actor played bones star trek 2009

Who Is Karl Urban?

Born in New Zealand in 1972, Karl Urban started starring in stage, TV and film productions in his home country. Introduced to American audiences in the series 'Hercules' (1996-98) and 'Xena' (1996-2001), he enjoyed new opportunities after joining The Lord of the Rings installments The Two Towers (2002) and Return of the King (2003). Following a string of action-heavy parts in films like The Bourne Supremacy (2004), the actor capably filled the shoes of Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek (2009) and its sequels and delivered a winning comedic performance in Thor: Ragnarok (2017). Beginning in 2019, Urban drew praise for leading the charge of vigilantes in Amazon Prime's dark comedy superhero series 'The Boys.'

How Old Is Karl Urban?

Karl-Heinz Urban was born on June 7, 1972, in Wellington, New Zealand, to immigrant German parents.

Early Years

While he was reportedly pressured to follow his father into the leather-goods manufacturing business, Urban instead was drawn to the profession of his mother, whom worked at a film production and equipment rental company.

From his first, brief television appearance at age eight, Urban began writing his own plays and took part in school theater productions. Enjoying a taste of professional success upon graduating from Wellington College in 1990, he soon dropped out of Victoria University to pursue an acting career full-time.

What Is Karl Urban Known For?

'Shortland Street'

Along with parts in various stage productions, Urban began his career in New Zealand with a recurring role in the police drama 'Shark in the Park' (1990) and appeared in the war film Chunuk Bair (1992). In 1994, he broke ground on 'Shortland Street' as Jamie Forrest, the first openly gay character in the popular soap opera's history, before showing off his equestrian skills in 'Riding High ' (1995-96).

'Hercules,' 'Xena'

Urban first became known to American audiences in the mid-1990s via his multiple roles , including the love god Cupid and Roman dictator Julius Caesar, in the fantasy series 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' and its spinoff 'Xena: Warrior Princess.' Meanwhile, his big-screen career was also building steam, as he garnered best supporting actor nominations at the New Zealand Film Awards for his work in the dysfunctional-family dramedy Via Satellite (1998) and the romantic fantasy The Price of Milk (2000).

'The Lord of the Rings'

Urban's performance in The Price of Milk also caught the attention of director Peter Jackson , who cast the rising actor in The Lord of the Rings ’ second and third installments, The Two Towers (2002) and Return of the King (2003). Although his part of the warrior Éomer was fairly minor in an epic filled with A-list stars and stunning special effects, Urban nevertheless made his presence felt with his physicality and fierce glare.

'The Chronicles of Riddick,' 'The Bourne Supremacy,' 'Doom'

The mega-success of The Lord of the Rings paved the way for a slew of action roles for Urban: He stared down Vin Diesel as Commander Vaako in The Chronicles of Riddick (2004); stalked Matt Damon as a Russian assassin in The Bourne Supremacy ; and gunned down mutants alongside Dwayne Johnson in the video game-inspired Doom (2005). Following a return to his home country to star in Out of the Blue (2006), about a mass shooting in a small New Zealand community, Urban resumed his Hollywood career as the lead of the Viking-era Pathfinder (2007).

'Star Trek'

Urban's career took another defining turn when he played Leonard "Bones" McCoy alongside Chris Pine 's James Kirk and Zachary Quinto 's Spock in a reboot of Star Trek (2009). Along with winning over the members of a devoted fan base, Urban's performance showcased a sense of humor that was largely unknown to those who'd witnessed his previous fare.

"I have no doubt that some people perceived me as just being simply an action guy, but playing 'Bones' went a long way toward convincing them otherwise," he told Tulsa World in 2010. "I can judge that by the number of offers and how often the phone rings since Star Trek came out."

Urban went on to reprise the character for the film sequels Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016).

'Red,' 'Priest,' 'Dredd'

Part of a star-studded cast assembled for the action-comedy Red (2010), Urban wound up taking his during an extended fight sequence with Bruce Willis , though the pain was offset by the film's critical and commercial success. However, his two follow-up roles, as a vampire hunter in Priest (2011) and as the titular justice-dispensing judge of Dredd (2012), both failed to make a significant impact at the box office. Similarly, Urban's return to television in 2013 as the lead of the futuristic crime drama 'Almost Human' fizzled out after one season despite strong early ratings.

