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Published Jul 30, 2016

Checking in With Karl Urban

Karl Urban didn’t have to return as Bones in the just-released Star Trek Beyond . He’d satisfied the requirements of his contract with his appearance in Star Trek Into Darkness and had to choose between Beyond and  another project. He ultimately chose Beyond , of course, and he feels he made the right decision. StarTrek.com recently spoke with Urban about his decision, what ultimately swayed him to sign on, his experience making Beyond , and the fact that, in the near future, with a fourth J.J.-verse film in the works, he’ll once again need to make a choice. Here’s what he had to say...

Our understanding is that you were not obligated to make Beyond and that it was down to this or another project. Is that accurate?

Yeah, that's correct. I certainly was hesitant about reprising the role of McCoy. 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. I was out of contract. Because of the Olivia de Havilland law in America, I was no longer under obligation to do a third picture, and was, actually, in fact, negotiating to do another film when we were contacted and asked about reprising the role of McCoy. So I was somewhat ambivalent about it. And I really liked this other piece of material.

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. So that gave me a great deal of security, which enabled me to make the decision. And I'm so glad I did. I feel that the version of McCoy in Star Trek Beyond is the most well-defined version of the character that I've had the benefit to play. So it's all turned out for the best.

How quickly and easily does McCoy come to you at this point?

Very quickly, and very easily. That being said, it's work. 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.

Can you give us a such as?

Well, lots of things. (POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD) For example, when Spock stitches McCoy up, and volunteers him for a dangerous mission, the whole sequence boarding the transporter pad was filled with dialogue that I had submitted and was approved. There was the scene before we go into the cave where Spock says, "Fascinating," and McCoy says, "Dark. Ominous. Dangerous." I can't remember the exact words. But, you know. And it's the direct opposite to what Spock's saying. There's a lot of other little instances of the little beats, like when McCoy's in the hive ship and asks Spock if that was classical music, in reference to the Beastie Boys.

You have some nice moments with both Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. How pleased were you able to build, separately, as different spokes, the McCoy-Kirk relationship and McCoy-Spock relationship? And how did you enjoy shooting those two-hander scenes with each of the guys?

Well, it was imperative. And it was really kind of what drew me back to reprise the role again. I felt that in Into Darkness , Kirk's relationship with McCoy was, by and large, completely inferred. And especially when you put it in context of the historical relationship that they share in not only the original TV series, but also in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Wrath of Kahn . And then it was nice in this one to actually be able to see McCoy function not only as a friend, but also as a psychologist. And to help put Kirk in touch with his existential dilemma.

And further to that, it was wonderful to be able to mine new territory, in this situation where we have Spock and Bones crash-landed on a planet, and have to depend on each other to survive. And as Spock is contemplating his own mortality, with (SPOILER AHEAD) the death of Spock Prime, we get a wonderful, honest, unguarded exchange between the two. For long-term fans, I think that's a rich and rewarding experience. I feel like these two characters are able to let their guard down and come to a deeper understanding of their respective positions and who they are. What's nice about it is they are able to then go back and put their shields up again, as it were. But at least this time there's a little insider knowledge between the two, and a great, lovely respect.

You also got in on the action with the chase sequences. How big a kick were those to shoot?

Oh, they were a lot of fun. I mean, look, you may not even know exactly what it is you're doing. They'll show you pre-vis, and you have to imagine what it is. But I was pretty blown away when I saw it. And it was nice to see Bones in the thick of it, out of his depth.

On a more serious note, we're not doing our job if we don't talk a bit about Anton Yelchin. How big a loss was his passing to you as a friend and as a colleague?

When you lose a family member, it is devastating. It's just incalculable, indescribable, a huge loss that we've all suffered. And it feels so strange to talk about him in the past tense, you know? We should be at a point where we're celebrating with this beautiful man, and his incredible talent. And it's just hard. It's very raw.

It even takes you out of the movie watching it, to be honest.

Yeah, I know. It's tragic. And he was such a beautiful young man, and so extraordinarily talented. He was often the smartest guy in the room, but you wouldn't know it. He was humble with his intelligence. He was an artist. A student of film. And he was just about to direct his first film. I think he would have become an incredible director. It's a serious loss.

On a happier note, what impressed you about the job that Justin Lin did?

What impressed me about Justin was probably his sensitivity towards the group dynamic, his respect for what we had already helped to create. Also, his passion for Star Trek . His understanding for it. He's a long-term fan. He was able to come into this film and bring all this wonderful wealth of personal knowledge, and work together with Simon and Doug to write a very fantastic representation of an Original Series episode. But obviously with an enhanced budget and a bigger, more epic scope and scale. He was able to deliver, I think, a wonderful balance of an old, original sensibility and character dynamic feel, mixed with wonderful special effects and an action-packed pace. I've got so much respect for him. He's one of the hardest-working men I've ever worked with. You know, at the end of every day shooting, he would then go retire to the editing suite and work another four or five hours, putting the picture together. I don't know where he found the stamina to do that. But he's extraordinary. I love him dearly.

It’s nearly nine years now that you've been a part of the Trek franchise. How fast has it gone by so far, and what does it mean to you to be a part of this universe?

It just seems like yesterday that we all came together. And over the course of nine years now, we have really become quite a tight-knit family. That's the enduring legacy of these films for me personally, is this wonderful group of friends that I now have as a result. That's the thing that I cherish about Star Trek the most.

Based on your experience on film three, can we count you in for the just-announced fourth film?

Not automatically. I would have to again be assured that the character of McCoy will continue to be developed and that he serves a real purpose and a function. I'm not interested in playing a marginalized version of this character. You know, I have a huge amount of respect for the dynamics of the characters, the way that Roddenberry originally created them. I fully understand their purpose and function. I would be blessed to be able to come back and make more. I love working with these guys, and I have such a wonderful time. That being said, I have to have something to do. I have to have a function.

You've done convention appearances since your days of Xena . And now you do the occasional Trek convention as well. What's it like for you to interact and meet the fans of something you do, that they love?

I enjoy it. It's like when you do theater, you get an instant idea of audience appreciation. Conventions have become, really, another tool of modern filmmaking. The Marvel actors are doing them, and obviously the great precedent and tradition was set by the original cast, and William Shatner and Nimoy and those guys connecting with their fans. I just think it's a lovely, respectful way to pay homage to their loyalty. If it wasn’t for the fans, there would be no Star Trek , because the show was cancelled after the second season. And that was the fans campaigning to bring it back for the third. And then obviously it was the fans who made it so popular in the intervening years, between the end of The Original Series and the beginning of the movies. So I kind of feel like it's an important part of it. I always enjoy the experience.

You've got Pete's Dragon coming up, and also the Thor sequel. What excited you about Pete's Dragon , and when do you start work on Thor ?

I was excited about Pete's Dragon because after reading the script it felt like a wonderful '70s kids film. It was shooting in New Zealand, which was good for me. And I talked with the director, and he spoke about a vision for the character that interested me. I was also interested in working with Robert Redford, and that was incredible. You know, when you're in a scene with him and he smiles at you, and you suddenly have 70 films flying at your face that you cherish and love. It was an amazing experience. It's just good family fun. I can't wait to see it. And Thor , I haven't started working on that yet. But it's a great script. A good ensemble piece. And I'm thrilled to be working with (director) Taika Waititi.

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Last year when Star Trek Beyond was filming in Vancouver, I got to visit the set with a few other reporters. During a break in filming, we got to speak with Karl Urban . He talked about what Bones is dealing with in the upcoming sequel, his reaction to the script, how the film focuses a less on the bromance between Kirk and Spock and a little more on the relationship between McCoy and Spock, the new sets which shake and rotate, and more. Check out what he had to say below. Star Trek Beyond opens July 22.

Question: What was your reaction when you got Simon’s script and saw the new stuff?

KARL URBAN: I loved it. As someone who had a longstanding appreciation of Star Trek , I think what Simon and Doug have done has really managed to capture the essence of the original series. And it’s much more of an ensemble piece. I think there’s great character development for everybody, and fantastic action. Then the heart of the picture is quite resonant… Which is just a way of saying fucking nothing. [Laughs.]

Are you running for office?

URBAN: Vice President. [Laughs.]

Kirk’s dealing with getting older. What kinds of issues is Bones dealing with?

URBAN: Yeah, this film’s great for me. We get to push Bones into a territory that we haven’t seen him in before. There’s a lot more action for Bones. I think he’s forced to cross certain lines that he never thought he would. To me that’s particularly fertile and interesting territory. As a doctor, it’s his job to save life. He’s so compassionate about life. And in this film that core foundation of his belief is tested. It’s really, really interesting.

The scene you just shot, does it normally take that long, or did you guys just get the giggles?

URBAN: We always get the giggles. It’s a fun set… No, that was just a complex one. It took a bit to get the camera in sync with the action, for us to find the right pace.

Simon said this film focuses a little less on the bromance between Kirk and Spock and a little more on the relationship between McCoy and Spock.

URBAN: Yeah, well, that’s one of the things that I really responded to in the script. As you know, the crew gets fractured, and I end up spending quite a bit of time with Spock. We really developed that relationship; and experience things and events together that bring us close together, and allow for a deeper understanding. To me, that’s what makes this so interesting.

Do you guys have a lot of philosophical discussions? We’ve heard that part of this movie is a deconstruction of what it means to be in the Federation.

URBAN: Yes, interestingly enough. I do, I have interactions with Kirk about that as well as Spock. It’s very much, thematically, “What is the relevance? What is the meaning of our trek? What is important?” Yeah.

At the beginning of the film you’re two years into the journey, everyone is a little stir crazy. How does Bones deal with being stir crazy?

URBAN: Yeah, Anton sounded a bit stir crazy. [Laughs.]

He told us about the end of the film. He and Sulu get a rainbow connection.

URBAN: I’m not gonna be that loose with ya. [Laughs.] The interesting thing for Bones is he’s obviously a doctor, and the welfare of the crew is very much at the forefront of his mind. So he’s very centered and he’s very aware that it’s his responsibility to make sure that everyone’s not only physically but psychologically well. So he’s kind of got his finger on the pulse of the crew, doing his job.

Can he afford to be losing his shit if everyone else is?

URBAN: Well as I said before, this is in the story, he’s tested. Doctor McCoy gets pushed into territory that he’s never been in before. Certainly not in these movies.

We know that you guys get to go to a Starbase and experience new aliens. I’m curious if you’re looking forward to doing those scenes, getting into that stuff, shooting in Dubai.

URBAN: Yeah, I’m looking forward to Dubai. I’ve never been there. What can I say? I hope it’s not too hot.

Do you have many scenes with Idris? If so, what is your dynamic?

URBAN: No. [Laughs.]

You have the new sets where everything moves 360, and it’s not J.J. giving the lens a hand job, as Zoe said…

URBAN: Oh my God. [Laughs.] I miss J.J. I used to go into his trailer every day after work and steal his hair product. I miss that now. [Laughs.]

The new sets allow for more physical action on stage…

URBAN: Yeah. It’s interesting. We’re still using those old in-camera techniques. But they’re just augmented by the fact that we have these sets that move and shake and rotate. It certainly makes our job a lot easier. I think it’s one of the great things about Justin — he’s got his eye keenly on the macro. It’s all about enhancing the performance and enhancing the visuals and actually bringing space into the bridge. Whereas, perhaps in J.J.’s version, the bridge was really brightly lit and stuff but space is out there. Justin really wants to bring space to us. I think that’s a really interesting concept.

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• ‘Star Trek Beyond’: Director Justin Lin on How His Approach Differs from J.J. Abrams
• ‘Star Trek Beyond’: Chris Pine on Kirk’s Psychological Battle

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Karl Urban Leaves His Mark on “Beyond”, A Film He Nearly Turned Down

| August 1, 2016 | By: John Duchak 48 comments so far

The man who plays Leonard McCoy talks Beyond, the relationship between Spock and McCoy, and the reason he was initially hesitant to return.

Karl Urban, in an interview with StarTrek.com , felt that the version of McCoy depicted in  Star Trek Beyond is the most complete version of the character he has had the benefit to play. Urban was thankful for the openness director Justin Lin and writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung had, noting “I collaborated with Simon and Doug and Justin to bring a well-defined version of the character to screen,” adding “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.”

