Discovery’s New Captain Is “Tough To Like But Hard Not To Love”, Says Star Trek Director

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s new series regular, Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), is a character fans may not like at first but they will grow to love, predicts director Doug Aarniokoski. Rayner was introduced in Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s premiere, “Red Directive,” as the Captain of the USS Antares. In Discovery season 5, episode 2, “Under the Twin Moons,” directed by Aarniokoski, the abrasive Rayner is demoted for insubordination, but Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) offers Rayner a lifeline as her new First Officer aboard the USS Discovery.

Doug Aarniokoski was a guest on The 7th Rule podcast with Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk to discuss directing Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 2. When Lofton compared Captain Rayner to Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) from Star Trek: Picard season 3, who fans disliked at first but became a beloved breakout character, Aarniokoski agreed that Rayner has the same potential. Read their conversation and watch The 7th Rule video below:

Doug Aarniokoski: He’s amazing. [He’s] new to the ship. New to the crew. New to the cast. Season 5, there’s a lot of history backing into that. And it’s so interesting that you saw a Shaw, if you will. I mean, look, Shaw is Quint. Quint in Jaws. You hate that guy. You hate Quint when he comes on the ship, and he’s like, ‘Let’s catch that shark.’

Cirroc Lofton: Then you start easing onto him. You start liking him.

Doug Aarniokoski: You start going, ‘I understand who this guy is.’ This guy’s just driven. He’s got a directive. He’s got a target. He knows what he’s firing at. He knows what he’s doing. He’s got the experience. You may not like that he’s rough around the edges, but at the end of the day, he’s trying to catch the shark. He’s trying to catch the shark. And I think that Shaw had that in Picard, and I think you’re gonna see in Discovery, a character that is tough to like, but eventually you’ll see is hard not to love.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 streams Thursdays on Paramount+

Source: The 7th Rule