Summary

• Saru and Book navigate complicated romantic relationships in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, balancing love and career decisions.
• Book and Burnham's fractured relationship requires healing, while Saru considers putting romance or career first in the new season.
• Doug Jones and David Ajala reflect on the unique experiences of playing their characters in Discovery, including developing their roles.

Doug Jones and David Ajala are not just two of Star Trek: Discovery season 5's leading men, but their characters, Captain Saru and Cleveland Booker, are also in complicated relationships with Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and President T'Rina (Tara Rosling), respectively.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Captain Burnham's treasure hunt for an ancient power that could upend the galaxy requires working once more with her estranged significant other, Cleveland Booker. Meanwhile, Captain Saru has a new role in Starfleet that could affect his romance with T'Rina, the Vulcan president of the planet Ni'Var.

Screen Rant interviewed Doug Jones and David Ajala prior to the world premiere of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 about Saru and Book's relationship statuses, and what they're proudest of in their time on Discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery's Romantic Leading Men Touch On Relationship Complications

Screen Rant: Saru and Book are both the big romantic leading men of the show. When are Saru and Book going out for beers and talking about their significant others? Have a boys' night out?

Doug Jones: Right, talking about the women in our lives.

David Ajala: That's an episode that needs to be written. Geez. That'd be fun. Yeah, it's fun because we I always love when we get to do scenes together. It's always a treat. And I think that's one thing I kind of missed. We didn't get enough scenes together, but the scenes that we do have are always intentional.

David, Book and Burnham weren't together when Discovery season 4 ended, and they see each other again in season 5. Tell me about where they're at in the relationship when season 5 begins.

David Ajala: When season five begins, It's a very formal reconnection between Cleveland Booker and Michael Burnham. He's needed for services because they have a very big problem which needs an immediate solution. And he is your guy, believe it or not. So when they do meet up, it's very formal. But, of course, Cleveland Booker's always cheeky, and he's always trying to find the pockets to kind of maneuver.

But their relationship is fractured. And it's an open wound that needs to be healed. And he recognizes that, and then, so does she. And then, throughout the season, we just see how they offer each other olive branches towards reconciliation. And it happens speedily because their love for each other is strong.

Saru Has To Consider Romance Vs. Career In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

Doug, you said before that Saru's relationship with T'Rina progresses further, and that Saru also has a bit of a change in his career in season 5. When push comes to shove, does Saru put his relationship or his career first?

Doug Jones: Oh, right. Can't he do both? I think that's the conclusion he's gonna come to is that, you know, he's done nothing but career all of his time. And romance is new to him. So President T'Rina also being a career-minded diplomat, now, she's faced with love for the first time. And we're both kind of experiencing this like teenagers like, 'Ooh, this is new and different. I don't know what's happening to my pitter patter. Whoa!'

Now with a promotion afoot? Will he take it? Will he not? And she says, 'Don't consider me in this, you do your career thing.' And he might have to then find the balance in both and say, 'You know what, I'm going to consider you, and here's how I think we're going to negotiate this.'

Is there something in particular about playing Book and Saru you look back on and you're like, 'Oh, it's so cool. I got to do that.'

David Ajala: Season five, episode one. The action sequences. That was that was a lot of fun to be part of, knowing what we were going to shoot, shooting it and then seeing that this idea has exceeded our expectations. That was very, very fulfilling for me.

Doug Jones: As I look back on being a Kelpien, there hasn't been any Kelpiens in any Star Trek shows before this. So that was kind of special, for me to help develop and grow Saru from the ground up. And also to be the first alien species in a captain's chair for an entire season on the title ship. Hadn't happened before. And also to have a love interest, to have a romantic story while you're looking nonhuman, it's another kind of unique thing that I'm glad I had fun experiencing with Saru.

About Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well … dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

Check out our other Star Trek: Discovery season 5 interviews here:

• Sonequa Martin-Green
• Alex Kurtzman & Michelle Paradise
• Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman & Blu del Barrio

Star Trek: Discovery premieres April 4 on Paramount+Source: Screen Rant Plus