Urban continues, “for example, when Spock stitches McCoy up, and [Spock] volunteers him for a dangerous mission, the whole sequence boarding the transporter pad was filled with dialogue that I had submitted and was approved. There was the scene before we go into the cave where Spock says, “Fascinating,” and McCoy says, “Dark. Ominous. Dangerous.” I can’t remember the exact words. But, you know. And it’s the direct opposite to what Spock’s saying. There’s a lot of other little instances of the little beats, like when McCoy’s in the hive ship and asks Spock if that was classical music, in reference to the Beastie Boys.”

Urban was hesitant to return to the franchise because he was in agreement with fans and critics that McCoy had become marginalized in Star Trek Into Darkness . Urban was out of contract and in negotiations for another film, “but I got on the phone with 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. So that gave me a great deal of security, which enabled me to make the decision.”

Urban explains, “[exploring McCoy’s relationship with Kirk] was really kind of what drew me back to reprise the role again. I felt that in Into Darkness , Kirk’s relationship with McCoy was, by and large, completely inferred. And especially when you put it in context of the historical relationship that they share in not only the original TV series, but also in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan . And then it was nice in this one to actually be able to see McCoy function not only as a friend, but also as a psychologist. And to help put Kirk in touch with his existential dilemma.”

For more from Urban on the film’s relationship between McCoy and Spock, filming action sequences, his admiration for Justin Lin, and his upcoming films, check out the entire interview at StarTrek.com .

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thanks for sticking to your guns karl and influencing the finished product in a positive way. you make the perfect nu-mccoy.

It’s a shame that the best of the Kelvin timeline movies is doing so badly at the box office. Although I was not a fan of the first two JJverse movies, I loved Beyond and would like to see their story continue with JJ’s George Kirk idea in a fourth film. Who knows if that will happen now?

As long as the film can remain on a steady course it should do fine. Theaters have been in a bit of a slump this year so I don’t think w can blame it on being a poor motion picture. In fact it ended up being a pleasant surprise. It certainly not a Batman vs. Superman debacle.

Late July hasn’t been kind to any movies. I still think winter, spring or fall suit Trek better.

I actually thought that McCoy was a borderline caricature of the character, but it was Urban’s acting that kept it from actually getting that way. Mostly because he was constantly making his signature quips, and I never recall seeing Bones so over the top by doing that so often. Interesting to hear Urban was so involved in that. It’s a fine line, and I hope they dial it back a little bit on the next film, for no other reason than I can see it evolving into that very easily.

I agree with you. I wasn’t sure if I liked how imitative of Kelley’s performance after ST09, and attributed some of it to the fact the rest of the cast was so different than their Prime counterparts.

STID seemed to back off a bit, but in STB he seems to have taken it over the top in a way that called attention to it. I’d like to see them pull that back a bit as well.

Not sure if it’s Urban overcoming his NZ accent, or intentionally setting out to imitate Kelley’s character portrayal.whatever the case, I wish he’d make McCoy more his own. I may not like all the other actor’s portrayals, but they do make them their own. Scotty has always been my favorite, and I thought I would hate Pegg in the role until I saw him. It’s very different than Doohan, but I really like it. As the other actors get more secure with their characters, better developed, and come into their own, Urban’s more imitative quality stands out in contrast. It might be too late to change unfortunately.

I couldn’t disagree with you 2 more. Karl Urban’s depiction of McCoy is one of my favorite parts of the Kelvin movies. The verbal sparring between McCoy and Spock took me back to the likes of “Galileo Seven”, “Patterns of Force”, and “All of our Yesterdays”. I think it’d be too much if the whole cast mimicked their original counterparts, but with Urban the only one doing an original-cast impression, it works to great effect.

Again, Urban’s ability to pull it off made it work for the film. I think the script was over reliant with inserting the ‘signature McCoy Southern Analogy/Quip’ here every time they were in a jam. They didn’t write the original that way.

Then perhaps you should pull out your Original Series DVDs and watch Spock and McCoy again. They absolutely wrote the original series that way. The banter between those two was the humor element in the show and McCoy was often provoked into excitement with a raised voice and much waving of his hands. And his Southern accent was more pronounced when his was angry/excited/disgusted with Spoke–or when he was drunk.

I really think it’s the script. Every time you turn around, he was spilling a southern style analogy. You might have seen McCoy do that twice in a film or episode. But it seems like every time he had a chance to make one, they gave him one. Agreed, STID was really the right amount, but I also agree the character could have had more to do.

I agree, heyberto. He is my favorite but I thought his performance in Beyond was all over the place. He ranged from beautifully sensitive to cringeworthy, sometimes both in the same scene, like the drink scene with Kirk where his line readings are absolutely awful to start out, and then turn great when he and Kirk really get talking and he dials it back. It is the parts where he and the script are obviously “doing” DeForest that are getting too over the top. The rest of the cast have moved on to truly shape the characters on their own, but 3 movies in he is the last holdout, and unfortunately the scripts always support that because everyone loves classic Bones & it’s so easy to rely on him for a familiar laugh. I know Karl Urban loves and respects TOS but I wish he (and the writers) would homage less and actually act and feel the moment more, because he’s so good when he does.

I hesitate to say cringeworthy, because I think Urban pulls it off. I just don’t think they’re really giving us classic Bones. Urban has made the role his own in many ways, but I think Scotty was better at natural, organic humor than Bones is in this movie. In the TOS and TOS movies, Bones was just inherently funny… but I still think Urban plays it as well as anyone could. He no longer sounds like a little country doctor from Georgia, but he’s close enough.

JJ once said McCoy is a country doctor from Kentucky. That would be a less heavy southern accent which Karl appears to be using. Doesn’t matter really as long he doesn’t sound like Green Acres’ Mr. Haney.

Egad, and Orci seemed to think McCoy was from Mississippi. Kelley’s McCoy was from Georgia.

I have to agree, it bordered on becoming parody. It’s poor writing. You shouldn’t have to hit every signature quip of a character in 2 hours, and you really shouldn’t do it just to magnify familiariity and nostalgia.

My favorite line after McCoy got transported aboard Franklin was not so much “I feel like my insides have been to a barn dance” but the line that preceded it. Scotty: “Nice to see you here in one piece, Doctor.” McCoy: [feeling his own torso] “AM I?”

Beyond was the best of the JJVerse movies. Why? Because it was about the relationships of the characters…not the baddie of the week revenge bent nut job. It did suffer however with the back to back action scenes breaking the character interplay. The cast has definitely fleshed out their roles and I like them as they are. Only complaint is the usual bad guy theme, rehash. Look toward Voyage Home and Undiscovered Country for inspiration for the next film. Loved the old photos insert of Spock Prime and the original cast group shot. Really drove home what we are missing.

Agreed completely. ST Beyond is by far the best of the JJ-timeline. I felt everyone, especially McCoy, Kirk and Spock were the closest we have seen yet where it felt like classic TOS.

Agreed, Brian … and MC1 Doug. Best so far. Although I could have done without the motorcycle jump.

My wife is not a fan, but she enjoyed the movie. And her favorite part was McCoy and Spock. That was followed closely by Jaylah, Montgomery Scotty, and Kirk. I still don’t know if she just went since my daughter and I were going, or if it was to see Chris Pine. Probably more of the latter.

He always said that he’d participate to trek as long as he could and frankly, he isn’t that big of a name in hollywood where he has the luxury to say no to big projects like this ergo, I find it really hard to believe he wouldn’t come back to play McCoy regardless. Sorry Karl I like you but that’s horses**t. As for his complains: I understand but I will not endorse him. This trek has two lead male characters already: Kirk and Spock. If Karl complains what should John, Zoe and Anton (rip) say? He lacks perspective for someone who is a trek fan. But then, I sometimes really wonder what some people like in trek and if perhaps under that facade of progressiveness they preach so much about, they really like the tv-show because it was made in the 60s under those conservative rules and cultural mindset.. and they don’t want that to ever change. The fact that Beyond gave more screentime to Mccoy and Scotty at Uhura (and Sulu) expense made this trek go backwards and it is an ironic problem for a franchise that preaches so much about progressiveness and equality and yet, ends up still coming across as the most conservative EVEN compared to current star wars (star wars, that had always been a white dudes fest since day one!).

No, I’m not harsh with Karl. Men in hollywood are entitled to complain about what they want but many others don’t even have this luxury. If Zoe Saldana, or any other female human being, had made the same exact interview certain fans here would insult her and call her ungrateful egocentric b**ch from here to the eternity. I saw it happening for much less, including sexist comments about how she was sleeping with the director to get more screentime. Karl will survive.

I respectfully disagree that McCoy shouldn’t be considered as one of the leads. The way that the character of Kirk is constructed is basically that of a trinity, where Kirk serves as the reasoned voice of moderation between two diametrically opposed extremes. Spock provides the logical perspective, McCoy the purely emotional humanist one. They are intended to play out Kirk’s internal struggle for the audience. Yes, they both have a ton of personality that goes along with it. But it’s all ultimately derived from them being representatives of those extremes. As much as I’d like the female characters to get more screen time (and I do sincerely hope that they bring Jaylah back as the new Navigator for the Enterprise) doing so by turning them into a character whose narrative purpose is to serve as a reflection of the male lead’s ego still seems somewhat reductionist. Honestly, I don’t think there’s really any fixing that can be done to fully rectify the gender imbalance in the original series cast at this point, as much as I wish there were. The cast is already large enough that it verges on being cumbersome, and using established characters like this just doesn’t allow for easy replacement. I think the best bet is to keep looking forward – the new show, in particular, promises to have a woman of color in the command chair. Forming a new cast around her lets them do much more than they could ever accomplish by trying to tweak a formula which, as you correctly pointed out, is still fundamentally rooted in the time of its conception. Which isn’t to say they need to stop trying to show better representation in the movies. But we do have to acknowledge that the foundation we’re building on can only take so much weight before it buckles.

Tos McCoy was never a lead at the level of Kirk abd Spock either. And I’m sick of people using the fanon Id ego superego stuff for the reboot when these characters never had those roles here.

“They are intended to play out Kirk’s internal struggle for the audience” No, they are not. Especially not in the reboot where they made Spock equal protagonist with Kirk and not merely a toll for his character to say things about his psyche. The moment you change Kirk and Spock the way they did in the first movie, the so called original trio the way some fans intend it stops to exist. Years later and people still don’t get that this Kirk replaced the role tos McCoy had. Kirk is the heart (Uhura is more that balance between logic and emotion than him). But Spock himself is not one dimensional and he is OBVIOUSTLY as much the heart as Kirk and Bones are, maybe even more.

I won’t ignore the canon of this trek and the integrity of these characters just because of tos nostalgia. Not even if Urban himself seems to never get this is another reality and he insists making an IMPERSONATION of Deforest in spite of Quinto and Pine and the others not doing that. It makes no sense, why even watch these movies if we are going to pretend everything is exactly the same even when it isn’t. Urban maybe should ask himself who his McCoy can be in this reboot instead of complaining because the whole thing is not a carbon copy of tos.

Urban as McCoy has continued to be a highlight of these films. Beyond sealed the deal for me.

No one could play McCoy like you. You gave to stay. Perfection Karl Urban.

one of my fav characters now in star trek, thank you

In the Pilot and a bit of Bones dialog he was to study the effects of long term deep space travel on the crew so him being a psychologist is completely inline with the history of the character.

Karl Urban gives these movies much needed humanity. Without his brilliant McCoy portrayal they simply would not work. He needs the same pay or play contract as Pine/Quinto. You just cannot make these movies without the 3 main leads.

See for me I felt that Urban was spot on in this outing and I actually felt for me if anyone was off a bit it was Quinto as Spock. Something about much of his portrayal this time was off for me, almost too stoic and stiff, not as comfortable in the role and his hair seemed wrong to me …haha of all things. Was that a wig cap this time out I wonder? If Urban was not on board for this it would not have worked IMO, at least for me. I did thoroughly enjoy the film.

A Vulcan being described as too stoic and stiff? Fascinating…

His acting not his Vulcan traits silly rabbit. I felt he was off in his acting, where as in the first two I felt he was much more believable in the role.

Thanks Karl, and thanks everyone involved for making this the best of the “kelvin” treks. I hope the next utilizes the exact same creative team.

Can’t blame him for almost wanting to leave. Into Darkness was a joke, but, Beyond was redeeming for these films. JJ out of the director’s chair was a good start.

