Karl Urban Was Given One Note About His Approach To Star Trek's Dr. McCoy

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One might argue that the main selling point of J.J. Abrams' 2009 film "Star Trek" was its casting. Thanks to a plot conceit involving a time portal, the movie was set in a parallel universe, a universe where the original "Star Trek" characters and starships all existed, but in slightly altered forms. The characters were mostly younger versions of the characters known to the public, and the U.S.S. Enterprise was bigger and sleeker. The universe skewed when an evil Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana) traveled back in time and interrupted history. His little temporal jaunt resulted in James T. Kirk being born to look like Chris Pine. Likewise, Spock now looked like Zachary Quinto, Uhura like Zoe Saldaña, and so on. 

Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy now looked like Karl Urban, and he seemed even grumpier than the original Bones actor, DeForest Kelley. Many Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike agree that the casting for the new "Star Trek" was pretty dynamite across the board, with all the actors perfectly embodying their 1966 counterparts, but with a brand-new, more youthful flair (never mind that John Cho was actually older than Sulu actor George Takei was in 1966). Karl Urban, however, is most typically hailed as the best of the lot. He doesn't do a straight-up DeForest Kelley impersonation, but he does seem to capture the character's gruffness impeccably well.

In an interview with TrekMovie in 2009, Urban spoke about how he signed on to make the movie before he had even read the full script, but that he trusted the filmmakers to do a good job. He also recalled the one and only note that Abrams gave him as an actor. In brief, he was told to simply keep on doing what he was doing.

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The interviewer asked Karl Urban about his character-building process. Not only was he playing a role originated by another actor, but Dr. McCoy was a well-recognized figure in the pop culture firmament. That seemed like a lot of pressure, and the interviewer was curious to know how much Urban and J.J. Abrams discussed the legacy of the character, and how much he should imitate his forebear. 

It should be noted that, unlike many "Star Trek" actors, Urban was a Trekkie going in, so he had a great idea as to how he would play the role right away. He described his performance, as well as Abrams' reaction to it, thusly:

"As a long-term fan, I felt it was important to see some semblance of continuity to the wonderful work Mr. Kelley had done. And really, to me, it is about the character's attitudes. And there is a certain specific way that the character of McCoy reacts in certain situations, and I really could only do my version of what that could be. There were certain character traits that were keys for me. Finding a voice was important. I remember JJ coming up to me one day and he says "what you are doing is wonderful, it is not DeForest Kelley, but it is something that is Bones, but it's different, and keep on doing what you are doing.'"

It seems to me that Urban received the one piece of direction that every actor wants to hear. "Keep on doing what you're doing" is great feedback. Urban had it on lock.

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This was in 2009, so Karl Urban also added:

"I had a lot of fun working on this character. I got to do and say some fun things. I am just very grateful that the character has gone down well thus far. I look forward, if I get the opportunity, to continue to develop it in further installments."

There was no guarantee at the time that the new "Star Trek" would be a hit, or that any sequels would be made. As we all know now, J.J. Abrams' film was a gigantic success, and warranted two sequels, "Star Trek Into Darkness" in 2013 and "Star Trek Beyond" in 2016. Urban played Dr. McCoy in all three movies. The alternate timeline was known popularly as the Kelvin Timeline or the Kelvin-verse, after a notable starship seen in the 2009 film, the U.S.S. Kelvin. 

The Kelvin-verse seemed doomed, however, when "Beyond" proved to be underwhelming at the box office. Also, in 2017, CBS All Access (now known as Paramount+) launched "Star Trek" on the small screen, reclaiming the "Prime Timeline" and ignoring the Kelvin-verse. There had been rumors for many years that a fourth Kelvin-verse movie was still going to be made, but it entered a special circle of development hell that few films have ever visited. There have been so many renditions of "Star Trek 4," the unmade movie has its own Wikipedia page. /Film tracked every potential "Star Trek 4" until the project's official death in 2025. As of now, Karl Urban will not return to play Dr. McCoy.