'Thor: Ragnarok'

Following the family films Walking with Dinosaurs (2013) and Pete's Dragon (2016), Urban delivered another fan-favorite performance in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) as Skurge , the weary guard forced into servicing Cate Blanchett 's bloodthirsty Hela. He then appeared in supporting roles in Acts of Vengeance (2017) with Antonio Banderas , and The Hangman (2017), with Al Pacino , before taking the lead in the gritty crime thriller Bent (2018).

Once again diving into comic/graphic novel-inspired property, in 2019 Urban landed the role of vigilante Billy Butcher in Amazon Primes's subversive superhero series 'The Boys.' While part of an ensemble cast, Urban emerged as a clear standout thanks to his cutting one-liners and butt-kicking prowess, his performance helping to drive the popularity of the show through multiple seasons.

Wife and Children

Urban has two sons, Hunter and Indiana, with his ex-wife, makeup artist Natalie Wihongi. The two announced their separation in 2014 following a decade of marriage.

Charities and Personal Life

Urban has been involved with KidsCan, a New Zealand-based charity that assists children mired in poverty. In 2022, he was named a UNICEF ambassador for his native country.

The actor has resisted the urge to plant roots in Hollywood, preferring to make the long flight from his New Zealand home when it comes time for a film or TV project. He enjoys a variety of outdoor activities between shoots, especially fishing and surfing.

Is Karl Urban Related to Keith Urban?

The two celebrities are not related, although the shared last name and birth country has prompted questions about family ties and occasionally a case of mistaken identity: According to Karl Urban, a foreign newspaper once incorrectly reported that he, not the country-music singer Keith Urban, had married actress Nicole Kidman.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Karl Urban
• Birth Year: 1972
• Birth date: June 7, 1972
• Birth City: Wellington
• Birth Country: New Zealand
• Best Known For: New Zealand-born actor Karl Urban won over audiences with his roles in 'The Lord of the Rings,' 'Star Trek' and 'Thor: Ragnarok' before emerging as a star of the popular Amazon Prime series 'The Boys.'
• Astrological Sign: Gemini
• Wellington College
• Occupations

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Karl Urban Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/karl-heinz-urban
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: July 11, 2022
• Original Published Date: July 11, 2022
• To me, that's the most important thing in life: building a solid connection with people and having a great time doing the thing that you really love.
• Often people say, 'Wow you are really lucky, look at your career.' To which I respond, 'It's funny, the harder I work, the luckier I seem to get.'
• If I had a dollar for every time I heard that another 'Star Trek' movie was happening, I'd be mortgage-free.

Famous Actors

Riley Keough

Maya Rudolph

Anthony Hopkins

Jamie Lee Curtis

Timothée Chalamet

Anya Taylor-Joy

Cillian Murphy

Olivia Munn

Cillian Murphy & Sterling K. Brown Oscars Grooming

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Jun 7, 2023

The Best of Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy

'I told you people, I don't need a doctor. Damn it, I am a doctor.'

StarTrek.com

Karl Urban and I have something in common; we were both born on June 7. However, considering that Urban has contributed much more to the Star Trek franchise than I have, let us focus on his accomplishments.

Faced with inheriting DeForest Kelley's beloved role as Dr. Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy in 2009, Urban expertly tackled the daunting task by crafting a persona that harkened back to Kelley's creation and infused the ship's surgeon with the New Zealander's own charm and acting talents.

With three films set in the Kelvin Timeline under his belt, Urban has gifted fans with scene-stealing humor and an array of memorable, character-defining moments.

Star Trek (2009)

" i told you people, i don't need a doctor. damn it, i am a doctor. ".

What better way to introduce Karl Urban's Bones to the galaxy than with a clever riff on the classic "I'm a doctor, not a..." catch phrase ? The cantankerous encounter with a Starfleet officer aboard a shuttlecraft introduced McCoy's aviophobia, reminiscent of Prime McCoy 's distaste for transporters and his irritable (and bearded!) disposition as he arrived on the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Urban made an excellent first impression on audiences...

" I may throw up on you. "

... which continued throughout his initial conversation with James T. Kirk . Despite his argumentative state, McCoy quickly established a cordial repertoire with Kirk. Urban superbly blended a colorful description of stellar perils with a generally welcoming attitude toward the younger cadet. The conversation's easy flow foreshadowed the lifelong friendship that ultimately emerged during their tenure at Starfleet Academy.

Star Trek Into Darkness

" you just stunned our ride ".

