What Star Trek's Karl Urban Thought About The Divisive Into Darkness

It's been over a decade since any vessel going by the name of Enterprise entered uncharted cinematic space after the underrated threequel, "Star Trek: Beyond." The movie that would end up being the final chapter in the Kelvin timeline was under a lot of pressure, not only with a new director at the helm, Justin Lin, but also trying to recover some love from fans who were still bitter over the monumental misfire of including Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) in "Star Trek Into Darkness."

Even according to the then-director, J.J. Abrams, the sequel struggled to replicate a plot thread from one of the best "Star Trek" movies ever made, which, for many fans, hurt the film overall. However, one cast member defended the film after its release, saying it tried to take a big gamble that simply didn't pay off. In an interview with StarTrek.com, Karl Urban, who was this timeline's Leonard "Bones" McCoy (originally played by DeForrest Kelly), argued that even with some of the film's setbacks, there was some creative flair present in the sequel that was boldly going where, honestly, we'd already gone before.

"I honestly have to say that there wasn't anything about 'Into Darkness' that didn't work for me. I thought that the writers did a fantastic job. Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof... when you're given such rich dialogue to work with, it just makes my life so enjoyable." When it came to the future of Bones and his shipmates, though, Urban had high hopes that thankfully came true in the franchise's next installment.

It might've made the least at the box office, but one thing that Justin Lin's "Star Trek Beyond" accomplished that its predecessors didn't was genuinely feeling like a "Star Trek" episode. The mystery and exploration of a new world felt in tune with what "Trek" fans originally fell in love with, and something Urban confessed the rebooted franchise would always aim for.

"I guess, my desire to 'Let's begin this five-year mission. Let's go into and explore space and find something different,'" Urban explained. "We've done the Khan story in this alternate universe, and now won't it be fun to go out there and really explore those themes that made 'The Original Series' so successful in the first place." Thankfully, that's exactly what audiences got, but the frustration was whether we'd ever get it again.

Since the last film, many cast members from that "Trek" trilogy have expressed interest in going back out among the stars. As it stands, the latest update on the new film, with an as-yet unconfirmed cast, is that it will be directed by "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who have already worked with former Captain Kirk, Chris Pine. All we can do now is wait and see who gets beamed up and whether they bring the "Star Trek" universe back to the screens in a big and brilliant way.