From the beginning, Star Trek has promised to boldly go where no one has gone before, and Star Trek: Discovery took that promise to heart. The series returned to CBS All Access for season 3 with a whopping 930-year time jump, taking the crew of the USS Discovery to a time unrecognizable not only to fans of seasons 1 and 2, but also of any era of Trek. Naturally, we had some questions, and when we got the opportunity to sit down with star Doug Jones—who plays Kelpien Starfleet Officer Saru under heavy prosthetics—we got some more details on season 3's substantial changes.

Here's what Jones had to say about how the time-jump has afforded the Discovery writers room a new sense of freedom.

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Image via CBS All Access

“[The show] has massively changed. We are boldly going where no Star Trek series has gone before, and that was a permanent jump to the future. 930 years. So not just a couple of years. We went to a whole new era with a new set of rules, new customs, new everything. What this did for the writers, though, we were playing ten years before the original series in the first two seasons. We started having to adhere to canon and making sure everything we were doing didn’t affect later seasons and canon and storylines that they have already filmed. Now we’ve jumped ahead to where the writers have freedom to create from the ground up. That’s exciting, and we’ll explore new worlds and new creatures and, of course, the nostalgia of all the species you know already, we’re going to visit them again but with new relationships to each other than what you know. It’s exciting to see how the galaxy had changed in those 930 years.”

The changes Discovery is going through aren't just overarching; they also apply to Saru, specifically, and the way Jones has to play the Kelpien character. (The hoof boots, unfortunately for him, remain.) In season 1, Saru was a "fear-based" character, the threat ganglia in his neck informing every movement Jones made. When the threat ganglia was removed in season 2, Jones' performance changed—Saru became bolder, more assertive—and for season 3 "his confidence has to remain intact," Jones says, "because right now Saru is acting captain."

This is true, for now. But the question of who will sit in the captain's seat of the Discovery is one of season 3's biggest plotlines, Jones tells me.

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Image via CBS All Access

"We had a huge task ahead of us [when Saru became acting captain]. When that happened, we were jumping in a wormhole through time and up to the future. So the question remains, and episodes 1 and 2 haven’t answered this yet so this is what’s to come, what’s going to happen to our captain’s chair permanently? We don’t know. Saru and Michael Burnham, we shared a glance across the bridge…I threw a look to Burnham, she threw a look to me, so it’s understood the two of us are probably equally well-qualified for it, equally desirous of it, but equally desirous that the other person get it. Because our relationship has grown, and gotten so brotherly/sisterly, that we really do appreciate and respect each other so much, that I want hat position for her as much as she wants it for me. That’s yet to be decided."

The other major, still-to-be-revealed question of season 3: What the heck state is the United Federation of Planets in, 930 years into an uncertain future? Stay tuned, says Jones.

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Image via CBS

"The other question remains A) Are we going to find the Federation, and B) What condition will it be in? Will it be in a state of disrepair, will it be up and running? Will they want to assign us a captain of their own from the future who understand the world we’re in now? Or do we have to self-govern and assign a captain amounts ourselves?

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In episode 1, it was shown that the Federation has been missing. If they’re out there, they’re well-hidden. So it probably will have to come down to Michael Burnham and Saru to decide among themselves. That has yet to be explored."

When I spoke to Jones, he was quarantined in a Toronto condo preparing to shoot the recently-announced Star Trek: Discovery season 4. While he obviously couldn't reveal much, he did note the confidence CBS has in the series:

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Courtesy of CBS All Access

"In the old days of television, a show would not announce a renewal for a new season until the current season was halfway done or almost done or well done. So for us to be prepping and announcing a new season…we knew it would be filming long before season 3 would be airing. Those decisions are above my paygrade and I don’t know what goes into making that decision, how they decide a show’s profitability when they haven’t really tested the season that’s current yet. I’m just grateful that they have the faith in us, the network has the faith in us and the fanbase has stuck with us to warrant that kind of faith.”

Check out exactly what Jones had to say in the player above and be on the lookout for our full interview later this week. For more on Star Trek: Discovery, here are the latest production details for season 4.