Star Trek: Discovery's final season is heading into its seventh episode, with just four episodes left for fans to enjoy before the show shuffles off for good. The last two episodes were marked by a major character being missing; Saru. The Kaminarian has been arguably the best part of the show since his debut in season one, but many fans noticed that the character, played by Doug Jones, was nowhere to be seen over the last two weeks.
Why would a major, starring character be missing for two weeks? Well, there's a simple explanation for that, he had work to do. Other work, to be more to the point. While it may seem a long time ago, during the filming and work on these last two episodes, "Mirrors" and "Whistlespeak", Saru's actor, Jones, was doing press for a then-new film, "Hocus Pocus 2".
I was off promoting Hocus Pocus 2 at the time, but I will be back for more before the season ends!
— Doug Jones (@actordougjones) April 27, 2024
A lot of fans were shocked that an event two years prior kept Jones out of Star Trek, but it did.
Hocus Pocus 2 came out in 2022, almost two years prior to the airing of these current sets of episodes, but the filming of Discovery and the press work for Hocus Pocus 2 coincided, and Jones was contractually obligated (more than likely) to do press regardless of his filming schedule.
To be fair, Jones' reputation was created in part due to his work on the original Hocus Pocus, and because of that film, his reputation of being a great movie monster, or in Star Trek's case, alien, started to develop and expand. Ever since then the lengthy Jones has been used in just about any major movie or show where they had to put someone in a lot of makeup.
Without Hocus Pocus, we may not have Jones' role on Discovery.
It also helps to put in perspective just how long it takes for this new era of Star Trek shows to get made. Things were being filmed in 2022 that wouldn't air until 2024. It used to be that Star Trek would start filming in the mid-to-late summer, and episodes would start popping out two or so months later and would continue that way for most of the season.
Those shows were better, in a lot of ways, but the work schedule had to be far more hectic. Still, it allowed for a quicker turnaround and allowed fans to stay engaged far more readily. Maybe it's time to go back to such a schedule. It should would save time and money.