Karl is a shining star and a great Doctor McCoy. Future films absolutely need to focus on him and bring us the true Trio of the Star Trek universe back into to the lime light. No disrespect or play down for Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Uhura, it’s just McCoy should always be highly involved.

Saldana can play an important role as can Urban. I don’t think either needs to “sacrifice” for the other to shine. That’s divisive fan nonsense. The “trinity” can become a “quartet” with no loss. McCoy as Kirk’s sounding board and advisor, and Uhura as Spock’s.

Indeed, even the classic Three Musketeers grew to accomodate a fourth.

Darned good point, Marja.

Actors ALWAYS say they weren’t interested in the role at first…but then! Of course he’s not going to walk away from all that $$$.

Completely agree with Urban on STID. It seemed they were attempting to create a new triad with Kirk-Spock-Uhura. One thing Beyond did a great job of was returning McCoy to his rightful place. I’m fine with Uhura having good screen time but not at McCoy’s expense. And Urban did a great job as McCoy. Glad to see him have meaningful time with Kirk and Spock and to actually get to see him doctor.

I’m glad he spoke up about his concerns.

What I think is a shame is that, in this new KT timeline, Dr McCoy’s backstory could not have changed from the TOS original. Sure, he could/would have been born where DeForest’s McCoy was, in the southern area of the US, but then have him and family emigrate to say NZ where this new McCoy would likely pick up some of the cultural/speech patterns of his new home, NZ. The accent would not seem a problem and Karl Urban could still play the curmudgeonly doctor with slightly different influences and more easily make Bones/McCoy his own character. He can still be the Enterprise’s CMO and become a great friend to Kirk and Spock.

This is how legitimate variations within this new timeline can occur, without impacting on overall outcomes.

I’m pretty sure in this timeline New Zealand had already been destroyed by the Xindi! I keed, I keed! ;D

That’s a great suggestion, Rose. Dee Kelley used his own Georgia home as a background for McCoy, why not Karl Urban? Too late now, though.

The new trio that includes a woman was praised by critics and considered one of the unique fresh aspects of the reboot. Star trek beyond maybe went backwards andand pandered a bit to people like you but it doesn’t seem to me that it’s the most successful movie of the 3 so far. Karl Urban is not a big name and when you already have Quinto and Pine as the leads, any other dude becomes redundant.

Btw, for those who actually watched the movies and pay attention to how THIS version of the characters was developed, it was Kirk who replaced original Mccoy’s role. In the second movie it was Scotty who sidelined him and git the more juicy role as the third more prominent male character. But keep blaming the female lead character.

Please, Damian, not this old canard I’m fine with Uhura having good screen time but not at McCoy’s expense.

How about they both have good screen time at the expense of a few minutes’ action/destruction/fighting?

People continue to cast the McCoy / Uhura screentime as an either/or. It need not be.

What I took issue with is it seemed esp. in STID they were trying to create a new triad with Uhura replacing McCoy. McCoy was basically made the outsider and was more or less there for his metaphors. I’ve always believed in any universe, Kirk, Spock and McCoy would be a family of brothers. They always complemented one another. Beyond was the first of the Abramsverse movies that really seemed to put that back together and for me it worked well.

Also, Urban does a great job as McCoy, frankly I thought of all the cast he did the best job of balancing imitating Kelley’s portrayal without mocking Kelley. I felt he was underused in Star Trek (2009) and STID. In Beyond he served as a sounding board for Kirk (almost a psychologist) and for Spock, as an opposite to Spock’s logic, and even as a doctor.

I didn’t feel Beyond minimized Uhura’s role. I believe her she had an important role here, and I’m actually glad they sort of put the romance with Spock in the background. For me it made her role a more serious role.

For me, the problem was actually the reverse. I think STID minimized McCoy’s character unnecessarily, wasting an important character, and a great actor in Karl Urban.

The triad was invented by fans.

Have you watched the original series? I think it’s pretty clear Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are the main characters.

dream on. In the original series there was only one main character for the writers and Roddenberry: Kirk. THEN they made Spock more prominent by making him interact with Kirk the most because he was the most popular character and they hoped to make fans love Kirk more thank to his friendship with Spock TOO. Spock and McCoy were only the friends of hero. Later the so called ‘trinity’ became a ‘duo’ and now in you have that in pop culture Spock is considered a lead character like Kirk (and the reboot acknowledged it). McCoy was NEVER at Spock level, LET ALONE Kirk. If this is what Urban expected he’s dead wrong.

In either case, there is no reason why a REBOOT set in another reality should have the same exact dynamics you had in tos especially when they changed Kirk and Spock (especially the latter) in such a way that the old ‘trinity’ makes no sense here since it was mainly based as everything having to revolve around Kirk, but in the reboot Spock is considered an equal protagonist and not just ‘Kirk’s logic’. I’d say that respecting the dynamics of THIS TREK is more logical and more a priority than forcing tos dynamics at any cost. We’re having this argument since 2009 and star trek beyond pandered to fans like you and see the results: least successful movie of this trilogy. They alienated the new trek fans that loved the dynamics of THIS trek.

Additional Crew

IMDbPro Starmeter 23 34

• Contact info
• 8 wins & 13 nominations

"The Boys" Stars In and Out of Costume

• Billy Butcher
• Johnny Cage
• Post-production
• Doctor 'Bones' McCoy (rumored)
• Pre-production
• In Production

• 28 episodes

• Bob (voice)

• Jacob Holland (voice)

• Sergeant Rock (voice)

• Stormtrooper (uncredited)

• Sgt. Rock (voice)

• Danny Gallagher

• Det. Will Ruiney

• Doctor 'Bones' McCoy
• 12 episodes
• additional voices

Personal details

• 6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
• June 7 , 1972
• Wellington, New Zealand
• Natalie Wihongi September 16, 2004 - 2014 (divorced, 2 children)
• Children Hunter Urban
• Parents Jürgen Urban
• Other works Stage: He played Marc Antony in Auckland Theatre Company's production of William Shakespeare 's "Julius Caesar" in Auckland, New Zealand.
• 4 Interviews
• 2 Pictorials

Did you know

• Trivia On the set of The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) , he passed the time by playing Dungeons & Dragons with Vin Diesel , Judi Dench and Thandiwe Newton .
• Quotes [on his fondest memory of working with Peter Jackson while shooting the Lord of the Rings trilogy] Peter's really open to the humor in the day-to-day. One time, we were referencing a line in the book, "We counted all the slain and despoiled them, then we piled the carcasses and burned them." Of course, we went on all sorts of disgusting tangents about what else these Rohan soldiers did to the poor Orcs.
• Trademarks Deep commanding voice
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Star Trek Beyond – Q&A with Simon Pegg and Karl Urban

July 29, 2016.

by The National Board of Review

The following questions and answers are excerpted from a conversation that followed the NBR screening of Star Trek Beyond. 

I love the intro, where it seems like everyone is settling in, but not necessarily in a good way. What’s it like living in your character for so many years?

Karl Urban: I think it was a bold, brilliant move for Simon [Pegg, co-writer] and Doug [Jung, co-writer] to start the film with scenes of weariness, to focus on the reality of being in space for that amount of time. I always liked the idea of seeing what happens in between all the big action spectacles. So we get a bit of the monotony and the inter-character relationships and I feel that there’s a real development from the first two films. Kirk obviously, is not too young anymore.

“It was a bold move to start the film with scenes of weariness.”

Simon Pegg: Don’t tell Chris [Pine] that!

Urban: I think all the characters have become more efficient at their jobs and you can see the little subtle things. When Spock and I are walking down as the attack is going on and he has his phaser on and is ready for action, it reminds me of what it was like when I watched the original series. A wonderful device that Simon and Doug utilized was splitting everyone up in the crew. I think that was really important in the 50th year of Star Trek to deliver something new to the audience. With these pairings, we get to see things that we haven’t seen before. And I really love the pairing of Spock and Bones, these two characters that are so diametrically opposed to each other. Obviously there’s some comedy there but also a heartfelt interaction and honest communication. I think that’s something that’s fresh and rewarding.

For a summer blockbuster, this film has some really nice, quiet character moments.

Pegg: Absolutely. This film is a particular kind of film; it’s a big summer movie. It has to check some boxes. But for Doug and I, and the cast involved, it’s more meaningful. I don’t think you can watch a film that is full of bangs and flashes and explosions and care about it if you don’t have some care about the people that it is happening to. We see wholesale destruction on a massive scale these days in big cinema movies. Things are destroyed willy-nilly all over the place, and it’s a bit numbing. There doesn’t seem to be any peril involved. Whereas if you instill the characters with a sense of something the audience can latch onto, it makes you feel a bit more. Justin [Lin, director] was at pains to make sure as well that we had a vein of humanity running through it, which gives us something to cling onto amidst all the inevitable action.

When you’re on the planet, Bones is really man-to-man with Spock. There’s no turbo lift or computers to talk to. You’re basically marooned .

Urban: I like the challenge to take these two characters who are so opposite and throw them into a survival situation. What was particularly appealing to me was that Spock was mortally wounded and McCoy has no medical equipment with him and yet figures out a way to stop the hemorrhaging by cauterizing the wound with various implements that he has around him. For me, that showed great ingenuity. I think this is probably the most well-defined version of McCoy that I’ve had the pleasure to play. Traditionally in Star Trek, he was a consigliere, a friend, a device that would bring forth Kirk’s existential dilemma. So pairing Spock and McCoy together was a wonderful opportunity to develop those characters. I get the feeling they learned something about each other from this experience. And then both of them withdraw from their respective positions, put the shields back up, but there remains a deeper respect, an unspoken bond between them, an understanding.

Can you tell us a bit more about Uhura’s special necklace?

Pegg: Doug and I had this idea of this love token of Uhura’s coming back later in the film to help them find out where she was located. So we had this idea of a radioactive mineral. We saw the humor that Spock is basically keeping track of her! But we didn’t have a name for it, so we reached out to the guys who created Memory Alpha, which is this Star Trek Wikipedia. It was an exhaustive, invaluable resource for Doug and I since we would fact-check everything, like what’s inside of a frozen torpedo or what year the first annex vessel made its maiden voyage. And we wrote to the guys and we said “Look, we have this thing and it needs a name, and we’d like you to be part of this movie and have your name in the credits, can you name it for us?” and they came back in about two hours with a really detailed, etymological breakdown of the word Vulcya in its syllabic structure, where it was from, what part of Vulcan, how it had evolved, etc. It just goes to show how awesome Star Trek fans can be. We just wanted a name, but fine, we’ll take this encyclopedia of the word and use it in the film. It was a nice way to include the fans in this 50th Anniversary. If it weren’t for the fans, the show would’ve been cancelled in its third season. It’s been kept alive by those people.

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Karl Urban in ‘Star Trek Beyond’: Becoming the real McCoy

Stepping into an iconic role is never an easy task, and the re-cast crew of the “Star Trek” franchise get to do it for a third time.

Karl Urban, a New Zealand actor famous for playing Eomer in the last two “Lord of Rings” movies, took over the role of belovedly grumpy Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy from DeForest Kelley, who originated the character in the original “Star Trek” television series.

“Star Trek Beyond,” in theaters July 22, marks Urban’s third turn in the role, and the actor says he believes that it’s “probably the most well-defined version of the character that I’ve had the pleasure of playing.”

In this film, we get to see his true friendship with [Captain James T.] Kirk; you get to see him be a consigliere and adviser. … And through the course of the movie, I spend an amazing amount of time with Zach Quinto’s Spock, and that’s a real opportunity to explore the relationship between those two characters, for both of those characters to come to an understanding on a deeper level what the other represents and where the other’s coming from. For Bones, there were just a lot of wonderful shades of the character that I was able to bring forward, whether it was his compassion and understanding emotionally for where Spock was at, or his bravery and courage in looking after Spock and not abandoning him, his fear of the situation they were in and his use of humor to keep the morale of the both of them up. And his willingness to live and survive — there’s a lot of wonderful shades.

I think my favorite aspect of his relationship with Kirk is represented in the bar scene between the two of them, where you see two good friends sharing a drink and Kirk being able to sort of express his existential dilemma and Bones being able to listen and offer a sound piece of advice. And as far as Bones’ relationship with Spock, I enjoy any time that they get to argue, or the two of them get to have that great banter, it’s always a lot of fun. I particularly like the scene in the transporter where Bones discovers Spock has sold him down the river and requested that Bones accompany him on a dangerous mission. And Bones’ response to that is typically Bones.

