GANGLIA MAN STYLE

Doug Jones can be just as anxious as Lieutenant Saru

How much do you identify with your character?

I am very much Saru in my personal life. I feel like I have zero talent, but I’m forced out in public as an actor. “Now what? I’m incapable of this, but I have to put a face on and do it!” Then by the end of the day, people are going, “Good job!” and I’m like, “Wow, I pulled it off!” Saru does that every day. I’ve learned from playing him that our fears are often based in something that isn’t a true threat.

is there anything you’d like to see in the scripts?

The one thing that hasn’t been tapped into, for me, is his love life: how does a Kelpien find love when he’s the only one on a starship? I don’t know. We go to Saru’s planet this season, but it’s my first time back in tens of years. It’s not like I can hop home for a Tinder date!