As usual, Kirk's fondness for improvisation spelled certain doom for McCoy's well-prepared exit strategy on Nibiru. The doctor's annoyance swiftly subsided as the furious natives pursuing the captain sprinted closer. Leonard's loyalty overrode his analytical mind, sending the doctor on a frantic footrace that ended with an unwelcome plunge over a cliff's edge into Nibiran waters. This brief scene demonstrated McCoy's willingness to follow Kirk's lead, regardless of the unpleasant consequences that often arose.

" I once performed an emergency c-section on a pregnant Gorn. "

Granting Bones and Dr. Carol Marcus their own scene on a planetoid in Klingon space provided an interesting dynamic, one not possible with the typical Kirk/McCoy pairing. Bones' transparent flirtations contrasted superbly with Marcus' calm professionalism, leaving the chief surgeon's commentary about his medical exploits to fall on uninterested ears.

Nevertheless, as the situation transitioned into a dire plight to prevent a torpedo from exploding, the doctors demonstrated their selfless natures as they proved willing to sacrifice themselves in order to save one another.

" Oh, don't be so melodramatic. You were barely dead ."

McCoy's flippant remark downplayed the relief he felt upon seeing his captain return to consciousness following a deadly encounter with the Enterprise 's warp core. Of course, McCoy's cool exterior evaporated when Kirk attributed his resurrection to Spock 's victorious brawl with Khan . Normally tolerant of Jim's remarks, Bones clearly drew the line when it came to giving Spock sole credit for Kirk's recovery. While brief, the trio's interaction in the hospital perfectly summarized their complex friendship's essence.

Star Trek Beyond

" you know me, mr. sensitive. ".

Dr. McCoy's aptitude for assessing Kirk's state of mind allowed him to offer a comforting ear when the captain expressed melancholy over the anniversary honoring both his birth and his father's death. Bones perceived Kirk's self-doubt as a malady that required treatment from a physician and a friend. The doctor's use of alcohol to spark the conversation paralleled his Prime counterpart's Romulan Ale delivery to a pensive Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .

" Feeling philosophical, huh? "

Star Trek Beyond scribes Simon Pegg and Doug Jung brilliantly chose to pair Dr. McCoy with Spock following the Enterprise 's destruction at Altamid. This decision, along with masterful performances from Urban and Zachary Quinto, rewarded fans with a heartfelt scene that memorialized Ambassador Spock 's passing. The rare moment of raw emotion between the two began to uncover their mutual respect, setting the stage for their relationship's continued development throughout the film's remaining acts.

" You gave your girlfriend a tracking device? "

Leave it to Bones to break a situation down to its bare components. During the search for Uhura , Sulu and the Enterprise' s surviving crew, Spock surmised that their colleagues could be found by configuring the U.S.S. Franklin 's sensors to identify the Vulcan mineral vokaya.

In addition to fashionably adorning a necklace that Spock had bestowed upon Uhura, vokaya emitted innocuous, yet detectable, radiation. By describing the jewelry as a tracking device, McCoy secured a minor victory in his ongoing verbal sparring match with Spock.

" I'll keep an eye on him ."

Spock's emphatic plea to join Kirk, McCoy and Jaylah on the away mission to rescue Uhura did not fall on deaf ears. Recognizing Spock's love for Nyota, Bones convinced Kirk to permit the injured Vulcan to accompany the team by assuring the captain that monitoring the science officer's condition presented no problems. This marked yet another evolutionary step in the increasing level of trust between Spock and McCoy.

" You really want to head back out there, huh? "

Bones' simple comment, made as Kirk and Spock looked out upon the U.S.S. Enterprise -A's newly constructed frame, resonated on two wavelengths. On one hand, the words represented McCoy's disdain for space exploration and a disbelief that his comrades wished to resume their journey. On the other, the rhetorical question signified Bones' resignation to the notion that he would continue to stand by his friends and tend to their medical needs on their trek through the stars.

This article was originally published on January 4, 2019.

Get Updates By Email

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com for more details! And be sure to follow @StarTrek on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram .

Jay Stobie (he/him) is a freelance writer, author, and consultant who has contributed articles to StarTrek.com, Star Trek Explorer, and Star Trek Magazine, as well as to Star Wars Insider and StarWars.com. Learn more about Jay by visiting JayStobie.com or finding him on Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms at @StobiesGalaxy.

