The Big Picture

The Blu-ray and DVD collections for
Star Trek: Discovery
Season 5 are now available with over 2 hours of bonus content.
Doug Jones, who played Saru, shares his hopes for
Discovery
‘s legacy and reveals some special moments from filming the series.
Saru’s final arc in Season 5 includes a heartwarming love story that brings his character to a happily-ever-after ending.

Star Trek: Discovery may have come to an end with its fifth and final season earlier this year, but the adventure continues as the Blu-ray and DVD collections for Season 5 hit shelves today. With over two hours of bonus content, the journey doesn’t have to end and the new gag reel and audio commentaries just might make the wait for Starfleet Academy a little bit easier. To celebrate the home release of Discovery Season 5 I sat down with Doug Jones, known for his many creature roles in a vast range of movies and television series.

Jones, who played Saru, the Kelpian first officer turned diplomat throughout Discovery’s five seasons, shared his hopes for the legacy of the series within the eternal Star Trek franchise as well as his reasons for why you absolutely need to bring the Blu-ray or DVD version of Season 5 home. He also shared a heartwarming story about his first and last moments in the series and the romantic happily ever after for Saru in the show’s series finale. You can read the transcript of our conversation below or watch it in the player above.

COLLIDER: Saru goes on such a beautiful journey across the five seasons of this show and with this crew. With the series wrapped now and coming to this lovely home release, what do you hope the legacy of Discovery will be in five years, 10 years, within this hopefully eternal franchise?

DOUG JONES: I think with 58 years under our belt, it’s on its way to being an eternal franchise. [Laughs] With Discovery’s place in the Star Trek universe, I hope the takeaway fans take from our show is hope. The word hope seems to be what drove us all, from the writers to us actors, and the film crew — offering hope for a future that makes sense, a hope for a future where conflict can be resolved with peaceful, diplomatic discussion as opposed to war. I’m hoping that our takeaway will be a future that is peaceful and makes sense to all of us. And that seems to be what the fans’ feedback has given me.

When I’m out there on the convention circuit meeting people one at a time, I keep hearing about, “Oh my gosh, this show has meant so much to me.” And the thing about art is that people take different things away from a piece of art. There can be a sculpture on a stand, and four different people looking at it can take away four different things from that piece of art. So, our show has been controversial because some people have taken away different things from it, but the ones who get a story and find themselves on film find a story they can relate to. In the entire Star Trek Universe, the whole franchise, there is a character for everyone and there’s a storyline for everyone if you wanna find yourself and find something you can relate to in that show. So, Discovery has tapped a whole demographic.

Absolutely. One of my favorite things about collecting physical media is the bonus features. With this home release, can we expect to see you on some of the bonus features? Did you pop in for any commentaries or the gag reel?

JONES: There will be, indeed, an audio commentary that I’m not a part of, but there are so many features that are only on the DVD and Blu-ray collection, including some character backstories and character development behind the scenes, especially for Michael Burnham’s character. Also, interviews from all of us that will only be on the DVD release. My favorite part of the bonus features that will only be on the DVD and Blu-ray is the gag reel. I love me some gag reel every year, and I make my way into it every time. [Laughs] I’ve already seen the gag reel for Season 5 and I’m in there, and I did hit the approval button on that one, like, “Yes, love it!”

Doug Jones Felt the “Responsibility and Gravity” of Joining Star Trek
“It made sense that I would have been in Star Trek at some point during my career.”

Amazing. I can’t wait to see it. Looking back at the show, can you tell me about the first and last moments when you really felt the magic of the series?

JONES: The first moment of, “Oh my gosh,” was, “I am part of the Star Trek franchise now.” As an actor who’s worn lots of rubber bits over the years, it made sense that I would have been in Star Trek at some point during my career — didn’t happen until I was 56 years old. I thought that ship had sailed, but turns out that ship was a starship, and it finally docked and said, “Get on.” [Laughs] So, my first day on the set of Season 1, Episode 1 was like, “Oh, we’re really here. I’m on the bridge of a freaking starship in Starfleet in the Federation. Oh my gosh! And I’m playing a species that’s never been seen in this franchise ever before.” What a responsibility and gravity that I felt for that, as well.

At the end of the series, it was like, “Wow, have I been on a journey with this character and with this team of people.” It was a very emotional day, our final day, hugging each other and everyone fighting back tears and having a very happily-ever-after for my character. Saru went through such a journey, professionally. Upward mobility. Every promotion he got was like one more step up for a Kelpien for the first time, one more step up for a character who lived in fear and now is living in confidence and courage, getting over anxiety, and then finding love for the first time in his life, ending the series in a marriage. They get to live happily ever after romantically, and he gets to live happily ever after professionally. It couldn’t have been better. I could not ever have imagined a better finality for this character.

I know that Season 5 wasn’t originally planned to be the end, but with it coming to this really beautiful full-circle moment. Can you talk a bit about Saru’s final arc being that love story?

JONES: Again, it was kind of like this really, really good luck that Saru’s love story came to that sort of happily-ever-after in Season 5, not knowing that that was gonna be… We thought we had seven seasons to go, or a couple more. So, when I got the news that Season 5 was our final one, I thought back to what we filmed in Season 5 and I thought, “That feels pretty right to me.” That’s a great jump-off point for Saru, I think. I was sad to leave all my friends and this family that we built, but at the same time, story-wise, I felt pretty satisfied.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. You can stream the entire series on Paramount+.

Watch on Paramount+