I can. The character of McCoy is somebody who has experienced his share of pain and loss through life. And I feel like there is somewhat of an irascible shell that he wears to protect himself, but the great thing about the character in this movie is you really get to see what’s beneath that. You get to see a softer side of the character. He lets his guard down in this film, and I think for me, probably, it was part of the process of making the character my own. It was important for me to still imbue the character with those familiar elements of DeForest, it was also an opportunity to take the character in a new direction.

That’s the great thing about McCoy, he’s really a bit of a jack of all trades. You can throw him into any situation. He might grumble about it, but he’ll thrive. In this one, I get to fly an alien spaceship and do heroic things, and that’s kind of a part of the fun.

It was an enjoyable experience. Justin came in and was very sensitive to respecting the core of this cast and he brought in a real passion for “Star Trek” — he was a fan of it growing up as a kid. He was able to take that knowledge and infuse it with this wonderful visual action style that he’s synonymous for and deliver an action-packed fun ride full of special effects and thrills and also some poignant emotional moments, and I think he’s done a fantastic job.

Yeah, I think that the challenge was to not only honor the 50 years that had come before, but to also explore new territory, and “Star Trek” has always been a cult of personality. It’s about the characters, and I think Justin did a great job of infusing the story with an energy and a dynamism, and I think he was successfully able to build upon what J.J. established in ’09. … It’s about this eclectic group of diverse characters who work together, and that’s the essential message of this film — we are stronger together than we are apart.

Simon emailed us an early draft and he said, “Look, if there’s anything you’d like to see in this that’s not in there, please let me know and we’ll work together.” That was really the basis of the working relationship for having one of our own who was there for us and accessible and a great conduit for us to really be able to express these characters on a deeper level. There are many beats, and in some cases scenes, that came from that that are in the film and it was a wonderful collaborative experience. It’s just a shame that Simon gets the credit for it. [Laughs]

Well I think the most profound change, and the thing that I value the most, is the friends that I’ve made. This cast is unlike anything I’ve worked with in the past, apart from “Lord of the Rings,” which was a very similar experience. But we’re a tight group, and there’s a real bond between us. We really are a family and we’ve now experienced coming up on 10 years of this phenomenon and there’s been highs and lows. Some of us have families now, some of us were married and are no longer married and of course we’ve recently lost, a devastating loss, of losing Anton [Yelchin]. We’ve been through a lot together.

It’s absolutely devastating. There’s nothing that can prepare you for the loss of a family member and certainly we all continue to mourn him and grieve him and it hits you in the most unexpected ways and most unexpected times.

I’m about to go down to Australia for “Thor: Ragnarok” with Chris Hemsworth and directed by Taika Waititi, and I’m really looking forward to that. A lot of my stuff is with Cate Blanchett, and even though we were in “Lord of the Rings” together, I never shared any scenes with her and I have such a huge respect for her and her work and I’m really excited for that and I look forward to that.

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Karl Urban Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

Released on 08/11/2022

In true Boys fashion,

if you make the right choice you get rewarded,

and if you make the wrong choice you get punished.

And Butcher has a tendency of like

nine times outta 10, he will make the wrong choice.

[dynamic music]

Who the hell are you?

How do you know that?

The name's Butcher, Billy Butcher.

The fantastic thing about working on The Boys,

it's a very collaborative process.

If you come up with an idea that has some merit,

you pitch it to Kripke, he's fantastic.

He plays best idea wins.

When we were shooting the first season,

and there's a scene where Butcher is trying to convince

Hughie to go into Vought and plant a listening device.

Then, go back into the boardroom, sit down, big smiles,

plant the bug underneath the table.

Easy peasy, Japanesey.

Bob's your uncle.

That's that.

That's that?

To me, it seemed very like the threshold

of the rabbit going down the rabbit hole

in Alice in Wonderland.

And also reminded me a bit of The Matrix.

With that in mind, I pitched Kripke an idea

that Butcher would reference The Matrix.

And it's like, this is this moment.

And then we shot that.

And that's the one that they ended up using.

I stuffed it up.

The story, I got the pills confused,

which was an absolute accident in the moment.

It just ended up being comedy genius,

which is, it's very Butcher.

Crying into your chai tea, green latte, what the [beeps].

Or, you could take the blue pill, or was it the red pill?

Anyway, take the other pill and quit being a--

Which pill do you want me to take?

Just quit being a [beeps].

That's what I'm saying.

I think, as far as Butcher's relationship

with Hughie goes, the sort of underlying connection

between the two, Butcher is on a path of revenge.

The incorrect path to be on.

Hughie was really on the path for justice,

for what happened to Robin.

And that's obviously the correct path.

[metal rattling]

Sorry about the mess.

The whale is probably one of the most crazy scenes

that I've ever shot in my career, to tell you the truth.

That was me actually driving the speed boat.

And the day that we picked was actually a pretty stormy day.

And so, and I was going at

a considerable amount of speed.

And I was like, actually getting air off the waves.

Poor Jack Quaid is, I think, never been in a speed boat,

let alone a speed boat that's jumping waves

and flying through the air.

And he was freaked out.

He had a safety word, which was Carl.

And he's sitting up at the front of the boat,

and he's not facing me.

Apparently he's screaming at the top of his lungs.

He's like Carl, Carl, Carl, Carl!

I didn't hear him.

But we ended at the run,

and this poor kid was white as a sheet.

And I thought it was just that he was seasick or something,

but he was terrified.

We ended up swapping him out and we had somebody else come

and put Hughie's clothes on.

And this guy loved it.

He was having a ball.

And the whale itself was an actual

gigantic sort of 60 foot whale.

They built it on a beach.

And we had a boat on a track,

which we slammed into that.

And it was a fully interior exterior set,

where they had organs still pumping inside.

I mean, it was gross.

We were covered in blood.

But, a lot of fun.

Well, I think where we find Butcher

at the beginning of season three,

he's in a state where he hasn't processed

the death of Becca at all.

He is struggling to be some kind of paternal figure to Ryan,

which he dearly wants to be.

And to honor his promise to Becca to protect him.

But you know, that task is completely at odds

with Butcher's fundamental core mission,

which is to get revenge on Homelander.

And so obviously, something's gotta give.

And really the season is about

how far are you willing to go?

Are you willing to turn yourself into a monster

in order to defeat that monster?

And obviously, in Butcher's case, he's like, yeah.

Sure, why not?

Still a thing, eh?

That's my thing.

I founded it in '52.

Me and this other supe, Liberty.

Man, was she a firecracker.

Butcher really comes in at the end of it.

So I didn't get the full brunt of the herogasm experience.

Jensen tells this great story where he's walking on set

one day, and he sees one of the cameramen on a box

eating a sandwich, and he goes, hey, how's it going?

And the cameraman looks up at him

with this thousand-yard stare, and goes,

dude, I've seen some shit. [laughing]

I really felt for the crew 'cause they,

they really got put through it on that one.

And just hearing the first AD give directions to the extras.

Okay, can you please put your hand on his, yeah.

And then can you put her, your.

I mean, it was just like, what are we shooting here?

It was wild.

It was a lot of fun.

McCoy, Leonard McCoy.

[dramatic music]

Well, there was certainly points there

where I definitely felt the weight

and responsibility of getting it right.

Stepping into such an iconic character

that was played so wonderfully well by the late

great DeForest Kelley, and really a beloved character.

JJ was very adamant that we should go in there

and make these characters our own, to some extent I did.

But I also felt like as a long term fan of Star Trek,

that it was important to see some sort of recognizability,

particularly in the character of Bones.

For me, it was really about sort of cherry picking

some of the essence of what DeForest Kelley did,

and sort of imbuing it into the character,

without sort of slipping into some kind of imitation,

which wouldn't have been a good move.

Ship's being hit, shields at 60%.

I understand.

Well, should we, I dunno, fire back?

Of course not.

And it was fun.

And again, JJ was also a wonderfully collaborative director,

and we were all very blessed to be in a situation

where he was open to collaborating, to work with you,

and to help build those characters.

Such technology could theoretically be manipulated

to create a tunnel through space time.

Dammit man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist.

Are you actually suggesting they're from the future?

If you eliminate the impossible,

whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

How poetic.

It's just great to be able to get together

every now and then and make one of those movies.

And it's the best hang.

You don't stop laughing.

From Simon Pegg, to Chris Pine and John Cho,

they're incredibly funny guys.

I mean, you're literally in hysterics all day long.

And the last one was the best.

Sadly, it was after that,

that we lost Anton, tragically, and that really hurt.

Was such an amazing guy, so intelligent,

and had such a massive future ahead of him.

He was gonna get into directing,

and an extraordinary actor as well.

Very well respected.

And for us to lose him was a real tragedy.

But that summer, where we shot Star Trek Beyond

was probably my favorite Star Trek movie that we shot.

We were up in Vancouver and we were tight.

It was good fun.

Xena: Warrior Princess.

I had done a bunch of stuff in New Zealand.

And then Rob Tapert, who's an amazing producer,

brought a show to New Zealand called Hercules.

And off that was spun off Xena: Warrior Princess,

which was Lucy Lawless' show.

And that was an incredible experience

for a multitude of reasons.

It was the first time that a show of that production value

had really been shot in New Zealand.

And it really upskilled everybody, not only just actors,

but also the crew.

And in actual fact, many of the crew

were then cherry picked by Peter Jackson,

and they went on to work on Lord of the Rings.

Ngila Dickson, who did the wardrobe for those shows,

went on to win an Oscar.

As did Richard Taylor, and with her.

So, that show was really vital

for the New Zealand film industry in a lot of ways.

And was an incredible learning experience for all of us.

I really always enjoy playing the villains.

Interesting.

Roman design.

I can't believe you would double cross me,

just as I was about to double cross you.

How'd you know?

Those characters that you have are just

so driven and so focused.

And you have a lot of fun playing them, as you can see.

So for me, yeah, I mean, it's like

anytime I had an opportunity to play a villain

on that show was a good day.

Having the opportunity to work with Lucy Lawless

and to see how a number one drives the ship,

was an invaluable, inspirational experience.

She's got her eye on the clock and she's like,

all right, come on, lots to do.

And she's just sort of gently getting everybody to,

when the crew gets tired, to sort of focus,

and sort of drive forward.

And I still think of her, even today,

when I'm shooting The Boys, and the example that she set.

She's an amazing woman.

Lord of the Rings.

What business does an elf, a man, and a dwarf

have in the Riddermark?

Speak quickly!

Give me your name, horsemaster.

I had done a small New Zealand film

called The Price of Milk.

And the director of that

was very good friends with Peter Jackson.

And he took a rough cut of The Price of Milk

down to show Peter.

And I just happened to be in Peter's face

when he was looking for someone

to cast in the roll of Eomer.

We kind of get this call out of the blue,

inviting me to come down and play with them.

And I was absolutely elated.

This was like a dream come true.

Theoden king stands alone.

The battle scenes in Lord of the Rings,

I mean, were pretty insane.

Sure, there's a certain amount that was generated,

where a lot that was generated on a computer.

But they also went to such extreme measures

to put some serious numbers on the field.

And I remember when we were shooting,

I think one of the charges of Minas Tirith,

they put out a call in the South Island to all

able-bodied horse riders to bring your horse

to this location, on this day.

And hundreds and hundreds of people turned up,

a lot of women turned up.

And they slapped beards on them,

and put them in these fantastic costumes.

And we had a significant, like hundreds of riders there,

charging down the field.

And the sound of it, I'll never forget the sound of,

the earth was literally shaking.

I mean, I saw more of my country shooting that

over the three years than I had living there my entire life.

The friendships that were formed in that

were, really endured.

You felt like you went through something.

Peter Jackson is such a genius.

He's literally like working with an Einstein of film.

His knowledge is so impressive.

Just to be in the company of

such incredibly talented people,

right throughout the production.

And if you just look at that cast,

likes of Viggo Mortensen, and Ian McKellen,

Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Brad Dourif,

I mean, these guys were incredible.

And I remember taking any opportunity I could

to actually watch these guys work.

And I remember watching, Viggo for example,

and just seeing the way that he would subtly

put the emphasis in different places, every single take.

