‘Star Trek: Discovery’: Doug Jones Teases Changes Ahead for Saru and the Show

Star Trek fans can expect some changes in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery.

Perhaps no one will feel those changes as much as Cmdr. Saru. He was in command of Discovery, a temporary position, at the end of last season. While he was expecting to turn command over to ship’s new captain upon arriving at Vulcan, he didn’t expect to receive a distress call from the USS Enterprise while making the trip.

Doug Jones, who plays Saru, tells Space that the distress call changes everything going forward.

“Well, we’re in a total state of transition,” Jones says. “We lost our captain because he was never our captain in the first place; he was a big phony from the mirror universe. There’s me sitting in the captain’s chair as acting captain, temporarily. Then, of course, we got a distress call from another starship that happens to be the Enterprise, hello! There’s a cliffhanger there. So coming into Season Two we pick up right where we left off. How long do I get to keep the captain’s chair? Well of course, as you’ve seen in previews for Season Two, Captain Pike from the Enterprise will join us for a time. What’s good about that is that Saru, I feel, has an awful lot to learn. And I would like to learn that from a nurturing captain, one like Captain Georgiou that we lost early on. That was unfortunate, and he misses her, and he wanted to be a first officer under a captain like that. Unfortunately, he got Lorca instead. So now, with Captain Pike, he has a chance to find a strong leader in him and a nurturer with a gentle hand and a good sense of humor.”

Another big change is that the war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire is over, at least for now. That leads to a new and yet familiar tone in Discovery‘s second season, Jones explains.

“We’re not at battle with the Klingons anymore,” Jones says. “We found a way to make peace with them and to coexist now. So I think the Star Trek purist who loves the other series and the old world of boldly going and exploring, we’re going to find more of that in Season 2 which will have a nice and nostalgic feel.”

Are you excited to see what’s next for Saru in Star Trek: Discovery? Let us know in the comments!