• Boston Society of Film Critics Award winners
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Award nominees
• Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award nominees
• View history

He reprised the role in the video game Star Trek , and appeared on card #35, titled Recruit L. McCoy, card #55, titled Cadet L. McCoy, card #82, titled Medical Officer L. McCoy, and card #98, titled Chief Medical Officer L. McCoy, of the 2013 virtual collectible card battle game Star Trek: Rivals .

Outside of Star Trek , Urban is probably best known for his role as Billy Butcher in the Amazon TV series The Boys , which also stars Jack Quaid and featured Urban's Star Trek co-star Simon Pegg in a recurring role. He is also known for his portrayal of Éomer in the second and third installments of Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, The Two Towers and The Return of the King .

He is also played notable supporting roles in such films as The Chronicles of Riddick , The Bourne Supremacy and RED and lead roles in films such as Pathfinder and Dredd .

In 2009, Urban was part of the Star Trek ensemble which received a Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award nomination in the category Best Ensemble and won a Boston Society of Film Critics Award in the category Best Ensemble Cast. He shared these awards with Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Zoe Saldana , John Cho , Leonard Nimoy , Simon Pegg , Anton Yelchin , Ben Cross , Eric Bana , Clifton Collins, Jr. , Bruce Greenwood , Jennifer Morrison , Chris Hemsworth , Winona Ryder , Faran Tahir , and Tyler Perry . In 2010, Urban was part of the ensemble which received a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award nomination in the category Best Acting Ensemble for Star Trek . In addition, Urban won the Constellation Award for Best Male Performance in a 2009 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie or Miniseries for his work on Star Trek .

Urban has said his favorite Star Trek film is Star Trek: The Motion Picture . [1]

Early life and New Zealand career [ ]

Urban was born in Wellington, New Zealand as Karl-Heinz Urban and was educated at St. Mark's Church School in his hometown and later attended Wellington College, where he began to pursue acting. After graduating from secondary school, Urban won the role of homosexual paramedic Jamie Forrest on the hit New Zealand television series Shortland Street . He appeared on the show during the 1993-1994 season. He then attended the Victoria University of Wellington, but left after one year to continue his acting career.

Shortly after leaving Victoria University, he began appearing on the hit series Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys , both of which were filmed in his native New Zealand. Between 1996 and 2001, Urban appeared in twelve episodes of Xena and two episodes of Hercules , playing four different characters, primarily those of Cupid and Julius Caesar. He even played a character named Kor, not to be confused with the Klingon of the same name . Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , the writers and two of the executive producers of Star Trek , were writers and co-executive producers on both Hercules and Xena .

Urban's first major film role was in the thriller Heaven , which was filmed in New Zealand and which opened in the United States in 1999. He continued working in New Zealand, starring in the 2000 films The Irrefutable Truth About Demons , for which he received a New Zealand Screen Award nomination as Best Actor, and The Price of Milk . His performance in the latter film won Urban acclaim as well as a nomination from the New Zealand Film and TV Awards.

In 2000, Urban was cast as Éomer for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which was filmed in New Zealand. Among the other Star Trek alumni who appeared in these films were Brad Dourif and John Rhys-Davies . With his prominent roles in the Hercules/Xena and LOTR series, in 2009 he would be interviewed in Reclaiming the Blade , a documentary, narrated by Rhys-Davies, about swordsmanship in Hollywood.

In 2006, he played a New Zealand police officer in Out of the Blue based on the infamous 1990 Aramoana Massacre, which won him a New Zealand Film Award in 2008.

International career [ ]

Before he was even cast as McCoy in Star Trek , Urban already had one connection with Star Trek: The Original Series : he co-starred with Walter Koenig (the original Pavel Chekov ) in an unsold science fiction pilot called The Privateers . Several other Star Trek alumni appeared in this movie, including Jack Donner , Ray Proscia , Benjamin W.S. Lum , and Urban's Star Trek co-star, David Jean Thomas .

Urban's first Hollywood production was the 2002 horror thriller Ghost Ship , although the film itself was shot primarily in Australia. Following the releases of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Urban had supporting roles in two 2004 summer blockbusters: The Chronicles of Riddick and The Bourne Supremacy . In the former, he played the role of Vaako and worked with Roger Cross ; he reprised this role in the sequel, Riddick , in 2013. In The Bourne Supremacy he played the Russian assassin Kirill, who was responsible for killing Jason Bourne's girlfriend, Marie. Bourne was played by Matt Damon , who was approached for a role in Star Trek .