And that was a really huge lesson for me,

that he had the confidence in not only himself,

but then also the process,

the director, the editor to do that.

Honestly, it was one of the most

amazing experiences of my life.

I didn't read many comics at all.

In fact, pretty much Dredd was the only one.

But I really responded to the world of Dredd.

The character, the dark sort of satirical

look at this dystopian future.

And also the character, who could be heroic at times,

but he could also be a villain.

And as a representative of a very

sort of right wing regime establishment,

it's set in a time where politicians

have been dispensed with and the judges

have literally taken power, and are now

patrolling the streets dispensing on the spot justice.

And it's a ruthless kind of justice.

Working with Alex Garland, who was the writer,

and pretty much the director of the whole project,

was an invaluable experience.

Most of Dredd was shot at Cape Town Film Studios.

We did a little bit exterior work in a couple of locations,

driving the Lawmaster motorbike, that was a lot of fun.

But yeah, so for the most part, it was all in the studio.

And I remember a lot of practical effects,

there were a lot of explosions.

And we were firing weapons that were actually real weapons,

that had a casing built around it

to make them look like futuristic Lawmaster weapons.

But yeah, it was a lot of fun.

I'd actually met Lena years ago

on the set of Bourne Supremacy.

I remember, we were shooting some pickups in London,

and it was a scene where Dredd comes in at the end,

and they sort of face each other.

And I come on set, and I'm wearing the Dredd helmet,

and she's standing at the far end of the set.

And she just, she looks at me

and just starts maniacally laughing.

Let's just say it added good motivation to the scene.

I mean, she was crazy.

She's brilliant in the film.

Do you know how many people live in this block?

This isn't a negotiation.

The sentence is death.

You can't afford to take the risk.

And I certainly would be interested

to revisit the character.

There's just such a great depth of material there

that was written by John Wagner,

and various writers over the years.

Particularly stories revolving around Judge Death.

And a lot of great stories.

To me, it doesn't bother me if I get the opportunity

to play Dredd again, or it's someone else.

I would just love to see those stories.

I mean, I'd be excited for anybody

who gets their hands on the rights to do that.

That'd be incredible.

Thor: Ragnarok.

I'm particularly fond of these.

I pulled 'em out of a place on Midgard called Tex-as.

I really just got a call from Taika

out of the blue saying, hey, do you wanna come and play?

I've got this really cool role of Skurge.

You'd be working with Cate Blanchett.

I'm like, sign me up.

I don't need to read anything.

I'll stop you there.

What I meant was, what's your ambition?

I just want a chance to prove myself.

It was fantastic.

I mean, I remember turning up to work one day on set

and there's Sam Neil, Anthony Hopkins,

and just sitting around.

And that, to me, is probably one of my favorite days

when you're sitting around with Tony Hopkins,

and Sam Neill, shooting the shirt.

Sam Neill was probably one of the actors

that had really inspired me to be an actor,

coming from New Zealand,

getting in an international career.

And same with Anthony Hopkins.

And the thing that I loved about working with Taika

is that the take wasn't sacrilegious.

You'd be in the middle of a take, doing a dialogue,

and he would come and go, hey,

why don't you try and say this or that?

Or why don't you come pick up that, or do that?

And it was really kind of liberating in a way,

because there was nothing precious about it.

And it just became like a lot more free-flowing,

and a lot more improvisational.

For Asgard.

There was actually a scene that didn't make the final cut.

'Cause the character has a really wonderful arc,

that first of all, out of self preservation,

he aligns himself with Hela.

Because he could see that if he doesn't

he's gonna be killed.

But then, through the course of the film,

he gets more and more sickened by what he's required to do

in order to hold that decision up, to work for her.

And there's a scene where he chops the head off

this young girl in a town square because Hela asks him to.

And then post that scene, there's a scene

which didn't make the final cut,

is he is absolutely sickened to the core.

We find him in some corner.

And he's actually being physically sick by what he's done.

And that was really sort of the genesis

for this turn that he takes,

and the guilt that he feels about what he's done,

and how he's going to, at the right point in time,

make it right.

And that's always fun when you have a character

that you can take him in one direction,

and then have a pivot.

I always, if I can find the opportunity to do that, I will.

That's one of the things I look for in a role.

And another one is to make sure

that the character has a real utility, a real function.

Like if you can tell the story without your character,

then that's not something that you wanna do.

If the character serves no utility, no purpose, no function,

don't do the role.

[gun popping]

Out of the Blue.

I ran into a friend of mine and she said, oh,

my husband's producing this movie.

And I remember, and the movie was about

a small town massacre in the South Island,

in, I'm gonna say, 19, early 1990s.

And I think it was tragically

about 12 or 13 people were shot.

And that, we'd never experienced anything like that before.

Psychopathic gunman went loose.

And I remember that vividly.

I remember it as it unfolded.

And I sort of thought, well that might be something

that I'd be interested in being a part of.

And so I met with the director, and I read the script.

And I sort of took on the role of this small town cop

who's sort of really struggling

to deal with the tragedy as it unfolds.

[mysterious music]

The situation was completely different in those days.

If you were to take down an armed defender,

you actually had to radio back to your base to say,

I have a shot, can I take the shot?

There was no SWAT team, no armed defender's squad.

That incidence was really the birth in New Zealand

of that element of the police.

Sort of an important historical

sort of point in New Zealand,

particularly for the New Zealand community.

[character crying]

Probably the heaviest film that I've ever worked on.

And when I finished it, I thought

that I didn't wanna make anything like that ever again.

The people who were there and involved,

and the community that we were shooting in,

we were shooting one bay over from where it happened,

they didn't want us there.

They just wanted to let that story rest.

I was grateful to have been a part of it.

And again, there's some incredibly

talented people involved in that.

Greig Fraser, the DP, has gone on,

he's now working with Denis Villeneuve on the Dune movies.

It was a heavy but amazing experience.

Bourne Supremacy.

Here's my friend.

There's been a death in the family.

And I wonder if you've seen him.

Well, I had seen the first Bourne movie.

I remember being in a movie theater in New Zealand,

going to the first one, and going, man,

that's exactly the kind of film that I'd love to do.

I had just done a couple of films for Universal.

And off the back of that,

they offered me the role of Kirill, the assassin in Bourne.

And I just, I was like, I'm off, I'm gonna do it.

[tires screeching]

[horn honking]

[water whooshing]

That character was pretty cold.

He was just working on the other side.

But it's, a lot of people say, oh, he was the bad guy,

But yes, yeah, he was.

But, from my perspective, I wasn't playing him like that.

I was playing him as a guy who was following his orders.

It's just no emotion.

He's just doing a job,

Nothing personal.

That Moscow car chase,

we shot a huge portion of it in Russia.

We shot some of it in Berlin.

But the Russian stuff was incredible.

The production had to pay the local cops to shut off roads

so we could shoot it.

For whatever reason, we didn't get the permit to shoot.

So we were going around Moscow, literally stealing shots.

We'd have one cop on a bike,

and he would literally walk out into the street,

hold his hand up, stop the traffic and go, okay, go.

And I'm in a seven series BMW.

And it's like, and I'm flooring it.

Really sort of cowboy sort of stuff.

But that's how we were getting the shots.

And then they trained me out to do a reverse 180

in a Mercedes G-Wagon.

And that was a lot of fun.

And then actually let me do it.

If you watch the movie,

there's a camera station behind me in the G-Wagon.

As I spin the wheel, going in reverse,

you'll just see the background just go sideways.

And that's not CGI.

That's actually, they let me do it.

I can never look at a Mercedes G-Wagon the same way.

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'Star Trek' Actor Karl Urban Made A Secret Cameo In 'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker'

Karl Urban was already part of the new Star Trek franchise created by director J.J. Abrams . But that didn't stop him from making an appearance in the Star Wars universe. While making the publicity rounds for Amazon's series The Boys , the Dredd star opened up about a secret cameo he made in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker , but you won't see his face when you spot him.

Speaking with Digital Spy , Karl Urban revealed that he got suited up as a First Order Stormtrooper for the final installment of The Skywalker Saga. Urban said:

"I had the good fortune to go and visit J.J. Abrams while he was shooting The Rise of Skywalker. While I was there, he put me in a Stormtrooper uniform and we had a really fun day on set. It's been one of my life-long goals to be a Stormtrooper, so I can tick that off now."

I'm always surprised to hear that people dreamed of being Stormtroopers when they're on the lowest end of the Empire's ranks. Sure, the uniform is iconic at this point, but no one can see your face, and it's unlikely you'll have any lines. But I guess just being in Star Wars is good enough. However, it does make it hard to be spotted. Thankfully, Urban also revealed exactly where he appears in The Rise of Skywalker .

Our very first introduction to the Knights of Ren comes when they pass a couple of Stormtroopers in the halls of a Star Destroyer. One of them identifies the group for the audience by saying, "Knights of Ren," while the other follows up by saying, "Ghouls." Karl Urban is the Stormtrooper identifying the Knights of Ren, and that's actually his voice too.

There are probably many more cameos in The Rise of Skywalker that we haven't heard about yet. Each interviewer should ask every celebrity out there whether or not they've made a Star Wars cameo so we can get a comprehensive list of who appeared in these movies. We already have a good assembly of names who made an appearance in the final chapter of The Skywalker Saga, but we need the complete list. It could be the only key to stopping the childish bickering between Star Wars fans.

Den of Geek

Star Wars: Karl Urban’s The Rise of Skywalker Cameo Revealed

Karl Urban was a stormtrooper with a sliver of dialogue in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

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After being name-checked in The Rise of Skywalker ’s end credits under ‘additional voices,’ Star Trek and The Boys star Karl Urban has confirmed that he played a stormtrooper in last year’s Star Wars threequel.

“Here’s the process,” he told Digital Spy . “I had the good fortune to go and visit [director] J. J. Abrams while he was shooting The Rise of Skywalker . While I was there, he put me in a stormtrooper uniform and we had a really fun day on set. It’s been one of my life-long goals to be a stormtrooper, so I can tick that off now.”

Urban also helpfully described his brief moment in the movie for fans who want to nudge a pal and say “hey, did you know that’s Karl Urban?” during any future re-watches, by explaining that he’s one of the stormtroopers who check out Kylo Ren’s notorious squad as they march through a corridor together some way into the film.

“What is in the cut is my voice saying ‘Knights of Ren’ as Kylo Ren walks down a hallway past two stormtroopers,” he said. “I am one of those stormtroopers.”

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You can see this very moment below at 0.42, via the magic of YouTube…

Urban isn’t the only notable name who snuck into The Rise of Skywalker . Elsewhere, you’ll either see (or hear) scattered bits with the likes of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, George Harrison’s son Dhani, Sleight and Sweetheart director JD Dillard, musician Ed Sheeran, composer John Williams, Abrams himself, Kevin Smith, Freddie Prinze Jr and more.

The highly-anticipated second season of The Boys will debut on Amazon Prime Video UK in September. Showrunner Eric Kripke recently revealed to Collider that a short film featuring Urban’s character Billy Butcher will be released midway through the sophomore run, which he describes as “a companion piece.” The short, called Butcher , is set to explore what the gang leader got up to between season 1 and season 2.

“As season 2 begins, Butcher is M.I.A. and then shows up. In episode 2, we originally shot something that revealed where he went and what his experiences were. But it ultimately didn’t end up fitting that well into the episode because it made Butcher’s story a lot less mysterious and intriguing, and it slowed down the rhythm,” Kripke explained, adding that “There are references in the show that won’t make sense unless you see this thing.”

The ultra-violent series has already been renewed for season 3 at Amazon. Meanwhile, Disney and Lucasfilm’s plans for a new Star Wars trilogy have recently been pushed back by a year. Thor Ragnarok ’s Taika Waititi is rumored to direct the first installment, due out in 2023.

Kirsten Howard | @emotionalpedant

Kirsten Howard has paid their dues. Yes sir, the check is in the mail.

The Untold Truth Of The Boys' Karl Urban

If you're a fan of "The Boys," Amazon's hit superhero satire series, then it's almost guaranteed that you're a fan of Billy Butcher . The brooding mentor-turned-protagonist is one of the most memorable TV characters of recent years, and a lot of that is due to the nuanced performance of Karl Urban. You may already know Urban from fandom-rich franchises like The Lord of the Rings , Star Trek , and the Marvel Cinematic Universe . But, despite the actor's many high-profile roles, there are sides of him that most fans still don't know.

