Discovery’s Elias Toufexis Reveals Which Alien Species He’d Like To Return As
Sep 2, 2024
The Big Picture
Elias Toufexis didn’t know if his character L’ak would come back, adding uncertainty to filming his final scenes.
He would like to appear in another Star Trek show as a smaller, weirder alien character.
Toufexis is passionate about Star Wars and Marvel, hoping to join those franchises in the future.
As Star Trek: Discovery took its final bow with Season 5 earlier this year, not only did the series wrap up the arcs of our beloved crew, but it also introduced a few new faces that we wish we’d gotten to see more of. Among those faces was Elias Toufexis, who played one-half of the season’s antagonist duo, Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Toufexis). The final episodes of the series saw the star-crossed lovers torn apart as L’ak died protecting Moll.
To celebrate the release of Discovery Season 5 on Blu-ray and DVD, I sat down with Toufexis to reflect on his journey in the Star Trek franchise. Yes, I am still manifesting his turn as the new era of Star Trek’s Jeffrey Combs or Suzie Plakson-style actor who makes multiple appearances across the currently running shows, and Toufexis has ideas for where he’d like to pop up next. During our conversation, he also revealed that he didn’t know for certain that L’ak wouldn’t be back when he filmed his final scene. A huge sci-fi fan himself, Toufexis also revealed which other franchises he’d like to jump into now that he’s checked Star Trek off his list. You can read our full conversation in the transcript below or watch it in the player above.
COLLIDER: I really loved your arc on this season of Discovery . Last time we spoke, it was before L’ak was dead, so can you tell me about how you felt bringing his arc to a close and filming those final scenes with Eve [Harlow]?
ELIAS TOUFEXIS: Well, the funny thing about it is that I didn’t know if he was gonna come back or not. Even when we shot the testing. They hadn’t told me. I remember lying in that bed, and it was either Michelle [Paradise] or Tunde [Osunsanmi], one of them, and I said, “So is this the end? Because I know that the last few episodes are gonna be Moll trying to get him back. Is he coming back?” They were like, “Well, his corpse is gonna be around and stuff, but we’re not sure if he’s gonna come back or not.” So, it made it less about, “Okay, I’m dying, but I’m not really dying, maybe?” [Laughs] I die a lot on TV, so it made it a little less than it normally is where I’m like, “Okay, I’m done.”
But they did have a bit of a clap-out for me, which is when a character’s finished, and then the cast and crew get around and applaud. So, I think we all kind of knew that it was the end. But there was always that little hint, so I was like, “Oh, maybe I’m coming back.” Then they asked me to play his body in Episode 10, and I was like, “No, not if I’m never gonna wake up. Just use a dummy.” So, I never came back. That episode, at least, turned out to be my final days on the show.
You did such a good job with the whole arc. I know we spoke a little bit about it last time, your love for this franchise, and since you were in prosthetics the whole time, I genuinely think it would be so easy for you to pop up in another Star Trek show. It’s been so long since we’ve had a Jeffrey Combs or Suzie Plakson situation, and I am manifesting that for you. So if you could jump into any of the other currently running shows, which one would you choose, and what kind of character would you wanna play?
TOUFEXIS: Good question. I would have loved to work on Section 31, but that ship has sailed. Strange New Worlds is still going, and now there’s [Starfleet] Academy. Academy takes place around Discovery time, so I don’t know — maybe L’ak’s not dead. He is. I’m just kidding. It would be cool if he wasn’t. But I would like to go a different way because L’ak is a big, brooding tough guy. What if I tried to play a smaller, weirder alien, like a Ferengi or something? Because I have to be in prosthetics. I was in the first season, obviously, as just me, and then I’m also in a Star Trek video game called Resurgence. I play a main bad guy in that again. [Laughs] So, I’m trying to catch up to Jeffrey. I only have nine more things to go, or something like that, before I can catch up to Jeffrey. So, thank you for manifesting that for me.
Watching the older Star Trek seasons, you see those actors who pop up over and over.
TOUFEXIS: Yeah. I mean, it’s different nowadays because you don’t have 23 episodes a season, and they don’t have to fill. It’s not like Law & Order, where you have a judge one week, and then he’s a criminal the next. We don’t have that luxury, so I’d have to wait a little bit, I think. But if this franchise is going where we all think it’s going, maybe in a couple of years, yeah, that’d be great.
One of my favorite things about collecting physical media and getting these stunning box sets that they’re making is the bonus content. Can we expect to see you in any of the bonus content? Have you seen the gag reel?
TOUFEXIS: I haven’t seen anything. They haven’t shown me. I’ll tell you, there’s gotta be gag reels because Eve, especially, just bumps into everything. When we were wearing those helmets — man, I hope they put this on there — every take, it was just like, bang, Eve falls over, bang, Eve falls over. Because she was leading, so I would just laugh at her falling over. I hope there’s outtakes. I did interviews and things like that. I don’t know what’s on the Blu-ray set, but I’m a big collector, too, and I always like behind-the-scenes stuff. So hopefully there’s a good chunk of stuff that I did on there. And if not, I mean, everything is so fascinating. They have five seasons to talk about.
Star Trek and Star Wars Ignighted Elias Toufexis’ Passion For Acting
“Is it wrong for a Star Trek actor to say Star Wars?”
Image via Paramount
So what’s next on the horizon for you? What can fans look forward to seeing you in in the future?
TOUFEXIS: My whole life is NDAs. The things I am allowed to talk about are Blood of Zeus on Netflix most definitely. That’s a really good show. Season 3 just got greenlit. We’re doing that now. And like four games that I can’t talk about. A lot of my life is voiceover and performance capture. I was just in Serbia shooting a game that I can’t talk about. [Laughs] There’s a lot of stuff I can’t talk about. But of the stuff I can talk about, I would say Blood of Zeus on Netflix.
Excellent. I know joining Star Trek was such a huge career goal for you. I’m interested to know what other dream franchises you want to check off your bucket list.
TOUFEXIS: That’s a good question. I mean, Star Trek was always kind of number one for me. I love Star Wars, I love Marvel, I’ve done DC — I played the Penguin in a game, [Gotham Knights], which was really fun. I mean, is it wrong for a Star Trek actor to say Star Wars? [Laughs]
No, not at all!
TOUFEXIS: Of course, I’d love to be on Star Wars. Star Wars was the reason I wanted to be– It’s actually really, really interesting because when I was a kid, Star Wars was the first thing I saw and I wanted to be in Star Wars, but I didn’t know what that meant. I just wanted to be there. I didn’t really know about acting and things like that, and then I saw Star Trek, and then it became, “Oh, I want to know about this.” Then I think that kind of led me to a lot of learning about film and TV because I dove headfirst into the old show and TNG, and stuff [like] that. It took over from Star Wars. But if I’m honest, Star Wars was my impetus to be in this world, so I would actually love to join that franchise at one point. But I still like Star Trek.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. You can stream the entire series on Paramount+.
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