Warning: SPOILERS for the Star Trek: Discovery series finale are ahead!
Another chapter of Star Trek history has come to a close. On Thursday, the final episode of Star Trek: Discovery was released to Paramount+ subscription holders on the 2024 TV schedule, and among the characters whose stories came to a close was Doug Jones’ Saru, who’s been part of the series since it premiered in 2017 on what was then called CBS All-Access. Although there were a handful of episodes Jones missed in Season 5, he still played an overall important role in the story through his new role as an ambassador for the United Federation of Planets.
Despite no longer being part of the Discovery crew, Saru thankfully wasn’t kept out of the action in "Life, Itself." After the conflict with the Breen was finished, the Progenitors’ technology was sent beyond the event horizon and that big Enterprise Easter egg was dropped, his wedding with T’Rina served as a celebratory event for his comrades to enjoy. Ahead of the Discovery series finale’s arrival, I spoke with Jones about his experience working on the episode. In addition to sharing his thoughts about how Saru’s story ended, he recalled an emotional moment he shared with Sonequa Martin-Green, who plays Captain Michael Burnham, while they were shooting the epilogue that I thought was touching.
Doug Jones Is Pleased With How Season 5 Ended Things For Saru
Star Trek: Discovery was announced to be ending in March 2023, but the cast and crew didn’t know about this when they were working on Season 5. In fact, Doug Jones learned about this on the Star Trek Cruise shortly before the public heard about the show’s fate. That being said, the actor found capping off the main story with Saru and T’Rina’s wedding to be a beautiful creative choice, with the actor saying the following when I asked him what it was like shooting the ceremony:
Oh, it felt like it was an actual party we were having and celebrating so much. That was my last scene for Season 5 until we found that it was our last season, and then we came back to shoot that, that coda/epilogue. But it was a great way to celebrate another season under the belt and, and a really come-together storyline for Saru. I feel like every season that we've had on Star Trek: Discovery has come to a conclusion where the audience wonders, ‘Is that the end of the show forever?’ We don't know because we really wrapped up every season so beautifully.
T’Rina, the Vulcan president of N’Var, was one of the first people from the 32nd century with whom Saru formed a connection, and by Season 4, they admitted their romantic feelings for one another. Now these two are joined together in matrimony, and even though Doug Jones and the rest of Star Trek: Discovery’s cast and crew weren’t aware when they were shooting Season 5 that this would be the final hurrah, he was nonetheless with this putting a pin in Saru’s story if the show did indeed end there. As he explained:
Season 5 wrapping up for me personally, Saru has had a promotion, he’s now an ambassador using his diplomatic talents really well, I think, it's a good fit for him. And he's engaged to a diplomat, a president of a planet, and so the two of them understand each other's responsibilities, and I think they can have a happily ever after and that's how it looked at the end of the show. Saru and T’Rina I believe are going to go off and have their happily ever after. So for me, professionally and personally, Saru came to a lovely conclusion. So I was wondering, ‘I don't know where we go from here.’ And then of course, hearing the show was gonna be ending after Season 5, it's like, ‘Well, yeah, I'm happy with where I ended.’
This time, it was indeed the end, but in a show of generosity, Paramount+ gave the Star Trek: Discovery team additional time to shoot an epilogue for “Life, Itself.” This resulted in Doug Jones getting to return for his true final outing as Saru on this series, and earlier this year, he told CinemaBlend he felt “closure” when he watched the extra scene. Now we know why.
The Emotional Moment Doug Jones Shared With Sonequa Martin-Green While Shooting The Epilogue
Following the conclusion of the main story of “Life, Itself,” Star Trek: Discovery’s last episode jumped forward several decades, and we see that Michael Burnham is now a Starfleet admiral, she and Book had a son together who’s now becoming captain of his own ship, and the Discovery ship is being sent on a Red Directive mission tied to the “Calypso” Short Trek that will require the AI Zora to be on her own for centuries. While on the bridge and speaking to Zora for the last time, Michale envisioned reuniting with her cremates when they were younger, including Saru. Doug Jones started off by telling me how pleased he was to see how Michael’s life turned out with the words:
Wasn't that lovely? I really felt that that was a great gift that Paramount+ gave us to go back, and whatever they spent on shooting that coda, bless them for it because I think that gives the fans and the audience the chance to have their goodbyes with us too after they've been with us for these five seasons. I love that we saw Burnham find her future, because like I said, Saru had already found his happily ever after at the end of Season 5 that we already shot. Coming back to do that, that epilogue shoot, I believe that Burnham's character could have her happily ever after. We saw what became of her, and it's a successful story. There's love, there's professional advancement, there's all the things that we would hope for Burnham.
As one would imagine, Jones getting back together with his Discovery cast-mates on the bridge set was an emotional affair, especially when it came to his last scene with Sonequa Martin-Green. That kicked up a notch in between takes of the actors hugging each other in character, with Jones sharing with me the kinds words they kept repeating to each other:
And then to film that scene where she goes back in time to her old bridge crew and all of us standing there ready to hug her. Oh my gosh! Well imagine, we all knew that this is our last day on the show. The tears were flowing that day. I was the first one to greet her after she came out of that and was sitting on the captain's chair. ‘Captain, Captain?’ And she steps up to me and we looked at each other. After I said those words, we went to non dialogue and it's gonna be music swelling over all this. So she looked at me and said, ‘I love you!’ every take before we embraced, and I said, ‘I love you!’ right back. That was every take from every angle. So repeatedly, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’ And at some point she said, ‘I could do this all day. And I said, ‘Yes, I could too. I love you.’ So you can imagine how emotional it was getting on the set that day, but in a really satisfying, lovely way.
Is anyone else suddenly feeling verklempt? Seriously, considering how many scenes Doug Jones and Sonequa Martin-Green shared with each other over Star Trek: Discovery’s five-season run, I’m glad they they legitimately developed an affectionate relationship with each other. It makes it all the more sad that it’s unlikely we’ll ever see Michael and Saru together again, although I suppose with the Starfleet Academy spinoff on the way, anything is possible.
Star Trek: Discovery may be over, but there are still plenty of upcoming Star Trek shows coming up. Along with the aforementioned Starfleet Academy (which stars Holly Hunter), Lower Decks Season 5 (which is also ending) and Strange New Worlds Seasons 3 and 4 are on the docket for Paramount+, and Prodigy Season 2 will premiere to people with a Netflix subscription sometime later this year. Let’s also not forget the the Michelle Yeoh-led Section 31 movie will also hit Paramount+, and filming on that project wrapped in March.
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