Urban is a native of New Zealand. Like most actors from that part of the world, the road he took to Hollywood was a long and winding one, very different to the routes typically taken by American and British actors. Let's take a look at some of the stops he made along the way and explore the unknown side of this intensely talented actor. This is the untold truth of Karl Urban.

From Rohann to Rohan

Even with the monumental success of "The Boys," Karl Urban may still be best known for his role in the second and third "The Lord of the Rings" movies. Many people first fell in love with Urban for his portrayal of Eomer of Rohan, a man desperate to protect his family and country but beset by seemingly insurmountable betrayal and corruption (which, to be fair, he probably should have expected from someone named Wormtongue). Eomer was a friend to the Fellowship of the Ring and later became a close ally to Aragorn, re-establishing the bond between the kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan. Oddly enough, Urban's first-ever on-screen role was as a character named Rohann .

The series was "Shark in the Park," a New Zealand police procedural that ran for three seasons in the early '90s, totaling 38 episodes. Urban had a recurring role in six of those episodes, playing a young drug addict named Rohann Murdoch. He robs a pharmacy and later takes an accidental heroin overdose, which police begin to suspect was attempted murder. His performances are as green as can be expected from any actor in their first televised role, but even back then he had presence, catching the eye whenever he was on the screen.

A prank war with Aragorn

The sets of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" movies were famously warm and playful , creating lasting friendships and unofficial families. Hours and hours of behind-the-scenes footage chronicles the silliness, inside jokes, and hilarious pranks. Aragorn actor Viggo Mortenson is notorious for pulling pranks on set — even in the middle of filmed takes — and Urban was not exempt.

As Urban revealed at Fan Expo 2019 , he was once woken up in the middle of the night by a phone call from his agent, who promised to buy him some new socks if he would just get on his flight as planned. After Urban responded with confusion, his agent instantly realized what had happened and simply said: "Viggo." Evidently, Mortensen had called Urban's agent pretending to be Urban, claiming that he would not fly without his lucky socks.

Urban took his chance to prank Mortensen back a decade later when both actors were promoting movies in Spain. Urban told every member of the press he could that Mortensen had bought a farm, 1,000 goats, and gotten really into making goat cheese. Interviewers asked Mortensen about his new goat cheese business so much that the fake story made its way to the national news.

He's a genre icon

Playing Eomer in "The Lord of the Rings" will always be the biggest jewel in Karl Urban's fandom crown, but it's far from his only beloved franchise character. There are few actors in Hollywood with as much pop culture cred as Urban, once dubbed a "genre icon" by SyFy . He played Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the Star Trek universe and Skurge the Executioner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He just needs to add Star Wars and a DC role to his resume and he'll be working conventions for the rest of his days.

Technically, Urban has already dabbled with both DC and Star Wars, though most fans aren't aware of this. He was in the 2010 action comedy "RED," based on comics originally published by WildStorm Productions, which became an imprint of DC. In fact, the same can be said of "The Boys," which began life at WildStorm before moving to Dynamite Entertainment. And though you'll never see his face or hear his voice, Urban did play a role in "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" — friend and director J.J. Abrams snuck him into a Stormtrooper costume on set.

When you add his roles in "Hercules" and "Xena," his role in 2005's "Doom," his recurring role in the Riddick franchise, and his turn as the titular judge in "Dredd," you realize that Urban is the pop culture king you never knew you had.

Taika Waititi personally shaved his head

Most Karl Urban roles allow him to keep the same hairstyle he rocks in "The Boys," but sometimes he has to get rid of the mane. One time, he let his director do it for him. If you scrolled through a list of the many directors Urban has worked with, you would probably guess who we're talking about. For his role as Skurge in "Thor: Ragnarok," Urban let Taika Waititi personally shave his head .

"I turned up on set and Taika, our esteemed director, greeted me," said Urban . "He literally stopped directing the movie and came out and shaved my head and then went back to directing." Clips of the incident are scattered around the internet and show Waititi smiling with boyish glee as he takes the trimmers to Urban's dense locks. It's the type of behavior that fans have come to expect from Waititi and it says a lot about Urban's affability that he played along. "I embraced it," he said. "What are you gonna do?"

Karl Urban spends a lot of time at sea

If you follow Karl Urban on social media, you'll know that he is no stranger to the sea. His Instagram feed is filled with posts that chronicle his deep-sea fishing hobby. Seemingly every third picture is Urban out on his boat or holding up his latest catch . He's also a skilled surfer, as a few thousand Star Trek fans found out when Urban posted a trolling video on his YouTube channel entitled "Karl Urban: STAR TREK COMIC-CON SNEAK PEAK !!" that just showed him surfing for four minutes.

Even more impressive is the fact that Urban has transitioned his nautical chops into his career. As "The Boys" co-star Jack Quaid revealed during a SiriusXM Q&A , that's Urban driving in the famous speedboat scene from Season 2. Quaid said: "I actually felt super safe with you driving, 'cause I look at your Instagram — that's all you do!"

Why Karl Urban was perfect for Dredd

When the "Judge Dredd" franchise was relaunched in the 2010s, Karl Urban was cast in the titular role. He brought his A-game to 2012's "Dredd," delivering a performance that fans lauded. The 1995 Sylvester Stallone vehicle "Judge Dredd" missed the mark by such a wide margin that the character vanished from the big screen for years, but the team behind the reboot knew exactly what fans wanted. Urban's spot-on portrayal was all but inevitable given his affinity for the character.

Urban told MTV News : "I'm a longtime fan of 'Dredd.' I read it growing up." When asked about the 1995 movie, Urban took issue with that film's insistence on taking Dredd's helmet off — something almost unheard of in the comics. "To me, [the helmet staying on is] essential," Urban said. "That's part of his enigma. That's part of who he is." Urban even knew the character well enough to give the "Dredd" screenwriters notes. "Karl's got a very clear sense of the character and how he's going to perform it, so he was just adjusting lines to make them work for him," co-writer Alex Garland said in an interview first published in Empire magazine.

He's part of a secret DC cameo in Thor: Ragnarok

In Marvel comics, the character Skurge the Executioner is — as you no doubt guessed from his name — a grim, serious sort. For the majority of his publication history, the character has been a no-nonsense, battle-lusting villain out to punish Thor or claim some piece of our planet as his own. However, when Taika Waititi decided to include Skurge in "Thor: Ragnarok," the filmmaker did what he does best: He gave the character a goofy but endearing charm. Urban was up to the task, delivering the offbeat comedy expertly.

Skurge's funniest moment has to be the "My stuff" scene, in which he shows off his collection of pilfered goods to a couple of Asgardian women. Along with his twin rifles Des and Troy, Skurge shows off his skills with a Shake Weight — one that belonged to Waititi himself. "The Shake Weight is actually a DC crossover," Waititi told Fandango (via ComicBook.com ). "That's mine, and that was something I bought while I was in 'Green Lantern.'" Waititi played engineer Thomas Kalmaku in the much-maligned Ryan Reynolds-led flop.

How Blade Runner informed his career choices

Karl Urban is pretty much royalty in the sci-fi world. Between "Star Trek," "The Chronicles of Riddick ," "Doom," "Almost Human," "Dredd," and others, the Kiwi is a true elite in the genre. This status is a dream come true for Urban, who has always wanted to work in sci-fi. In an interview from 1998 — before the actor had broken through outside of New Zealand — he was asked what he would do next if it were up to him. "Genre wise, I'd like to do science fiction," he said. "'Blade Runner' is one of my all-time favorite films. It's a masterpiece." The funny thing about Urban's answer is that the next five years of his life would be almost exclusively devoted to roles in fantasy stories rather than science fiction.

For years following that interview, Urban's most public work was in the mythological fantasy "Xena: Warrior Princess." Even his lesser-known side projects — the movies "Truth About Demons," "The Price of Milk," and "Ghost Ship" — were all fantasy or fantasy-inspired horror stories. Following those, his next role — the one that launched his stable, successful career — was in perhaps the most influential fantasy story of all time: "The Lord of the Rings."

He's the UNICEF Aotearoa New Zealand Ambassador

Karl Urban has long held a reputation for being a genuinely friendly guy. Fans and co-stars alike maintain that he is a pleasure to meet and work with, and when those accounts are combined with Urban's controversy-free public history, it becomes clear that he's the anti-Billy Butcher . With that in mind, it will come as no surprise to learn that Urban regularly devotes himself to charity work.

As part of Omaze's "To Boldly Go" campaign, Urban helped raise over a million dollars for charity. He decided to give his share ( $160,000 ) to the New Zealand charity KidsCan, which gives food, clothing, and medicine to underfunded schools. His work with the charity has also included personally visiting schools .

In May 2022, UNICEF made Urban an official ambassador . His job is "to support in raising awareness on children's rights both in New Zealand and around the world," the organization said in a statement. It's clear that Urban is willing to use his star power to make the world a better place.

Fans of The Lord of the Rings still love him

Much to the delight of those who still love Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings," the director and the entire main cast reunited in 2020 for " One Zoom to Rule Them All ," a part of actor Josh Gad's "Reunited Apart" YouTube series. Hosted by Gad, the series brought together cast and crew from fan-favorite films over Zoom during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With 6.8 million views as of this writing, "One Zoom to Rule Them All" is by far the series' most popular entry, and that's not surprising — it's packed with fan-pleasing moments.

Many of those highlights came in the form of scene re-enactments by the cast. Orlando Bloom and John-Rhys Davies read the classic "Would you like me to find you a box?" scene, and Sean Astin performed his iconic "It's worth fighting for" speech. For Urban fans, the ultimate highlight was the Kiwi actor reading a scene with Miranda Otto (Eowyn). The actor delivered his lines with more gusto than anyone else on the Zoom call — and he even wore his original Eomer helmet. He clearly loves the character, and this continues to endear him to "The Lord of the Rings" fans to this day.

Screen Rant

Anton yelchin in star trek & tragic death explained.

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Chekov’s Star Trek: TOS & Picard History Explained

1985 brat pack movie becomes streaming success after hit documentary, i'm very concerned about brad pitt's new $300 million movie despite exciting release update.

• Anton Yelchin's portrayal of Chekov in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films breathed new life into the iconic character.
• As the young prodigy navigator on the Enterprise, Chekov helps defeat villains like Nero and Khan, showcasing his exceptional skills and bravery.
• Yelchin's tragic death in 2016 left a lasting impact on the Star Trek community, with his memory honored in subsequent films and projects.

Beginning with J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) , Anton Yelchin played Ensign Pavel Chekov in three Star Trek films before his tragic and untimely death in 2016. Following the James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) of the alternate Kelvin timeline, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films reenergized the Star Trek movie franchise, introducing countless new fans to the series. Star Trek: Enterprise ended with a whimper four years before and there had not been a Star Trek feature film since the lackluster Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002.

Star Trek (2009) introduced updated versions of the classic characters from Star Trek: The Original Series, including the young Russian Starfleet officer, Pavel Chekov. Originally played by Walter Koenig, Chekov was the youngest of the USS Enterprise bridge crew and was often defined by his love for his Russian heritage. Throughout TOS and its subsequent films, Chekov became a jack-of-all-trades, working in navigation, engineering, and security, among other odd jobs. In Star Trek (2009), Yelchin's Chekov joined the crew of the Enterprise as a cadet at the age of seventeen, when he was assigned as the ship's navigator.

Brought in to cover for George Takei's absence, Walter Koenig's Pavel Chekov has become a Star Trek icon that continues to influence the franchise.

Anton Yelchin Played Chekov In J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Movies

The chekov of j.j. abrams' star trek is a prodigy, with exceptional mathematical ability..

As the navigator on the Starship Enterprise , Chekov aided in the defeat of Nero (Eric Bana), the Romulan time traveler who sought revenge against the United Federation of Planets for the destruction of Romulus. In Star Trek Into Darkness , the Enterprise faces off against the notorious tyrant, Khan Noonien-Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch), who reveals a Starfleet and Section 31 conspiracy. Chekov briefly fills in as Chief Engineer when Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg) temporarily resigns. By the time of Star Trek Beyond, Chekov is back to being the Enterprise's navigator when the ship is destroyed, stranding Chekov and the rest of the crew on Altamid.

