Doug Jones Pitches Ideal Saru & T'Rina Star Trek Spinoff 2 Years After Discovery

Doug Jones improvised what sounds like the perfect series for Saru after Star Trek: Discovery. After five seasons on Paramount+, Star Trek: Discovery came to an end in 2024. The success of the first Star Trek on Paramount+ series sparked a renaissance, with five more Star Trek TV series and a streaming movie, three of which are direct spinoffs of Star Trek: Discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 wasn’t originally planned as the final season, but after canceling the show, Paramount+ greenlit 3 additional days to film an epilogue and bring the series to a conclusion. However, Saru’s ending was naturally built into Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s finale, which ended with the Kelpien Ambassador’s wedding to President T’Rina (Tara Rosling) of Ni’Var.

ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan caught up to Doug Jones at the red carpet of the 53rd annual Saturn Awards, which honored Star Trek with the Hall of Fame Award. Regarding the mysterious future of the Star Trek franchise, Ash asked Doug what he would like to see next, and he spitballed an ideal spinoff idea for Saru and T’Rina. Read Doug’s quote below:

Doug Jones: Oh, golly. They’ve touched on everything. I think Starfleet Academy was a brilliant move to go back to how do these cadets become Starfleet officers on ships, right? Let’s explore those characters. And I loved Strange New Worlds too, because it went back. It had an original Trek vibe. And our Discovery was the first of the new streaming series, so I feel very proud that we got spinoffs from our show. I don’t know what’s left. That might be a question for the Roddenberrys. Rod can answer that for you when you see him. I think he’s here tonight too.
Oh, I know! Well, since President T’Rina and I, my Vulcan fiancée, got married, finally. She’s a Vulcan, I’m a Kelpian. Let’s explore what world we live in together and have our own series we could lead.

Captain Saru left the USS Discovery to become an Ambassador, and the Kelpien’s romance with the Vulcan President of Ni’Var was a fan-favorite, slow-burn love story that culminated in their nuptials in Star Trek: Discovery‘s finale. However, as Doug Jones suggests, there are fascinating new angles of their story to explore.

After all, Saru and T’Rina are the first Kelpien and Vulcan romance in Star Trek. Besides natural curiosity about their physical relationship, their roles as a Federation Ambassador and the President of the shared Vulcan and Romulan homeworld lend themselves to a potentially fascinating TV series about 32nd-century politics and diplomacy.

Star Trek politics is in vogue right now. Scott Bakula is keen to return as President Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: United, a proposed political and family drama envisioned by Star Trek: Enterprise writer-producer Michael Sussman. A thousand years later, in a Federation that’s very different politically, Saru and T’Rina would have wildly different challenges balancing marital bliss with turbulent politics and diplomacy.

On the Star Trek Cruise, Doug Jones, who had a legendary 40-year career wearing prosthetics, spoke with relief about how he has played nothing but human characters after Star Trek: Discovery ended. However, Doug could be persuaded to don the “rubber bits” again and bring Saru back if Star Trek came to him with a worthy project.

Given that there is currently no Star Trek in production or greenlit at Paramount Skydance, and Doug Jones came up with his Saru and T’Rina series idea on the spot, it’s merely fun to speculate about it.

However, the most likely way for Doug Jones to reprise Saru after Star Trek: Discovery would be in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy season 2, which just wrapped filming. If Saru is coming back, Doug Jones will keep that secret until it happens.