Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 7 - "Erigah"
Summary
- Elias Toufexis makes Star Trek history as L'ak, the first Breen to remove his helmet in Discovery season 5.
- L'ak's tragic fate with lover Moll unfolds as they defy the Breen Imperium in a bold way in episode 7, "Erigah".
- Toufexis reflects on filming L'ak's death scene, his love for the Breen storyline, and the surreal experience on the Enterprise set.
Elias Toufexis' soulful Breen rebel, L'ak, makes Star Trek history even as his ultimate fate is decided in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. A lifelong Star Trek fan, Toufexis had a small role in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, but he's back as one of season 5's big bads alongside Eve Harlow, who plays L'ak's lover, Moll.
Star Trek: Discovery season 5 dropped major bombshells that evolves what's known about the villainous Breen Imperium. L'ak is not only a Breen, but he's the Scion, the last blood descendant of the late Breen Emperor. But L'ak fell in love with Moll, and he escaped the grip of his uncle Primarch Ruhn (Tony Nappo), rejecting his Breen heritage to seek a life of freedom with his beloved. But Moll and L'ak's dreams come to a tragic end.
The Breen placed an Erigah, or blood bounty, on L'ak and Moll's heads.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide
As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.
Screen Rant interviewed Elias Toufexis about playing L'ak's death in season 5, episode 7, "Erigah", what it was like filming on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Enterprise sets, and making Star Trek history as the first Breen to remove his helmet.
Elias Toufexis Discusses L'ak's Shocking Death In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5
Screen Rant: We're gonna do a post-mortem on Discovery episode 507. Literally. Because I was genuinely stunned. I was like, Wait, is that for real? L'ak's really dead?
Elias Toufexis: Well, I mean, that was the thing, right? It had to have an impact on the story. So I knew it was coming. Even before I got the script, I had figured it out. If they're gonna want to do this kind of Breen-Federation schism, even though it's already there, there has to be a reason. I was working this out on my own. It can't just be L'ak just doesn't want to give this give up. So I looked at him like, 'He's gonna die. He has to die.' They didn't tell me. I just knew from a storyteller point of view he has to die. There's no way for where the story to go where it needed to go without L'ak's sacrifice. And as sad as I was, I understood it for the story.
It's very interesting being a character like this, because there's a part of you that's really sad L'ak is gone. And then there's a part of the actor going, 'Well, I don't have to wake up tomorrow at 2:30 in the morning and put on four and a half hours of prosthetics anymore.' So that's good. I probably would have done it. But yeah, that was what ends up happening with L'ak.
It's funny, when I watched episode 505 the first time, I sensed something was already up because L'ak's ship is destroyed off-screen. And I'm like, 'Elias loves that ship. Something's wrong.'
Elias Toufexis: I'm glad you went there with it. 'Elias loves that ship. He wouldn't let them do that.' Like I have any say in the matter.
Tell me about playing L'ak's death scene. You're one of the few Star Trek actors who actually got to do a death scene.
Elias Toufexis: Yeah, it was an interesting episode for me because he is in that medbay bed that entire episode. And so, there were times where I would have to put on [L'aks'] whole [costume] including the hands because he has no gloves in this episode. So it'd be like six hours a day to get into this thing. And then, they wouldn't shoot me because they'd be shooting all the stuff that happens around the bed. And I put on all this stuff! I did the math, John, I did the math. And that week, I was more L'ak than I was me. That week, the hours that I had put in, I was more L'ak than me. So it was kind of freaking me out a little bit, it was getting to me.
But the death scene, it was mostly about Eve. It's not hard to play because Eve's so good, right? So the only thing that was tricky about that was making sure that, much like most of the rest of the season, I was getting through the makeup and through the lenses, that the emotion that was needed [was there]. But it was mostly pushed through Eve, who gave an amazing performance. You know, it's not that hard to look up and see Eve and Moll crying and desperate. And I didn't have that much else to do. I just had to look at her eyes. And it all kind of came to me. So it was a lot to do with her, and I don't think I ever shot anything without looking at her. I know we had a really close up, and I'm trying to if I couldn't look at her. I'm pretty sure I could look at her even in the close up. Because she helped me get to everywhere I needed to get to because of her great performance.
And then the way they cut it together too is really good. And it's funny because I saw that in the script. Again, the storyteller in me said, 'Oh, this is gonna be good. She's gonna walk slowly, and she's gonna walk by all the characters, and she's gonna see L'ak.' And I knew it was going to work out. It was great to have a death. Everything I did on this show was great to do in of like, 'Look, I'm doing this in Star Trek, I'm doing this in Star Trek.' I have my own ship. I have my own phaser. I have fights. I have holograms. I have all this crazy stuff that I'm doing, and every time I do them, I'm like, 'This is the coolest thing I've ever done.' So even dying was like, 'Yeah, that's cool. I get to die on Star Trek.'
Elias Toufexis' Favorite Scene As L'ak And Filming On Strange New Worlds' Enterprise Set
Did you have a favorite scene to shoot as L'ak?