After the events of Star Trek Beyond, Captain Kirk is given command of the USS Enterprise-A, and Chekov remains on the crew.

Born in the Soviet Union, Anton Yelchin's family moved to the United States when he was only six months old. Yelchin made his film debut in 2000's A Man Is Mostly Water, before going on to appear in numerous films and television shows, including Along Came a Spider, Hearts in Atlantis, The Practice, and NYPD Blue . Yelchin starred alongside Christian Bale and Sam Worthington in 2009's Terminator Salvation, and continued to have a busy career, often earning rave reviews for his performances. He starred as Odd Thomas in the adaptation of the Dean Koontz novel of the same name and also starred alongside Patrick Stewart in the independent horror film, The Green Room .

Anton Yelchin’s Tragic 2016 Death Explained

Yelchin died in a tragic accident on june 19, 2016..

When Anton Yelchin missed a rehearsal on June 18, 2016, his friends grew worried and went to check on him at his home. He was found at about 1 a.m. on June 19, having been pinned between his Jeep and a brick pillar outside of his home in a freak accident. At only age 27, Yelchin was pronounced dead at the scene. Star Trek Beyond was released about a month after Yelchin's death and was dedicated to both him and Leonard Nimoy, who had passed away in May of 2015.

Several other films and television shows featuring Yelchin were released after the actor's death, many of which were dedicated to him. These projects include Smurfs: The Lost Village, We Don't Belong Here, Rememory, Porto, Newness, and Thoroughbreds, as well as the entirety of Guillermo del Toro's Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 featured a Federation Starship named the USS Yelchin (NCC-4774-E) , and a new ship named Yelchin was mentioned in Discovery season 4. Star Trek has found numerous ways to keep Anton Yelchin's memory alive, and he has been and always shall be an important member of the Star Trek family.

Star Trek (2009)

*Availability in US

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J.J. Abrams' 2009 movie Star Trek rebooted the iconic sci-fi franchise in a totally new timeline. When a Romulan ship travels back in time and alters the past, the lives of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and the future crew of the USS Enterprise are drastically changed. In this new timeline, the Romulan Nero (Eric Bana) sets out for revenge on Spock, setting off a chain of events that reshape the entire universe.

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness is a 2013 movie directed by     J. J. Abrams and starring John Cho, Alice Eve, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Part of the Star Trek franchise, this sequel sees Captain Kirk relieved of his duties as commander of the USS Enterprise.

Star Trek Beyond

In the Kelvin timeline of Star Trek Films, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the U.S.S. Enterprise crew return to fight a new enemy who puts everything they and the Federation stand for to the ultimate test. This third installment of the rebooted Star Trek films marked the 50th anniversary of the classic sci-fi franchise.

8 Times Star Wars & Star Trek Told The Same Story

• Star Wars and Star Trek share similar storytelling elements, such as opening chase scenes and planet-killing superweapons.
• There are intentional or unintentional parallels between the two franchises, from similar-sounding names to nearly identical plotlines.
• Recent Star Wars and Star Trek projects, Skeleton Crew and Star Trek: Prodigy , show similarities in plot and themes.

While Star Wars and Star Trek are very different franchises despite their similar names, there have inevitably been many times when they have told the same story. This may seem unlikely at first glance, as Star Wars and Star Trek fans have been rivals for as long as anyone can remember . Star Wars leans more into space fantasy , telling a story about another galaxy in the distant past and creating new mythology to captivate modern audiences. Star Trek , meanwhile, is science fiction, offering humanity a glimpse of an optimistic future of exploration and technological innovation.

Of course, when both franchises rely on starships, alien races, and traveling faster than the speed of light, there are sure to be common elements. Some moments even go beyond similar names or designs to having the exact same plot and style of storytelling. Whether intentional or not, these examples are an opportunity to observe parallels between the two biggest names in science fiction. As Star Wars and Star Trek continually release new movies and TV shows , viewers can continue to spot their similarities and not just their differences.

Star Trek: Voyager's Tim Russ Hilariously Explains Star Wars

A video of Voyager's Tim Russ hilariously explaining the plot of A New Hope reminds fans of the friendly rivalry between Star Trek and Star Wars.

An Opening Crawl & Rebel Chase

Star trek: voyager season 1, episode 1 "caretaker", star trek voyager.

Cast Jennifer Lien, Garrett Wang, Tim Russ, Robert Duncan McNeill, Roxann Dawson, Robert Beltran, Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo

Release Date May 23, 1995

Genres Sci-Fi, Action

Network UPN

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Writers Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Rick Berman

Directors Michael Vejar, Allan Kroeker, Winrich Kolbe, David Livingston

Showrunner Kenneth Biller, Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Brannon Braga

Star Trek TV episodes often begin with a Captain's Log to tell the audience everything they need to know without interrupting the story's pacing. When Star Trek: Voyager premiered in 1995, however, the creative team needed to summarize the basic conflict between the Maquis and the Cardassian Empire for any new viewers who had not seen Star Trek: The Next Generation or its spinoff Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . The solution was to begin with three paragraphs of text, followed by a chase scene introducing three main characters and setting the show's plot in motion.

It would be hard for any movie fan to miss the similarities between the opening of Voyager and the first Star Wars movie. A New Hope famously begins with an opening crawl explaining the conflict between the Rebels and the evil Galactic Empire, followed by a giant Star Destroyer chasing the smaller Tantive IV . The next few scenes introduce three main heroes and lead to the droids fleeing in an escape pod to set the rest of the plot in motion. Considering this was the first scene of a new Star Trek series, the decision to have a clear Star Wars parallel was interesting.

The Maquis are chased by "Gul Evek of the Cardassian Fourth Order," which sounds similar to the First Order from the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

The Trade Federation Vs. The United Federation Of Planets

Star wars: episode i - the phantom menace.

Director George Lucas

Release Date May 19, 1999

Studio(s) Lucasfilm

Distributor(s) 20th Century

Writers George Lucas

Cast Ian McDiarmid, Ray Park, Liam Neeson, Pernilla August, Samuel L. Jackson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Kenny Baker, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Ahmed Best

Runtime 133 minutes

Genres Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Franchise(s) Star Wars

Budget $115 Million

Fans had waited 16 years for another Star Wars adventure on the big screen when Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace was released in 1999. Rather than having another evil Empire, the main villains were the greedy Trade Federation, a galactic corporation powerful enough to have its own private droid army and a seat in the Republic Senate. Unknown to the Jedi, the Trade Federation leadership was under the sway of Darth Sidious, who promised them power but was using them to create a political crisis that would begin his eventual rise to power.

While the Trade Federation has very little in common with Star Trek 's United Federation of Planets, it's curious that George Lucas used a name famously associated with Star Wars 's biggest rival. The Trade Federation is also controlled by the Neimoidians , which is hard not to see as a playful reference to Leonard Nimoy, famous for playing Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series and beyond. Qui-Gon Jinn emphasizes that the Neimoidians are cowardly and motivated purely by greed, a description that could easily apply to the Ferengi in Star Trek , whose entire civilization revolves around making profit.

An Invading Army From Beyond The Known Galaxy

Star wars: the new jedi order (book series).

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore kicked off a new era of Star Wars publishing in 1999, exploring the galaxy's future while George Lucas' prequel trilogy was exploring its past. The New Jedi Order followed Luke Skywalker and the next generation of Jedi Knights defending the New Republic from the Yuuzhan Vong , a brutal warrior race from beyond the galaxy. Told across 19 full-length novels and a few short stories, The New Jedi Order was an ambitious undertaking, telling one big story while allowing authors to explore individual conflicts and character arcs.

This premise and storytelling format is similar to the later seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which, funnily enough, ended the same year The New Jedi Order began. Many Star Wars fans have criticized the Yuuzhan Vong for feeling more like Star Trek villains , and there are parallels to the Dominion in Deep Space Nine . The Yuuzhan Vong are divided into different castes and worship strange gods, while the Dominion has a hierarchy for their three main species who worship their founders like gods. Both stories end with various factions and former enemies working together to repel the invaders.

Stopping A Planet-Killing Superweapon

Star trek: enterprise season 3, star trek: enterprise.

Cast Dominic Keating, Connor Trinneer, Linda Park, John Billingsley, Scott Bakula, Jolene Blalock, Jeffrey Combs, Anthony Montgomery

Release Date September 26, 2001

Genres Sci-Fi, Drama, Action, Adventure

Writers Rick Berman, Manny Coto, Brannon Braga

Showrunner Manny Coto, Brannon Braga

Creator(s) Rick Berman, Brannon Braga

Known simply as Enterprise for its first two seasons, this prequel series did more than add Star Trek to its title in season 3. The change came with a serialized plot spanning the entire season, a new group of aliens called the Xindi, and a race to find them before they could build a superweapon to destroy Earth. After convincing a group of Xindi that Earth was not a threat to them, Captain Jonathan Archer led the crew of the Enterprise in a final battle to defend their home and destroy the weapon from the inside.

The original Star Wars trilogy had two Death Stars, Star Wars: The Force Awakens had Starkiller Base, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had a fleet of 10,000 ships, each capable of destroying a planet.

While most of Enterprise season 3 still felt like Star Trek , superweapons are commonly associated with Star Wars . The original Star Wars trilogy had two Death Stars, Star Wars: The Force Awakens had Starkiller Base, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had a fleet of 10,000 ships, each capable of destroying a planet. Enterprise season 3 regularly features the Xindi leaders conferring about the weapon's progress, much like the Imperials seen on the Death Star in A New Hope . The context may be different in Enterprise , but a superweapon will always scream Star Wars .

Faster And More Intense

Star trek (2009).

Director J.J. Abrams

Release Date May 8, 2009

Studio(s) Paramount Pictures

Writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Gene Roddenberry

Cast Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Winona Ryder, Tyler Perry, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Leonard Nimoy, Anton Yelchin, Chris Pine, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho

Rating PG-13

Runtime 127 Minutes

Genres Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

Sequel(s) Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond

Budget $150 million

J.J. Abrams redefined Star Trek in 2009 with a reboot that spawned a trilogy of films and eventually led to more TV shows. Rather than follow the example of the previous movies, Abrams and his team made their own version of Star Trek , one with a different visual style and a greater focus on action and adventure. The movie created a new timeline separate from the previous Star Trek entries and focused on a younger version of the Enterprise crew finding their place in this alternate reality. These changes made Star Trek entertaining and much more accessible for new fans.

However, it didn't take viewers long to realize that the new Star Trek drew heavy inspiration from its biggest rival. Abrams admitted that he was not a big Star Trek fan , aiming to create a version he would enjoy, and it's easy to see elements taken straight from Star Wars . Jim Kirk and Luke Skywalker are called to adventure among the stars, Vulcan and Alderaan are destroyed by superweapons, Captain Pike and Princess Leia are tortured for information, and the Enterprise crew and the Rebels wage a final attack on their respective superweapons.

J.J. Abrams later wrote and directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker .

Cassian Andor's Name

Rogue one: a star wars story.

Director Gareth Edwards

Release Date December 13, 2016

Distributor(s) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Writers Tony Gilroy, Chris Weitz

Cast Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Ben Mendelsohn, Mads Mikkelsen, Felicity Jones, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker

Runtime 134 Minutes

Budget $200265 million

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story featured an impressive cast of new characters, including Cassian Andor of Rebel Intelligence. While the movie didn't have time to delve into Cassian's backstory, the character proved worthy of his own spinoff, leading to Andor season 1 in 2022. The show's darker storytelling, fully fleshed-out characters, outstanding production value, and Diego Luna's compelling lead performance ensured everyone would associate "Andor" with Star Wars . The upcoming second season will surely bring in more viewers as the series ties into the events of Rogue One .

Even so, viewers tuning into new Star Trek TV shows may find themselves confused when they meet the Andorians. With their distinct blue skin and antennae, the Andorians are one of the most recognizable alien races in Star Trek , dating all the way back to The Original Series in 1967. Andorians were explored in-depth in Star Trek: Enterprise , and new shows such as Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds have featured Andorian characters. Like the Neimoidians in The Phantom Menace , it's curious that Star Wars gave Cassian a last name commonly associated with Star Trek .

"You've Got The Bridge."

Ahsoka season 1, episode 1 "part one: master and apprentice".

