Doug Jones Describes Star Trek: Discovery Season 5's Saru Storyline With One Word

At the beginning of "Star Trek: Discovery," the character of Saru (Doug Jones) was a fearful figure. Saru is a Kelpien, a species that had, for many centuries, been raised as a food source for another, hungrier species. Kelpiens had evolved to think like prey, knowing that they would be, at any moment, hunted and processed into meat nuggets. Kelpiens accepted their fate because of a strange quirk of their biology; when Kelpiens reached a certain age, a series of behind-the-ears ganglia began to change color. This indicated that they were about to become feral, turning from gentle farm animals into vicious killers. To prevent this, Saru planned on committing ritual suicide.

It turned out, however, that Kelpien transformation was mere propaganda. When Saru reached maturity, his ganglia fell off, and he was suddenly more confident and open. He went from being fearful all the time to being frank, friendly, open, and optimistic. Eventually, Saru would briefly become the captain of the U.S.S. Discovery, evolving into a gentle and respected authority figure. Saru would, by the fourth season of "Discovery," even engage in a romance with a Vulcan ambassador named T'Rina (Tara Rosling), daring to explore his heart for the first time. The fifth and final season of "Discovery" ended with Saru and T'Rina getting married. Saru came a long way from being a skittish cattle.

CBR spoke with actor Doug Jones about his five years on the newly-concluded "Discovery," and the actor had nothing but good thoughts to share. Now that the show was over, he had some perspective on Saru, and was impressed with how much his character had grown and changed since "Discovery" debuted in 2017. The one word he would use to describe Saru's story? "Satisfied."

Saru, most importantly, got a happy ending. "Discovery" was, for many years, a very violent show, but bothered to work in a few compulsory redemption arcs, allowing multiple characters to exit on a note of happiness, healing, or at least reduced villainy (in the case of Empress Georgiou, the character played by Michelle Yeoh). When asked about Saru's happy ending, Jones merely replied:

"The word 'satisfied' is what comes to mind. I feel very satisfied with Saru's storyline. That finale showed him living his best life both professionally and romantically. He rose through the ranks on the starship Discovery — starting with the starship Shenzhou at the very beginning of the show as a Lieutenant Commander, science officer, and then making his way up as First Officer, then Acting Captain, then Captain."

This kind of upward mobility wasn't even seen on classic 1990s "Star Trek," where characters would stay ensigns or lieutenants for several years. The only character with comparable growth would probably be Worf (Michael Dorn), who began "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a lieutenant junior grade, and would eventually become a father, serve as chief security officer, assassinate two Klingon emperors, redeem his family name, regain his brother, lose his brother, marry Dax, lose Dax, become an ambassador to the Klingon homeworld, destroy the Enterprise-E, and take a job for the Federation's CIA in "Star Trek: Picard."

Doug Jones saw Saru go from an officer to an ambassador in a fifth of that time. Jones liked that Saru was now a liaison to potential Federation worlds, saying:

 "It was a great fit for him diplomatically, and also where his heart lives too, in wanting to help these smaller planets find their way into the Federation and find the peace and harmony of living that he and his planet have found. That's satisfying."

Indeed.

Jones also liked how romantically inexperienced Saru was, and how the show's writers allowed his love to remain kind of innocent. There was no pressure in Saru's romance with T'Rina, no awkwardness. T'Rina is a Vulcan, but in the 31st century, Vulcans had started to allow emotions back into their social ethos, so T'Rina was allowed to express her affection for Saru. She, however, also wasn't used to romance, so every small gesture between the two of them felt like a grand, sweeping romantic moment.

Jones preferred that type of romance for Saru, as opposed to a romance built on passion and sexuality. Regarding the romantic subtlety, Jones commented:

"From seeing that little interaction in season 3 to seeing them in seasons 4 and 5, with the growth that was very slow and cautious on both their parts — because neither of them had really been in love before — finding them both being very dignified and prim and proper with their courtship, you don't really see a lot of that on TV anymore. [...] When we held hands at the end of season 4 for the first time, that was way better than jumping into bed. It was really sweet and anticipated, and it got a cheer from the audience."

At the very end of the series, Saru and T'Rina not only got married, but they also got to share their first kiss. In Jones' mind, this was a fairy tale ending – literally a "happily ever after" moment. He repeated himself: "The word 'satisfied' is all that I can say."