2016’s Star Trek Beyond didn’t exactly arrive into cinemas with the best of buzz behind it. For a franchise traditionally known for its heady philosophical ideas and social commentary, not every fan was thrilled by the more typical blockbuster territory that J.J. Abrams took the property with his two reboot flicks. So when it was announced that the third film in the franchise’s current incarnation would be helmed by Fast & Furious 6 director Justin Lin, some viewers understandably took it as a bad omen – and the negatively received first trailer certainly didn’t help matters, either.
As it turns out, even actor Karl Urban had his doubts about the project long before many fans did, recently expressing hesitance about returning to the role of Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy after feeling shortchanged by the character’s arc in Star Trek Into Darkness.
Nonetheless, not only did Star Trek Beyond receive praise from critics and perform respectively at the box office, but also served as an all-round satisfying experience for Urban. Speaking at the annual Trekonderoga convention, the actor recalled his work on Lin’s film to be his best memory from the series so far.
“The last movie we made [Star Trek Beyond] was really special, because we made that in Vancouver and the other two were made in Los Angeles and the great thing was everybody was Los Angeles-based, Chris [Pine] and Zach [Quinto] and Anton [Yelchin]. So, when we were shooting in Los Angeles everyone would socialize with their friends. So, we didn’t hang out that much off-set. But when we were in Vancouver we didn’t know anyone else, so we would hang out with each other and just had a blast. We really kind grew tight, as a group, in a way we hadn’t before. We have only made three films compared to casts out there that made a lot more, but we actually feel like a tight-knit unit and family.”
It seems that just as drama and difficulties have often helped bring the frequently squabbling crew of the series closer together, Star Trek Beyond served a similar purpose for Urban and his peers.
Speaking of which, the actor is also confident that co-stars Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth will be returning for the planned Star Trek 4, suggesting there we’ll still see at least one more outing for the gang before Quentin Tarantino shows us what he can do with his “bananas” story.