Cast Diana Lee Inosanto, Eman Esfandi, Ivanna Sakhno, Ray Stevenson, Genevieve O'Reilly, Lars Mikkelsen, Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Hayden Christensen

Release Date August 23, 2023

Genres Drama, Sci-Fi, Action

Streaming Service(s) Disney Plus

Writers Dave Filoni

Directors Jennifer Getzinger, Geeta Vasant Patel, Rick Famuyiwa, Dave Filoni, Steph Green, Peter Ramsey

Showrunner Dave Filoni

Creator(s) Dave Filoni

While the first scene of Star Trek: Voyager felt more like a Star Wars movie, the first scene of Ahsoka felt more like a Star Trek TV show. Captain Hayle and his crew aboard a New Republic cruiser encounter a mysterious ship that transmits an old Jedi clearance code. While the rest of the crew is shocked, Captain Hayle is not so easily convinced, believing these "Jedi" must be impostors. He turns command of the bridge over to his first officer and greets Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati, who confirm they are not Jedi by slaughtering the entire crew.

Immediately following the episode's premiere, some fans noted the similarities to a Star Trek scene. Aside from Star Trek characters often saying "You have the bridge," the lighting, set design, and camera angles all feel like a classic Star Trek crew exploring the unknown. The Captain asks various officers for information, and casually decides to investigate, and the ship is overwhelmed when the crew realizes what they've found. The rest of Ahsoka season 1 constantly references previous Star Wars movies and TV shows , even if it started with something that felt like Star Trek .

A Show About A Group Of Kids Finding A Ship

Skeleton crew, star wars: skeleton crew.

Cast Robert Timothy Smith, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Kerry Condon, Tunde Adebimpe, Jude Law

Streaming Service(s) Disney+

Writers Christopher Ford, Jon Watts

Directors David Lowery, Jon Watts, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jake Schreier

Showrunner Christopher Ford, Jon Watts

The most recent Star Wars story to feel like Star Trek hasn't even premiered yet. Skeleton Crew will follow a group of kids who find a starship and travel the galaxy to find their way home. Jude Law will play a mysterious Force user, possibly a Jedi, who leads this young crew on their mission. While no one knows exactly how Skeleton Crew will execute its premise, the plot is undeniably similar to the animated Star Trek: Prodigy , which follows a group of kids who find a Starfleet trip and travel the galaxy under the guidance of Hologram Janeway.

Star Wars' Upcoming TV Show Sounds Like A Star Trek Ripoff - & That's Perfect

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, set to premiere later this year, seems oddly similar to a recent Star Trek story, which may work to its advantage.

In Skeleton Crew 's defense, Prodigy felt more like Star Wars in its first few episodes . A group of ragtag heroes stealing a ship to go on an adventure has happened several times in Star Wars , and their inexperience means that they take a while to feel like a proper Starfleet crew. Even so, the similarities between these two shows are fascinating, and it will be interesting to see if there are more parallels when Skeleton Crew premieres. With no end in sight for either franchise, there will undoubtedly be more times when Star Wars and Star Trek tell the same story.

‘The Boys’ Creator on Season 4 Premiere’s Butcher Reveal, Intro of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Kessler, That Sprawling Naked Fight Scene and Key Cameos

By Jennifer Maas

Jennifer Maas

TV Business Writer

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SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers from the first three episodes of “ The Boys ” Season 4, currently streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video .

“The Boys” are back with blood, guts, glory and more fake penises.

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Here, “The Boys” showrunner Eric Kripke breaks down the biggest moments from “The Boys” Season 4 premiere, and its subsequent two episodes — as well as where the show is headed, now that he’s confirmed the show will be ending with Season 5.

Let’s start with the craziest thing from the premiere episodes: Why did you do that to “Supernatural” alum Rob Benedict? And by that , I mean bring him on to the show as Splinter — a superhero who can split into multiple versions of himself — and have him perform oral sex on multiple versions of himself in a line, before he gets into a naked fight with The Boys.

Look, Rob knew what he was getting himself into. When Rob reached out and said, “I think I might be auditioning for this part,” I was like, “Hold on, we need to talk…”

I said, “Here are the things that this role is going to be doing, and you need to know exactly what you’re getting into, because we’re friends.” So I explained every single scene, and he was just down to do it. He just thought it was hilarious — and it is.

We had these amazing meetings about how to get the penis to swing properly. I just want to cut to the chase: the answer is ball bearings. A couple of ball bearings in the end, so it’s weighted just enough, because otherwise it’ll feel too rubbery. So these are the things you learn on this show.

He’s so funny. Obviously, you know how often I used him in “Supernatural,” and he’s just a treasure. It was just such a blast to work with him again.

Will Ferrell and Tilda Swinton both make cameos in the first episodes. Ferrell plays himself as the co-star of A-Train’s (Jessie T. Usher) origin story Vought film, and Swinton does the voice of The Deep’s (Chace Crawford) octopus romantic partner, Ambrosius. How did those castings come about?

For Will, I was chatting at the time with him and his producing partner, Carolina Barlow. We were just talking about a script kind of casually, right when this role came up. Jessica Chow in the script wrote, “huge Hollywood star” — that was the slugline. So I was emailing him, “Hey, do you want to come out and do this for 30 hours, and just bang it out?” I showed him the pages and he was like, “Yeah, that sounds fine! I’ll totally do that.” It was miserable shooting conditions. It was freezing rain sideways. They were outside all day.

I felt so bad. This poor guy, he’s saying yes to a favor, and then he’s in sub-Arctic conditions. But he could not have been like sweeter or more gracious or kinder to the crew. And he was hilarious. We have a lot of ad-libbing between him and Jessie that we have to put in bloopers. There’s so much! At one point they deeply kiss — there’s a lot going on in those outtakes.

For Tilda, we didn’t know her — it was just that once we realized that Ambrosius was going to be a character this year, we in the writers’ room all said, “We need the classiest, Oscar-winningest, British actress we can get our hands on.” And that’s a really short list. And Dame Judi Dench was unavailable.

No, we reached out to Tilda, and to her everlasting credit, she didn’t know any of us, but she was like, “That sounds hilarious, I’m in,” and she did it. She was in Scotland, I think, at the time, but came into a recording booth there, and I was in a booth in L.A. giving her some direction. And just to hear the highest-caliber actor of her level reading the dumbest lines, it just makes me so happy. It’s really one of the best professional days of my life.

You did a voice cameo last season, and you didn’t tell me, you just tweeted it . So making sure to check this time if you have one.

No, I did not have a cameo this season. No.

How much did you decide to focus on the in-universe presidential election for Robert Singer and Victoria Neuman, and want to make commentary on the current election we’re going into?

I got really interested in a period of time no one paid much attention to before 2020 — that period from Election Night to Jan. 6 when there’s a president and vice president-elect but they’re not president or vice president until Congress counts the electoral votes. Now everyone deeply knows that process, but we didn’t know at the time. I said, “Let’s set it in that space, and then have Jan. 6 be a ticking clock for us — that they have to take out Neuman before the votes are counted, and she’s confirmed.”

A lot of shows have have done the lead up to Election Day, but us being us, we made the lead up to Jan. 6.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan has joined the show as Kessler, Butcher’s old buddy from the CIA. There is a Kessler in the comics, but there’s some pretty stark differences between that character and the one Morgan plays. What was the choice there in using the name and in what you wanted Kessler to represent this season?

It’s more of a nod and feeling like we’re still in love with the comics and when we can have tie-ins, we’ll take them. The notion came up reasonably early to have a CIA agent who was very much like a Butcher. Almost everyone in Butcher’s life is trying to pull him back and say, “Don’t do that, Butcher!” And we said, well, what if there was someone in his life who was like, “No, you definitely have to do that. And go further, and go harder.”

So in effect, you need another Butcher. And it’s not easy to find someone who can go toe to toe with Karl, in terms of screen presence and charisma and danger. And luckily, that was the same time that Jeffrey Dean had let me know he might be available for that season. And I’m like, “Oh, thank God, because that’s perfect.” You have somebody who’s got Karl’s weight and stature. And since he was a CIA guy, I said, well, we should call them Kessler and just do our version of Kessler. If you look carefully, it’s such a throwaway, but for even Sage and in Episode 2, when her license comes up, her name is Jessica Bradley — who is a big character in the comics also. And she’s not at all like the Jessica Bradley in the comments, but we’re always trying to nod that we’re paying attention.

We get a lot of scenes of Ryan and Homelander’s domestic life in Vought Tower this season. What can you tease about where that relationship is headed? And what you were trying to show with their father-and-son moments now that Homelander has custody of Ryan?

But also, it’s another way to see how unbelievably needy Homelander is. I love his scenes where he’s confronting the kid because the kid isn’t fulfilling the dad’s emotional needs — it’s just such a funny performance from Ant. Or when he tells Ryan, “We need to tell each other everything until we almost merge into one.” He’s got the worst advice, and that amuses me.

What’s going on with that squiggly squirmy thing in Butcher’s temple at the end of the premiere? And what exactly is his life expectancy at this point?

We established at the end of Season 3 that the amount of Temp V he was shooting in his veins was going to kill him. And sure enough, it is. But ultimately, V is a mysterious and insidious drug, and it does really screwed up things to you. And it’s just starting to hint that there’s more going on inside of Butcher than maybe the doctors have found.

You’ve said before you don’t need to watch “The Boys” spinoff “Gen V” in order to understand “The Boys,” and vice versa. Do you think that still holds true moving forward into the next episodes of Season 4 with the supe virus?

We certainly designed it that way, that you don’t have to watch both. Butcher basically says, “Hey, you have this virus and here’s where I found it and here’s how I knew about it.” We’re very careful to put into the dialogue everything that the viewer would need to know to not have to go back and watch that show. I never want the audience to say, “What does that mean?” And someone else say, “Well, you gotta go back and watch that show.”

Like I want them to just know: there’s a virus and it kills superheroes, and this place made it. Is everyone up to speed? Great. And that’s it. I’d love for people to watch “Gen V” if they want to go back and deepen the experience to know where the virus came from, and how Neuman got her hands on it. There’s some moves in it that are certainly worth watching. But you don’t need to and I really don’t want people to feel like they have to watch it.

You brought in Rosemarie Dewitt as Hughie’s (Jack Quaid) estranged mother this season. How long have you been plotting that character’s entrance and why was now the time?

She was always going to show up sooner or later. Every season I keep trying to dig deeper into the characters and who they are, and when you keep digging, sooner or later you’re going to hit their core trauma. The thing that really makes them them.

I like that she’s been pulled into a Vought-run essential oils multilevel marketing scheme.

Oh, for sure. Voughtality is funny. It has been on our board for years and we’ve always been trying to work it in and she gave us the opportunity to do it.

Can you break down the “Vought on Ice” sequence and particularly the inclusion of Maeve’s character (and other references to Maeve in the episodes) now that Dominque McElligott has exited the show?

She’s America’s most famous lesbian, as they always say. I’ve been wanting to do “Vought on Ice” for a while; it’s logical they’d have it, and it would be a part of the world. I think we were a little intimidated about how much work would go into really choreographing an ice song-and-dance number. But this season, I was like, “It’s time, we have to do it.” And the idea of Maeve and Homelander being the two Disney-like characters on the ice just made all the sense in the world. It was so fun to do, and the amount of work that went into it. Our choreographer Amy Wright was the same woman who choreographed the Kimiko dance number in Season 3, but she needed like an ice skater consultant. And Toronto is lousy with skaters that are medalists, so almost every skater was a medalist in some major game. Michael Ground, our costume designer, had to make those sparkly versions of the supersuits that have thousands of rhinestones on them. They were rehearsing for weeks and weeks and weeks just to shoot this one sequence.

And it’s just the amount of time and money and effort we put into the dumbest shit just makes me so happy. And anywhere we can keep Maeve alive, we try, to because she’s a major character and even if Dom isn’t in the show this season, I think the spirit of the character is.

A-Train seems to be leaning more and more toward helping “The Boys” this season. Is he actually going to flip sides this time, or no?

You’ll have to tune in to find out! But I will say that last season he was pretending for so long to give a shit that a little bit of it stuck, and he started to actually give a shit. I think what happened with his brother really affected him. So this season, I’ll just say that his conscience has sort of been reawakened.

Considering who he is and where he is, that’s very dangerous.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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