‘Star Trek: Discovery’: Doug Jones on Season 3’s “Permanent Jump to the Future”

From the beginning, Star Trekhas promised to boldly go where no one has gone before, and Star Trek: Discovery took that promise to heart. The series returned to CBS All Access for season 3 with a whopping 930-year time jump, taking the crew of the USS Discovery to a time unrecognizable not only to fans of seasons 1 and 2, but also of any era of Trek. Naturally, we had some questions, and when we got the opportunity to sit down with star Doug Jones—who plays Kelpien Starfleet Officer Saru under heavy prosthetics—we got some more details on season 3’s substantial changes.

Here’s what Jones had to say about how the time-jump has afforded the Discovery writers room a new sense of freedom.

The changes Discovery is going through aren’t just overarching; they also apply to Saru, specifically, and the way Jones has to play the Kelpien character. (The hoof boots, unfortunately for him, remain.) In season 1, Saru was a “fear-based” character, the threat ganglia in his neck informing every movement Jones made. When the threat ganglia was removed in season 2, Jones’ performance changed—Saru became bolder, more assertive—and for season 3 “his confidence has to remain intact,” Jones says, “because right now Saru is acting captain.”

This is true, for now. But the question of who will sit in the captain’s seat of the Discovery is one of season 3’s biggest plotlines, Jones tells me.

The other major, still-to-be-revealed question of season 3: What the heck state is the United Federation of Planets in, 930 years into an uncertain future? Stay tuned, says Jones.

When I spoke to Jones, he was quarantined in a Toronto condo preparing to shoot the recently-announced Star Trek: Discovery season 4. While he obviously couldn’t reveal much, he did note the confidence CBS has in the series:

Check out exactly what Jones had to say in the player above and be on the lookout for our full interview later this week. For more on Star Trek: Discovery, here are the latest production details for season 4.

Source: collider.com