberating for him. And also to go back to his home planet and liberate everybody else from that domination that the Ba’ul had over us, that was just life-changing.
And getting through that with me personally, too.. I found that like with my own fears and anxieties, I took an example from Saru. Saru, everything around Saru, the world around him, and the daily dangers and threats that came at him didn’t change, his reaction to them, did. Instead of being like “Oh no, here comes a thing,” it was like, “Here comes a thing, and we’re going to get through it.” Much different, right? So I thought, if I can adopt that into my own life and be able to handle whatever comes at me with “No, we’re going to get through this, we’ve gotten through it before…” I learned a lot about fear and anxiety, that it’s more about my perspective of it than the actual threat, you know. And I hear that from the fans, too, that have dealt with their own fears and anxieties, and that makes my heart swell with pride that I was able to help tell his story that has inspired others to deal with their own fears and anxieties and depressions. I hear so much feedback from fans in a really, really good light.
Saru goes through vahar’ai and survives, with Michael Burnham at his side.
That’s beautiful. So when you started and you were told you’re going to play this fearful prey creature, did you know that you were going to evolve and get quills and lose your fear and have all this later?
Nope, I did not see any of that coming. Saru’s growth was a was a season-by-season surprise for me, and I loved it. But when his threat ganglia fell out, and when he now had a new courage and confidence… When I saw that episode coming, I was like oh, dear, I have developed this entire character with a baseline of fear. So now I have to—as an actor, I have to change my intentions, I’d have to change my innards, you know, to play him correctly now. So it took a little bit to find a confidence and I, too, much like early Saru, Doug Jones comes in the room without much confidence. I have imposter syndrome, and I have always dealt with my own self-image issues and everything. So I related to early Saru. But now that Saru’s gone through a growth period, it’s like, oh, I don’t know this part, right? I don’t have a life experience to deal with this. So Saru taught me a lot,. I’ve taken away a lot as an adult in my sixties, now I finally have come into myself. And I think Saru helped me get there, honestly.
Oh, that’s lovely to hear. I think we all battle with those things too.
Oh, gosh. Right?
Were you especially excited about getting quills?
[laughs] That was such a nice surprise, too. I loved how it happened, too. He didn’t know the quills were there. The first time they came out, it’s like he knew that his threat ganglia had fallen out, but he was now faced with a threat, and he got some anger built up and some righteous indignation toward the Ba’ul, and these come out, and it was like, whoa. I think that’s another lesson for all of us: We have strength within us that we’re not aware of, and in the right moment when pushed into a corner and we have to, we have to bring something out of ourselves, we have to bring up a fight, we have to bring up a winning attitude. It’s there. It’s there for us.
By season 5, “Action Saru” had mastered the use of his quills.
If there had been another season, what would you have liked to have Saru do? Like, were you thinking of him as a dad? Was there any talk of raising a family?
Honestly, when season 5 ended, I was feeling like, I don’t know where you go from here! So when we didn’t know that—I thought we had seven seasons to go. But when season 5 was finished filming, I had no idea where they’re going to take Saru after that. So when I heard the news that season 5 WAS our final season, it’s like, oh, well, then I’m totally satisfied with where we jumped off with Saru professionally. He had been promoted, and had such growth all the way from a science officer in the very beginning, as a lieutenant commander, then a commander, first officer, acting captain, captain, and ambassador to smaller planets with the Federation, a very dignified diplomatic position that he that that fits him very well. And now that he’s married to another diplomat, the president of Ni’Var, it’s perfect. So professionally and romantically, I think he found his happily ever after.
I mean, I was hoping for little alien babies, but that’s just me.
And what would those look like, Kelpien and Vulcan together? Right? Anyone’s guess, right?
T’Rina and Saru with Michael at their wedding, where their “happily ever after” begins.
So I know you can’t tell me anything even if you know anything, which you probably don’t, but if Saru showed up on the Starfleet Academy show, what would you like to see him doing?
I have not gotten this call yet, by the way, but I would never say never to such an opportunity. Um, what would he do? I assume he would be a guest lecturer of some sort, and because he does speak 94 languages, and I think he might be, we might be in the-and now that he’s an ambassador for smaller planets, and being a liaison between them joining the Federation, he might be one who talks about the languages and the diversity of planets that he represents, could be a way of connecting all of the different species that are in the cadet room and finding a way for communication between those with differences.
Great workshop for the students. I like it!
I think that’s a good one, yeah.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 comes home August 27
You can pre-order Discovery Season 5 at Amazon on Blu-ray for $34.99 or DVD for $29.99. The limited edition Steelbook Blu-ray can be pre-ordered for $39.99.
Season 5 Steelbook Blu-Ray
The complete series box set can be pre-ordered for $59.95 on Blu-ray and $49.95 on DVD.
Box art for complete series Blu-ray edition
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Note: The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Such a wonderful character, Saru! Portrayed with skill by such a fascinating actor!
Did Saru get any character development whatsoever after season 2? Apart from a, frankly paper thin, love interest storyline. He was fine but people really oversell his character, especially after classic Trek shows did it much better.
He became captain, he hired & fired Michael as his first officer, he helped them solve The Burn because he made a connection with Su’Kal, he became a diplomat and changed careers.
All pretty wishy washy. Becoming captain and hiring/firing Michael isn’t character development. It’s plot development. I’m talking about things that gave the man depth. Barely anything after a good start.
