Jones, it should be noted, is best known for his roles playing monsters and non-human creatures; in many of his roles, his face is covered by monster makeup. Jones played a zombie in “Hocus Pocus,” a kangaroo man in “Warriors of Virtue,” the faun in “Pan’s Labyrinth,” and a fishman in both “Hellboy” and “The Shape of Water.” He’s played various other ghouls and creatures in films like “Doom,” “The Lady in the Water,” “Crimson Peak,” “Legion,” “The Watch,” and “The Bye Bye Man.” He’s not known for being a leading man.
Jones has been fine with this, and even understood that he’d be playing a supporting player in “Star Trek: Discovery.” Becoming captain, though, was more of a role than he had even expected to play. He admitted:
“The biggest challenge in season three was that Saru wanted to be the captain of a starship; Doug Jones, not so much. I was intimidated by the responsibility and the gravity of it. I took on the challenge of being captain in season three, with way more dialog and more scenes to be a part of. It’s a lot. I knew, in the beginning, I was going to be the second fiddle in the show, and I was happy with that. It was still Michael Burnham’s show — Sonequa Martin-Green is still the lead of our show, no question. But to be a captain was a daunting responsibility.”
The captain’s chair was capably handled by Saru throughout the third season. For a full season of TV, Saru was allowed to grow into a more confident character. This was the next logical step in the character’s arc, given that he recently had undergone a biological change that made him braver.