Karl Urban: Star Trek Crew Get ‘Tested’ In Sequel

Star Trek’s Karl Urban has a bit more to say about the Star Trek sequel. No spoilers this time but he does go into how the crew of the Enterprise and their relationships will be "tested" in the next Trek. Interview excerpts below.    

 

 

Urban: Star Trek Crew Get ‘Tested’ In Sequel

ScreenRant spoke to Karl Urban at Comic Con, where they got him to open up a little bit about the characters in the sequel:

"I think that everybody’s character gets to continue to develop, and you learn more about them and what makes them tick, and they get tested like they’ve never been tested before. And to me, that’s always the great sign of a good ‘Star Trek’ story. When the relationships between those crew members become strained, and how they would have to find the common ground within each other to overcome this. So yeah, I’m excited for it, we had a great time shooting it.”

Urban was also asked about his previous comment that Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Gary Mitchell, but he demurred…

“Ah yes, you know, I received a few phone calls over that one. I really – what was the legal term that was explained to me? ‘Not at liberty to discuss “Star Trek.”


Karl Urban as McCoy in "Star Trek"

 

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“Urban” Legends :)

thanks, real mccoy!

So it’s gonna be called, ‘Where No One Has Gone Before’ with Garry Mitchell being the baddy… I wonder what the Victory will look like.

Ok. He’s screwing with us. Which is good. It can’t be Gary Mitchell. See supposedly in-canon current Star Trek comic. And it’s not Khan either. You guys are narrowing down the possibilities here. Who knows? Maybe it’s God, and he needs a starship.

“Um, excuse me, but why does God need a starship?”

I’m officially sick of all of these overly coy rumors about “Which canon character is Benedict Cumberbatch playing?” At this point? I can barely will myself to even care anymore. Maybe the new title should be: Star Trek: What Many Have Already Seen Before…

Forgive me if I sound a tad jaundiced or rumor-fatigued, but how many ‘news’ items on this site are just idle rumors, hints or suggestions with almost nothing substantial or on the record? Hopefully, any more forthcoming ‘news’ on the ST sequel is actual NEWS and not just rumor, innuendo or other empty gossip. I’ll keep checking this site every now and then; maybe we’ll get some REAL official, on-the-record facts about this movie someday.

JJ Abram’s policy of secrecy (not even a Comic Con panel) is beginning to breed apathy (at least for this old Trekkie).

‘Your pain runs deep, share it with me!’

@6

How about everyone stopping constantly probing these actors for tiny bits of info and just wait for the actual movie?

Finnegan!

You can create a totally new story with established characters. So I’m not bothered if Cumberbatch is Mitchell, Khan, Garth, Gary Seven, or whomever.

I’m just getting a little bored with all the top secret stuff.

He is great. I like him. A real Fan playing a trek legend in a legendary good way and with respect to Kelley. Perfect!

8) Its the reporter/interviewers job to ask, if they didnt ask they wouldnt be doing their job now would they.

#6 You mean McCoy rumors?

Those Paramount lawyers have no empathy or understanding! After all, he’d just been on a 22 hour flight to (or from?) New Zealand! : D

A bit too much secrecy on this project, I have to agree. I mean, not even a title yet…
Certainly, I would have expected at least that, along with a teaser trailer by now.

It’s not that long until the films release after all.

12. That may be true, but the editor’s job is to realize there is no news in this article. No news = do not publish….

He’s being very (Mc)coy about the whole thing now…

Can’t wait! It’s gonna be great! I don’t care who the villain is any longer. Just give us great Spock, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty (with some substance, this time!), you know the rest; and, of course, Cumberbatch!

Oh, Karl loves to tweak with the fans. *grin* He once lied about the date of his own birthday… Hey, between LOTR, Xena, Doom, Dredd, Red, Priest, and Star Trek, he’s probably going to be at cons for the rest of his days, not surprising he knows how the game is played, and how to mess with people trying to tease out hints about the plot.

I’m beginning to wonder if the creators of Trek2 simply don’t fully believe in what they’ve got. There’s secrecy and building anticipation and then there’s “oh crap…this is what we’ve got? How long can we stall releasing details?”

It’s a very old game now and I’m tired of it. These days, I think there needs to be at least some presence for a genre film at SDCC, and there was NOTHING. And the creators were strangely proud of this.

I honestly am not that interested anymore. I’d rather a new TV series anyway, and this movie will have to be superb to overcome the glaring flaws of the first film, which has not fared well upon repeat viewings.

Add me to this list: I’m not that interested anymore either.

