Karl Urban Nearly Didn’t Return After Star Trek Into Darkness

Karl Urban’s performance in 2009’s Star Trek may have made Leonard Nimoy cry, but by the time Urban was done filming the sequel he was about ready to bow out of the Star Trek universe.

Speaking at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention, Urban says that he felt Bones was underserved by the story of Star Trek Into Darkness, and that he wasn’t sure he wanted to return if it was going to be more of the same in Star Trek Beyond.

“Firstly, I was a little disappointed with the lack of development with McCoy in [Star Trek Into Darkness],” Urban said during his spotlight panel (via Trek Movie). “So it was that. Even though I had an amazing experience working with J.J. [Abrams] and the cast, at the end of the day I didn’t have much to do. So when they came to me with the offer for [Star Trek Beyond] I was literally in the final stages of negotiating another film.”

It was Justin Lin, the director brought on just before pre-production began to replace Roberto Orci, who managed to convince Urban to return.

“They were basically asking me to take a leap of faith with them and I was unsure,” Urban recalled. “I knew that if I didn’t do it I would regret it. As I said before, it’s like family with those guys and it’s so much fun. It was really Justin Lin. We got on the phone and even though I couldn’t read a script he told me the story and when he explained the situation of Bones and Spock being shot out of the turbolift into space and crash landing on a planet and being marooned together I was like ‘In! I am in in a big way!’”

“It was sort of me letting them know I expected a somewhat higher caliber of contribution for the character of McCoy,” Urban continued. “And it prompted them to develop it more and I certainly had a great ally in [co-star and Beyond co-screenwriter] Simon Pegg.”

Urban’s experience on Star Trek Beyond must have been a good one since he’s already stated that’s he’d be happy to return for a fourth movie in the series, assuming Paramount still plans to make a fourth movie after Star Trek Beyond‘s lukewarm box office performance.