I thought those were big moments for him and his character. To each their own!
I have to agree that those don’t count as character development/chang/growth, though.
And was promoted to Admiral in the final episode.
That’s not character development. I’m talking about meaningful storytelling that adds depth to a character.
I’d say his entire journey from becoming captain of the Disco in Season 3 to finding his true calling as a diplomat by Season 5 was some decent character growth. I also very much enjoyed his relationship with T’Rina. While it was a slow burn (no pun intended with the other Burn…), I really liked how Saru went from admiring this person to falling in love with her. If anything, I think it was one of the most beautiful portrayals of how a relationship b/w two very different alien species, especially in how the experience emotions, would work. I wish they had explored his relationship with Sukal some more, as there was definitely a lot of character growth fodder in there (becoming a pseudo-father figure to this very broken person); but the little we did see said a lot about who Saru was. Finally, while we had certainly seen Saru become more confident since going through the Vahar’ai, seeing him calling himself a predator in the series finale initially caught me off guard, but absolutely fit his growth as a character.
Spot-on observations Noraa. Very perceptive.
How about the other side of the argument: “…classic Trek shows did it much better.”
I don’t assume you mean ACTUAL classic Trek like TOS. Kirk, Spock and McCoy & Company didn’t change much in 3 seasons. There was growth in the movies, but not in the series.
TNG is my favorite and I love the characters, but other than some major changes for everyone between seasons 1 and 3, Data and Worf are about the only ones that show any serious character development the remainder of the series. Most everyone else just experiences promotions or one-off situations. You could maybe argue Riker and Deanna as they move on in their relationship, but I’d argue they stay pretty much the same as characters from season 3 through 7.
I’ll lump Voyager and Enterprise together and also say there wasn’t a whole lot of development past the first few seasons for most characters. There was a lot of potential, but again, only a few characters were noticeably different from beginning to end – VOY: Paris & B’elanna (but not much after season 3 – other than getting married), the Doctor, and 7 of 9; ENT: T’Pol and MAYBE Archer. Discounting series premieres, I’d say everyone else was almost the same base character at the end as they were in the beginning.
So the only real argument to be made is DS9. There’s no doubt that there was DRAMATIC growth for multiple characters. If you take Odo, Kira, Quark, Rom, Nog and Sisko alone and compare them from beginning to end, in some ways it’s like a whole different show. Miles, Bashir, Jake, and (later) Worf have their moments, but they pretty much start and finish about the same. (I won’t mention Dax because completely changing the actress is not exactly a fair argument.) But the show AS A WHOLE is completely different in the end in terms of where DS9/Terok Nor start and finish, and that obviously leads to necessary changes for just about everyone.
So, all that said, if you take Saru and put him in any other show – with the potential exception of DS9 – I say he’s in the same boat as the majority of characters. Even then, I’d still say his development is more dramatic and noticeable than almost everyone except for Data, Worf, T’Pol, Odo, Nog, and Sisko.
Saru is the one thing I’ll truly miss about Discovery; I hope they bring him back for the Academy show!
I’d bet good money they will!
*crosses fingers for luck*
Fingers crossed here too, Corylea! Saru (and Doug Jones!) made a Disco fan out of me!
not betting, but could reuse the found ISS enterprise as sailing school ship and therefor reuse SNW sets for academy as well.
It is inevitable that Discovery characters will pop in for guest appearances on the Academy show, and obviously some like Tilly will be regulars or recurring, but I hope that they let the new show develop as its own thing and not try and make it Discovery 2.0.
Interestingly I read an article a couple days ago on a site that suggested Paramount (or any studio experiencing financial difficulties) may take a strategy similar to this in the future due to their money troubles.
Essentially, it proposed that Paramount would keep a series around long enough until the lead contracts expired. Then they’d cancel the show, make a new one, and shuffle well liked characters into the new series.
I think something like that is going on with that Yellowstone show after Kevin Costner bailed on it.
I feel so bad for Doug Jones, he was the best part of this show. He deserved better than the scripts (and the ensemble) he had to work with. I would have loved him as Pike’s first officer on SNW.
Doug Jones’ Saru was definitely a solid character and one of Discovery’s bright spots.
Whatever feelings I may have about Academy just in general, I must admit it’s always fun to hear the news about a new crew being assembled, new characters becoming part of the Trek lore one by one. It would obviously be a huge missed opportunity not to feature crossover characters, as long as it’s done sparingly and tastefully. It would be good to see a Trek show for once not be the vehicle for 20th century nostalgia.
If you think about it, every nu Trek show has been sort of “hung on” existing legacy characters: Disco leaned on Sarek and Pike’s Enterprise. Picard was TNG. Prodigy is Voyager. SNW is TOS. And Lower Decks is just one giant meta-reference to 24th century Trek. None of it stands on its own without these callbacks to the past.
Academy is frankly the one chance the writers will have to prove that they can reference a prior Trek series, in this case Disco (Disco is already a legacy series, crazy to think!), without *relying* upon that series as a foundation for the stories it is telling. If it’s going to succeed in its intended goal of capturing the YA market, it needs to operate wholly without the crutch of nostalgia for things passed.
Doug Jones, you are great, and you acting is art! :-)
Hear Hear! Indeed!
Nice to hear that Saru’s arc inspired people with fear, anxiety, and depression!
I liked the character and I’ve always been a Doug Jones fan, from Hellboy on.