Karl Urban Has Shocking News About Star Trek 4

Dammit, Jim!

By Michileen Martin | Published

karl urban star trek

“Dammit, Jim! I’m an actor, not a mind reader!” That may very well be what Karl Urban is saying right now, considering the news about the upcoming Star Trek 4. Although the long awaited next chapter of the Kelvin Timeline films is supposed to start shooting by the end of the year, apparently Karl Urban is missing just one thing — a script.

Karl Urban — who plays Dr. McCoy, aka Bones in the more recent Star Trek films — recently clarified that in spite of big announcements about Star Trek 4 last month, it was all news to him. “I haven’t seen a script, I know nothing,” Urban told Variety. “But I would love to work with those guys again, so much fun, the best hang. We’ll see.”

star trek beyond

Last month, in the middle of a series of announcements that seemed to include just about every single property the studio is legally allowed to handle, Paramount announced not only that the long-delayed Star Trek 4 was on its way, but that it would begin shooting by the end of 2022. It has since become clear that the production may face at least on major hurdle in that everyone forgot to tell the talent involved that they would be shooting a major motion picture before 2023. Not long after the announcement was made, reports emerged that none of the actors expected to return — Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, and John Cho — knew the announcement was coming. None of them had reportedly finalized negotiations with Paramount for the film nor had any filming schedule been hammered out. And now it turns out no one’s even managed to get a glimpse at a script.

Karl Urban’s situation is indicative of why it may have been a bad idea to announce a massive undertaking before contacting the people undertaking it. Urban made his statement to Variety right after pointing out a very good reason why he likely won’t be able to do any work on Star Trek 4 before 2023 at the earliest — because he’s shooting The Boys season 4 through the end of 2022. Dammit, J.J. Abrams, he’s an actor, he’s not the Flash! How is he supposed to be on two sets at once?

karl urban the boys

And Karl Urban is just one man in an ensemble film, filled with actors who are integral parts of other big budget franchises. Chris Pine was in the first two Wonder Woman films and, if it does better than its predecessors, could be part of a brand new major franchise when the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie comes out. Zoe Saldana is not only an unforgettable part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but a key part of James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar sequels. Simon Pegg is a Mission: Impossible regular and it’s been at least five minutes since his last movie with Nick Frost, so one or two of them must be on the way. These are the people whose schedule you’re going to dictate? You don’t need to see their private schedules to see how nuts that is — just look at their IMDb pages!

Hopefully Karl Urban and the rest of the cast will be able to work something out with Paramount. And hopefully when they do, Paramount will be kind enough to let them know. Dammit, Paramount! They’re actors not mind rea–already did that one. Sorry.