I really don’t care who Cumberbatch is playing at this point. All the misdirection and secrecy (and lying) has become tiresome, and I don’t see how the final product can be worth toying with fans this way for so long. When we finally learn who Cumberbatch is playing (and 100% of the people seeing the movie will know who the character is before they watch the movie), I don’t see how that revelation can possibly be worth all the time and energy fans have wasted speculating about it.

I have to agree with many of you posters here. I too am sick of the secrecy and the misdirection from those involved with the production. How bad could it be to just tell us what canon characters Alice Eve and Cumby are playing (cough…Carol Marcus and Khan…cough)? It is only their character they would be revealing and not the overall plot of the film.

I mean I don’t want to know the plot to be honest. I prefer to be suprised next summer when the film comes out. But I am interested right now in who the Supreme Court decided would be a good villain for Kirk and company to face. What is the harm in knowing that now?

The problem with JJ and his mystery box techniques is that they get tiresome. Sure you can have alittle fun during production and maybe even a few weeks after the film wraps. But then I think the whole “we could tell you but we would have to kill you” thing gets incredibly annoying. The longer you wait to reveal simple things like who is playing who ultimately raises questions of the quality of your film.

I dont want to sound like a petulant child here at all. I am not stomping my feet and demanding that answers be given. I just am growing tired, like many of you, with the games and non-news that comes out each week in regards to this movie.

My advice to the supreme court- lighten up. Tell us who is playing who and that is all. Hell, even make a game out of it. Have the fans complete some task to discover the villain or plant clues online and make fans piece it together. Why not make the mystery of the villain be a fun game for fans to participate in?

Just a thought.

# 21 BLF~

Agreed.
This kind of constant toying/teasing with the ST audience will breed only unrealistic expectations or just plain apathy. For me, it’s rapidly turning from the first option to the second. I’m already bored with it this ‘will they or won’t they’ crap. Seems like every so called ‘news’ item from the new ST devolves into this same boring argument of ‘who/what is whom playing’. With less than a year to go, can ANY revelation really be worth all of this? I doubt it….

The fact that the powers-that-be didn’t even muster a panel together at Comic Con (with less than a year to go) looks like they either don’t have faith in their nearly finished product or are VERY concerned (and a bit fearful) of audience reaction/hostility. I saw Damon Lindelof at another panel; he didn’t even mention Star Trek….

As for JJ’s unwarranted secrecy? “The Dark Knight Rises” released information throughout it’s production (lots of spoilers and set photos) and it’s doing VERY well (not to mention it’s also a damn good movie, too), despite the horrifying tragedy in Aurora, Colorado.

ST’s need for absolute secrecy seems to indicate worry IMO, not confidence….

Trelane

@4 Yeah, God could still be starship shopping and decided to increase his odds by checking out the quantum reality Craigslist until he finally gets one.

Hmmm… they get tested?

CUMBERBATCH IS THE JOKER!

I don’t want them to always be at each others throats until a bigger conflict comes along. That would be pretty weak.

There was conflict in a more subtle sense in the original series but not angry conflict unless it was for a specific story.

Lets get these guys operating as a team not as a group of kids biting each others heads off.

Kirk is the captain no second guessing. Hope that comes across here.

I doubt it is Gary Mitchell.

Kirk versus god has been done twice in the series of films already.

Cumberbatch most certainly plays Gary Seven and Alice Eve plays Roberta Lincoln.

People need to get over it – it’s Khan and Carol Marcus.

@29

You really make me think about that! What about this? Since Dr. Who is so popular these times, why not assimilate a US version for the new Star Trek movie? And that’s where Gary Seven pops up. At least he already had a sonic screwdriver in TOS!

;-D

“”I think that everybody’s character gets to continue to develop, and you learn more about them and what makes them tick, and they get tested like they’ve never been tested before. And to me, that’s always the great sign of a good ‘Star Trek’ story. When the relationships between those crew members become strained, and how they would have to find the common ground within each other to overcome this. So yeah, I’m excited for it, we had a great time shooting it.””

Well I’m very happy to read that all of the characters, as in Spock, Uhura, McCoy, Kirk, Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty, get some development. BUT, which relationships are being tested exactly? As long as it’s not Spock and Uhura, I’ll be fine. If it is, then this movie just went way, way down for me.

I do hope we get some official news about *some* of what to expect. It was great to get the “leaked” information and photos, but something official would be nice. People who don’t want that can just skip clicking on the article/news when and if it ever comes out.

23. Sebastian

JJ operated the very same way before the first movie (no Comic Con panel the year before the release, etc.). The ONLY difference is that in ’09 he ID’d more of the characters beforehand. So, not a big deal nor an indication of lack of confidence in the finished product. I personally like the fact that he’s playing it close to the vest. : )

It’s funny that those who proclaim to be least interested comment the most, and are quite verbose… You silly humans.