Afterward, Urban played the lead role in the 2005 adaptation of the video game Doom , opposite Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson . He then played the lead in the Viking adventure film Pathfinder , in which he worked alongside Clancy Brown . Urban returned to his native New Zealand to star in the 2006 crime drama Out of the Blue , which won him a New Zealand Film Award in the category Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Film. He then played the role of Woodrow Call in the CBS mini-series Comanche Moon (2008).

Urban starred in the 2009 crime drama Black Water Transit , in which he worked with Bill Cobbs . The following year, he was seen in the supporting role of CIA agent William Cooper in the hit action-comedy RED . He then played the vampire villain Black Hat in the action-fantasy film Priest , based on the comic book published by TokyoPop which centers on a war between Humans and vampires. This film also featured Madchen Amick , Alan Dale , Brad Dourif, and Christopher Plummer in the cast; Michael De Luca was one of the producers.

In 2012, Urban starred in the 2012 sci-fi action film Dredd , in which he played the eponymous role of Judge Dredd , based on the comic strip character of the same name. In 2013-14, Urban starred in the FOX science fiction series Almost Human , which was executive produced by J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk through their Bad Robot banner, however, the series got cancelled after only 13 episodes.

Urban then appeared in the thriller The Loft (2014), the fantasy film Pete's Dragon (2016), and the action film Acts of Vengeance (2017), and the Marvel superhero movie Thor: Ragnarok (2017, starring Chris Hemsworth and featuring Idris Elba , Benedict Cumberbatch , and the voice of Clancy Brown ).

Since 2019, Urban has been starring in the Amazon Prime satirical superhero series The Boys as Billy Butcher, leader of the eponymus vigilante group, alongside Jack Quaid , who co-stars as Hughie Campbell, Jr.

External links [ ]

• Karl Urban at StarTrek.com
• Karl Urban at the Internet Movie Database
• Karl Urban at the Tolkien Wiki
• Karl Urban at Wikipedia

• The Inventory

Leonard 'Bones' McCoy Was the True Heart of Star Trek

When most people think of Star Trek , they of course think of Kirk and Spock . This isn’t surprising, as they were the star and the break-out character of the series, but it’s easy to forget that they were two members of a triumvirate that made up the essence of the show. Ship’s doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy was the third, and just as integral in making Star Trek a joy to watch.

Related Content

While Spock was all cold logic and Kirk was fiery passion, Bones was the heart of the Enterprise crew. He was the one who made the plea to do the right thing, who reminded the others of the potential cost of obeying logic or the Prime Directive. McCoy also was the true audience surrogate of the show, saying the things we yelled at the TV. The crew of the Enterprise did run into some completely ridiculous phenomena, and none of it would have worked if McCoy wasn’t there to say “Of course you save their lives, you idiots!” and “How in the universe is this happening to us?”

What makes Bones so fascinating is that he clearly didn’t want to be there. He wasn’t a full believer in the Starfleet mission. He hated space and ships and Starfleet, but he went out there and did his job every single time, no matter what insanity he encountered. Remember “The Devil in the Dark?” Can you imagine starting out life as a doctor in your home state and then finding yourself being asked to treat this?

McCoy complained, but he did it. Because he was a doctor and that was his job. And Kirk ordered him to. McCoy’s history isn’t epic and tragic like Kirk’s or unique like Spock’s. Which is why he, despite being an actual genius, insisted over and over that he was just a country doctor.

And when I say McCoy complained, I mean he complained all the time. About everything, but mostly Spock. Just think about how much life Star Trek would have lost without Bones for Kirk to talk to or for Spock to spar with:

Spock: I’m happy the affair is over. A most annoying emotional episode. McCoy: Smack right in the old heart. Oh, I’m sorry. [pointing to his side] In your case, it would be about here. Spock: The fact that my internal arrangement differs from yours, Doctor, pleases me no end.

(I would literally watch Spock and McCoy trade barbs over any other duo in all of Star Trek ’s 50 years.)

In between insults, grumpiness, and straight-up bitching, McCoy was also responsible for delivering messages about the human condition more than anyone else on the show. Kirk had the mission, Spock his logic, but what McCoy cared about was his patients—and that made him closer to people than he was to anything else.

One of Star Tre k’s primary messages is about the importance of the balance within ourselves. (It’s why several episodes revolve around characters splitting into two halves.) McCoy was an integral part of that equation for TOS, just like DeForest Kelley was integral is making Bones the perfect mix of grumpy and compassionate, prickly but still so essentially humane.