Elias Toufexis: The Breen stuff was really good. All that all that stuff in the past, I really enjoyed that. Even though I that week was very tiring because that wardrobe was really tight and hard to move around in. But again, it was Eve. Eve made everything easier for me. So her great performance is easy to play off. The only issue I had with L'ak is, I think we've already talked about this, but it was trying to get through the makeup. I did talk to you about this because I would see you at things and go, 'Did it come through? Did it come through?' Like 'Did the empathy come through? Did you feel bad for him? Do you feel sorry for them?' That's really all I really, really wanted.
But my favorite stuff was the Breen stuff. The stuff in the past, mostly because of the love story. And then, being able to play intimidated by his uncle, because he's such a badass for the rest of the season. Showing that he's actually intimidated by his uncle and also by Moll, or shy around Moll and intimidated by his uncle. It's very different from what I present L'ak as in the first couple of episodes, where he's just this big, brooding tough guy. But the ability to go and play scared and shy is, I think, my favorite stuff, because it's so different from what you would expect.
The last time you and I talked with Eve was right before Discovery episode 505 happened. So we could not talk about you filming on the Enterprise set of Strange New Worlds. I've gotta ask you about that. I even I saw the photo you posted of you in the captain's chair. What was that like being on that set?
Elias Toufexis: Like I posted on Twitter, there's a picture of me at 15 years old on a makeshift captain's chair that I made playing Star Trek in my friend's basement. And then I'm sitting on the actual bridge as an actual major character in Star Trek. You almost have to step back from it because, when you're in the moment, you're like, 'Yeah, this is really cool. Okay, but I gotta memorize my lines.' And then, when you step back from it, you start going, 'This is insane. If had told my 15-year-old self that I was going to be on that Enterprise, not only the Enterprise, but the Enterprise from "Mirror, Mirror." With that actual Enterprise, one of my favorite episodes ever. An episode I grew up watching my dad and my uncles... I don't know that it's even sunk in. Like, it might sink in a year from now. And it's really cool when you kind of forget about it for a minute.
But I would have gotten in so much trouble if they had known what I was doing. I was climbing up the Jeffries Tube. Like, 'I'm going up the Jeffries Tube, I don't care.' Nobody was around, and I'm climbing up the Jefferies Tube, I'm gonna check it out. I snuck onto the bridge 'cause I didn't shoot anything on the bridge. All my stuff was in the med bay. So I was walking around the set whenever I had a second off and going, "Can you take a picture of me, please, on the bridge?' Yeah, so I was geeking out the entire time. It was crazy.
Man, I'm glad you got to live that dream.
Elias Toufexis: It's pretty crazy. Again, I don't know that I've fully accepted it. My buddy Andrew and I grew up together loving Star Trek, and he did that stuff in the basement with me. And he was telling me, 'Dude, every time I talk to you, I don't think you realize what you did there. If I could tell you at 15 what you would be doing, you would be freaking out, and you seem very calm.' I just don't know that it sunk in. It is very hard to separate work from life at times. I never get intimidated meeting big actors because I always meet them at work. Like, some actor I have ired my whole life, but I'm meeting them at work, so it's work. And then later, I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, I worked with Jon Voight. I love Jon Voight! I've been loving Jon Voight's work forever, and I did a movie with him.' That kind of stuff sits later, so I'm not sure I've actually grasped it yet. I will.
What It Means For L'ak To Be A History-Making Star Trek Character
There's an alternate timeline where Moll and L'ak stole the Mirror Universe Enterprise and that became their ship. I would write that story.
Elias Toufexis: You know what story I want to write? There's two years between when Moll and L’ak escape the Breen to when “Red Directive” starts. Where's that story?
Yeah, that's a good point. My last question for you: I wrote an article about L'ak being a history-making Star Trek character. The first fully-realized Breen character in Star Trek. You just made history. What's your take on that?
Elias Toufexis: That's the thing. I being going to get, I think I may have talked you about this, getting the plaster mold. And when I got there, I asked if they had any concept art. And then they showed me, and [L'ak] turned out pretty much exactly like the concept art, maybe a little different. But I said, 'What race is this character?' And he said, 'He's a Breen.' And my brain was like, 'Wait a minute, the Breen don't take their helmets off.' That was the first thing I said. And then, they laughed and said, 'Yeah, you're doing it.' And then, I realized, 'Oh, I'm making history. I'm making Star Trek history.'
You know, where my mind went first? Articles like yours, the one you wrote, and, technical manuals. Because I collected them, technical manuals, Star Trek manuals. I'm gonna get one soon, and it's gonna have the Breen in it. And the first time the Breen's [face is] seen is me! Again, much like being on the bridge of the Enterprise, it's kind of mind-blowing when you step back, but you've gotta step back.
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
- David Ajala and Doug Jones
- Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman & Blu del Barrio
- Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise
- Callum Keith Rennie
- Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis
- David Ajala
- Mary Wiseman
New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 stream Thursdays on Paramount+
Star Trek: Discovery
- Release Date
- 2017 - 2024-00-00
- Showrunner
- Alex Kurtzman
- Directors
- Olatunde Osunsanmi, Jonathan Frakes
Cast
Rekha Sharma
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Alex Kurtzman, Bryan Fuller
- Franchise(s)
- Star Trek
- Seasons
- 5
- Streaming Service(s)
- Paramount Plus
- Where To Watch
- Paramount Plus
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