In case you couldn't tell by the two clips released for Star Trek: Discovery's upcoming season, the series will be going out with a bang.
Canadian actor Elias Toufexis, who plays L'ak, one of the two main antagonists in Season 5, appeared on the YouTube show TrekCulture recently to discuss the upcoming final season of Star Wars: Discovery. Toufexis praised the series for its bold ideas and giant leaps while describing Season 5 as "pure adventure" from start to finish.
One thing I always appreciated about [Discovery] was, ‘Let’s take these giant leaps of ideas and take these giant leaps’… Like, let’s throw it way in the future [in season 3]. Why not? And then you get all these different ships and what’s the Federation like, and all that stuff. The Burn was fascinating, whether you liked how it ended, whatever, it was a really interesting idea. And then in the fourth season, they slowed everything down and did that that kind of Star Trek The Motion Picture thing and it’s coming in and everything’s slow. And then I think they said, ‘Okay, we did the slow thing last season, so let’s go the other way this year.’ So [season 5] is pure adventure from episode 1 to 10. It’s chases and battles and there’s still all the Star Trek stuff. There’s a lot.”
While we haven't received a proper trailer, the official synopsis teases Season 5 "will find Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) 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."
Toufexis's L'ak is one of these dangerous foes, alongside Moll (Eve Harlow). The two partners' relationship has been compared to Harley Quinn and the Joker, something that Toufexis sought to clarify.
Kinda. It’s true. Except L’ak is not the Joker. He’s very stoic and tough. He’s not big and crazy. This is not just a bad guy that is evil throughout. They go into why he’s doing what he’s doing, and Moll too, and why they love each other, and how thety fall in love. All that stuff, at least in my case, I played it completely genuine. It’s a genuine love they have for each other, and they just want to do what they’re gonna do, and they want the Federation off their tail. That’s what the story is about from our point of view. There’s so many moments of love, and romance, and also moments of fear and doubt. It’s not just him being angry all the time, and evil. They’re both layered characters… Sacrifices, battles, and fights, and true love… All that stuff… That’s what the season is for Moll and L’ak…
The two early clips for Season 5 have shown off more of the action-packed sequences, but Toufexis assures fans it's still Star Trek, and even teased callbacks to previous shows.
One thing I really love… there are two really big callbacks to previous shows, in terms of the storyline. So as a fan I was like, ‘Oh, I love this!’ They were showing me the script and I was like, ‘Oh, you are bringing that back!’… So just as a fan, I was really excited about that. I am not just saying this because I am in it, I feel like this season is so much fun.”
It sounds like L'ak and Moll will be more than throwaway characters specifically created for the show's final season. In concluding the interview, Toufexis offered one last teaser:
“What my character turns out to be is huge for Star Trek. It’s like, I can’t… We’ll talk after the season airs because you are going to want to talk specifics.”
It's hard to say how much Toufexis is embellishing here, but it's clear he's excited for his role in the fifth season. We got our first glimpse of L'ak and Moll in the exclusive clip shown at SDCC 2023. Taken from the first episode, titled "Red Directive," we see Burnham aboard an 800-year-old Romulan vessel hunting for a hidden artifact. She encounters L'ak and Moll and all hell breaks loose.
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 is set to premiere on Paramount+ in April 2024.