Kelley may not have received the same level of fame as William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy, and Bones might not have gotten the flashiest scenes. But Dr. McCoy was still the heart of the whole show, and it would have never taken off without him. Bones may not have wanted to be in space at all, but thank goodness he was.

Advertisement

Karl Urban Struck A Careful Balance When It Came To Playing Star Trek's Bones

JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" reboots were a bold and largely successful attempt to bring the franchise back into mainstream relevancy, reimagining the classic sci-fi series as action/adventure blockbusters. Naturally, for a franchise with one of the oldest fandoms , many people were nervous at the prospect of not only putting a new spin on this universe, but reintroducing these legacy characters with different faces. Though the adventurous nature was there, "Star Trek" has always been a slow and philosophical series more than an action-oriented one. Trekkies felt a legitimate fear that the curious spirit of the original show would be watered down in favor of Hollywood spectacle. 

That's why one of the bolder casting choices was Karl Urban as Doctor Leonard "Bones" McCoy, the gruff and hot-headed right-hand man to Captain Kirk, portrayed by Chris Pine in the Abrams reboot. Up to that point in his career, Urban had established himself as an action veteran with roles in " The Lord of the Rings " franchise, "The Bourne Supremacy," "The Chronicles of Riddick," and "Doom." Though he certainly had the rugged look to him that was similarly characteristic of Bones McCoy originator DeForest Kelley, it was still up in the air whether or not Urban could capture the nuances of the character based on what audiences had seen in his previous credits.

Urban felt the weight of playing Bones

Abrams encouraged the 2009 cast to approach these characters in a way that felt natural to them first, rather than working towards imitation. In fact, Chris Pine once explained  that the worst thing he could do for his performance was try to replicate William Shatner's Captain Kirk, and he deliberately avoided fan discussion or expectations when crafting his version of that character. 

Urban, however, felt great responsibility when handling the challenge of embodying such a beloved character and making his performance feel as authentic as possible:

"Stepping into such an iconic character that was played so wonderfully well by the late great DeForest Kelley, and really a beloved character ... I 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."

Leonard Nimoy cried watching Karl Urban's Bones

Urban's performance as Bones exceeded expectations, and it is a role he still credits as essential in shaping the rest of his career. The highest praise Urban would receive was from the late Leonard Nimoy, originator of the role of Spock, who opened up  at a press conference that he was brought to tears watching Urban onscreen. "That performance of his is so moving, so touching and so powerful as Doctor McCoy, that I think D. Kelley [DeForest] would be smiling, and maybe in tears as well."

Three films later, the whole cast of Abrams' reboots have been so wholeheartedly welcomed by the fandom that it's hard to remember there ever being any hesitation. While there's no dearth of "Star Trek " projects to engage with right now, Trekkies are anticipating the return of the Kelvin timeline with Abrams' fourth film, which was recently announced to the surprise of the cast themselves . Whether the project gets out of pre-production or not, it is clear the excitement to see this new cast is still high, and Urban's commitment to Bones is a key piece of a stronger ensemble.

Star Trek (2009) Cast and Crew

Star Trek: Alternate Reality Collection

J.J. Abrams' cinematic re-envisioning of the Star Trek universe portrayed by a new cast, and set in an alternate reality from earlier films and series (referred to as the "Kelvin" timeline).

Movie Recommendations

Featured News

Movie Reviews

Follow Moviefone

Movie trailers.

Birth Name: Karl-Heinz Urban

Birth date: june 7, 1972, age: 51 years old, birth place: wellington, new zealand.

A sturdy lead and character actor with a natural affinity for physical roles, Karl Urban rose to popularity with notable roles in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Return of the King" (2003), as well as "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) and "Doom" (2005). Urban excelled at playing men of action, like the proud horseman in Peter Jackson's fantasy epics and the cold-blooded killer in "Bourne," but fans who took the time to explore Urban's cv found more subtle performances in smaller projects like "The Price of Milk" (2000), which cast him as a romance-minded farmer, or "Out of the Blue" (2006), where he played a small town policeman caught in the middle of a shootout. His adaptability in a variety of genres kept him busy in Hollywood features, which reached a high point when he was cast as Dr. McCoy in J. J. Abrams' origin story for "Star Trek" (2009). It also made him a capable and highly watchable actor whose star continued to ascend with each subsequent project.