And having seen the script, by “tested”, he means they all take the SATs.

And we should believe a word Mr. Urban says… why, exactly?

Tested…. so in other words…

Sherlock is Q.

30. MoPed

The fact that so many people are convinced Cumberbatch is playing Khan is pretty much why I believe he’s not playing Khan. Think about it:

1. JJ is famously secretive; he does not like giving things away.

2. The revelation of Khan as a character (if he is in the movie) is a MAJOR spoiler.

3. Simon Pegg has said Cumberbatch’s not playing Khan, though it cannot be confirmed or denied at this time.

4. The “fact” of Cumberbatch playing Khan has taken root so firmly in Trek fandom that people seem to be accepting it as gospel.

5. The lack of official denials (or any official statements, for that matter) have been interpreted as tacit acknowledgements of this “fact”.

6. The possibility of careful misdirection (and I am not the first person on these threads to posit this): allowing Trekkerdom to believe Cumberbatch is playing Khan simply by saying nothing (officially) to the contrary. That way, secrecy is maintained and J.J. can say that he didn’t lie about anything. the fan took a rumor and ran with it; meanwhile, the production team says nothing other than that they don’t want to spoil their work for the audiences.

Once they get a decent trailer in the theaters, we will know…maybe. But until then, all we can do is guess.

@27

that’s a good point. if this cast of characters is always “growing” and “becoming the charcaters we eventually see in t.o.s.” then we will never see them operating as a well oiled machine and sharing that sense of commradery that we loved from the origianal cast. one of the strengths of this reboot seems to be the casting. it would be a shame to not have them ever feel like a true team.

i thought that was one of the biggest flaws of t.m.p. kirk was a pain in the butt trying to get the captain’s chair back from decker, spock was wacked out on excess logic. it made for a very dour feel to most of the movie. don’t want that again.

i’m guessing team j.j. has it all figured out and we’ll be pleasantly rewarded with a fine film that will leave us eagerly awaiting s.t. 13.

# 33 AT~

Yes, but there WAS a 2007 Comic Con panel (when they thought it was going to be a Dec. 2008 release) and the movie hadn’t even been fully cast yet at that point (the only ones who were firmly cast were Quinto and Nimoy). The extra press and attention it would’ve received there could not have hurt, IMO. ST 2.0’s lack of presence at Comic Con (one of the biggest venues it could have for it’s target audience) only hurt it, IMO.

And my biggest problem with the secrecy is that it raises the expectations too high. You begin to think they’re hiding King Kong behind the door and it turns out to be Bonzo.

#41.

Who’s Bonzo?

@38 Thomas

Agreed.
At this point, I only care about the Id of the villain in so much as I hope it is not Kahn because if it isn’t then we get to rub it in the faces of the Kahn-bots. I care out of spite.

#43.

Maybe you should remember that “Kahn” is actually spelled “Khan”.

Either they’re not giving anything away because they want to keep people hanging or it’s because Cumberbatch is playing Khan and they realised everyone will accuse the movie of whitewashing so they’re putting off announcing details while they try and fix things.

“And to me, that’s always the great sign of a good ‘Star Trek’ story. When the relationships between those crew members become strained, and how they would have to find the common ground within each other to overcome this. So yeah, I’m excited for it, we had a great time shooting it.”

Though I like and respect Karl Urban to the degree that I could enjoy his performance as McCoy in a film I mostly detested, I’m not sure I agree with him on this. Dramatic conflict between the crew members is fine, but in Trek it had its greatest impact in the context of the group of highly-trained, skilled professionals we would expect to see. (Even the events of “The Menagerie,” which posed the greatest test to Kirk and Spock’s friendship, might have had more impact had the episode appeared later in the series’ run.) Since the Abramsverse Enterprise crew has never been shown as anything but pretty dysfunctional in their relationships with each other, there’s nothing very shocking at the prospect of them rubbing each other the wrong way this time out– indeed, it’s pretty much what I would expect. That said, I always found the Kirk/McCoy dynamic, where the good doctor was enabled to call out his friend and superior officer when he felt the circumstances warranted it, to be one of the best things about TOS, and I have no doubt that Mr. Urban will continue to bring the goods.

Anymore from the ‘leaky’ Doc?! Haha

“6. The possibility of careful misdirection (and I am not the first person on these threads to posit this)……”
_______

Indeed. You are not the first to do so.

And, I truly appreciate the fact that you managed to make your point without whining about the earlier reports regarding the casting of Hispanic actors.

Another poster who shall remain nameless was starting to get on my nerves with that incessant refrain of hers…

:)

If it is indeed Gary Mitchell who is the main villain I say call it “where no man has gone before” with no Star Trek in the title. :-)

Shaka, when the walls fell.