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Karl Urban's Reluctance To Be in Star Trek Beyond Led To A 'Well-Defined' Version of Bones'


One of the highlights of Justin Lin's Star Trek Beyond is Karl Urban's performance as Bones. His character is more developed and had more screen time than the first two films of J.J. Abrams' rebooted trilogy.

Speaking to Startrek.com, Karl Urban discussed the reluctance to reprise his role as Bones for Star Trek Beyond. He almost passed the role up, but thankfully, his conversations with director Justin Lin and writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung led to bring a well-defined version of his character:

"I felt that I was in agreement with a vast number of fans and audience members and critics who, after watching Into Darkness, felt that the character had become marginalized. And I was not keen to repeat that experience...But I got on the phone with (director) Justin Lin, and I raised my concerns and issues with him. And he outlined the story and the vision that he had for the character. And I was immediately intrigued and also somewhat reassured that he was a long-term fan of Star Trek, that he understood the weight and value of the character, and how the character interacts with Spock and Kirk...I collaborated with Simon(Pegg) and Doug (Jung) and Justin to bring a well-defined version of the character to screen. And thankfully, they were very receptive to it. There's a lot of material in the film that's a direct result of e-mails and conversations and opinions that I held about what I wanted the character to do in this movie."

The exchange clearly paid off as we saw a more developed Bones than the previous couple of films. His interactions with Spock and the humor he brings in his dialogues highlight some of my favorite moments in the film. I actually think his character had a more interesting role than Spock in this film. Spock felt more like an empty baggage in this film.

Hopefully, Urban will return as bones in Star Trek 4, which is said to reunite James T. Kirk and his father, played by Chirs Hemsworth in the first film

You can read our review of Star Trek Beyond here.

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