Born Karl-Heinz Urban in Wellington, New Zealand on June 7, 1972, his father was a German-born manufacturer of leather goods, while his mother worked at a production company in Wellington. Her job there afforded him his first screen appearance at age eight in an episode of the television series "Pioneer Women." Urban's interest in acting was further encouraged by performances in school, in addition to shooting some short films. At 18, he made his professional debut as a heroin addict in the police drama "Shark in the Park." More work soon followed, including a small role in the World War I drama "Chunuk Bair" (1992) and supporting turns on the long-running medical drama "Shortland Street" (TVNZ, 1992- ) and the syndicated adventure "White Fang" (1993-1994).

After years of television and local theater work, Urban's hard work paid off with international exposure on "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" (syndicated/USA, 1995-99) and "Xena: Warrior Princess" (syndicated, 1995-2001). Urban played several different roles on both series, including Roman emperor Julius Caesar and Cupid. His popularity among fans of both shows facilitated a co-starring role in a spin-off series, "Amazon High" (syndicated, 1997), which never blossomed past the pilot stage. Undaunted, Urban returned to feature films in New Zealand, where he played a wide variety of character parts; first, as a villain in "Heaven" (1998) and later, as a cameraman who falls for an Olympic competitor in "Via Satellite" (1998).

By the turn of the new millennium, Urban was finally landing leads in features. In "The Irrefutable Proof About Demons" (2000), he was a skeptical anthropology professor whose investigation into Satanic cult activity puts him in jeopardy, while in the offbeat romantic fantasy "The Price of Milk" (2000), he was a lovelorn dairy farmer whose beloved (Danielle Cormack) attempts to undo his plans to make her his bride. Both films earned him Best Actor nominations at the New Zealand Film and Television Awards, as well as the attention of director Peter Jackson, who cast him in "The Two Towers" after viewing a rough cut of "Milk."

In the second film in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Urban played Eomer, proud nephew of Theoden (Bernard Hill), king of the nation of Rohan, who suffers under the machinations of the evil wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) and his duplicitous henchman Grima (Brad Dourif). Eomer eventually joins the remainder of the Fellowship in their fight against the forces of evil in both "Towers" and the sequel, "The Return of the King" (2003), which at its conclusion, finds Eomer assuming the throne of Gondor after the noble death of his uncle. The exposure afforded to Urban by the trilogy's international box-office windfall translated into a career in Hollywood features, which began in earnest in 2002 with the release of "Ghost Ship," an ocean-bound ghost story which failed to generate much heat in theaters. Faring only slightly better was "The Chronicles of Riddick" (2004), an overblown sequel to the Vin Diesel futuristic horror film "Pitch Black" (2000), with Urban as a villainous general in pursuit of Diesel's genetically altered hero."

The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) gave Urban his first stateside hit since "The Lord of the Rings" and a chilling character in Kirill, a dogged and seemingly indestructible Russian hit man assigned to kill Matt Damon's amnesiac super soldier. He followed this with "Doom" (2005), a movie adaptation of the popular and bloody video game of the same name. Despite the game's massive fan base and the presence of wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the cast, the film failed to exceed expectations in ticket sales. Urban then returned to New Zealand to give a subtle and emotionally driven performance in "Out of the Blue" (2006), a harrowing account of the 1990 Aramoana Massacre, in which a lone gunman claimed the lives of 13 people in a small New Zealand town. Urban was praised for his turn as a local constable, Nick Harvey, who struggled to contain his own horror at the rampage while contending with the unstable killer.

Urban's name was one of many actors bandied about by the press as a replacement for Pierce Bronson as James Bond in the long-running franchise; however, Daniel Craig was eventually named as the new 007, and Urban went on to star in "Pathfinder" (2007), an underwhelming adventure-fantasy about a young Viking boy, raised by early Native Americans after the death of his traveling party, who then grows up to fight a wave of Vikings in the New World. Urban made his debut on American television in "Comanche Moon" (CBS, 2008), which again told an early adventure of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove heroes, Woodrow F. Call and Augustus McCrae. Critics met the two-night miniseries with largely negative reviews.

Urban completed his role as a crooked smuggler opposite Laurence Fishburne in Tony Kaye's New Orleans-based thriller "Black Water Transit" prior to setting the Internet abuzz by being cast as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in J.J. Abrams' sci-fi reboot "Star Trek" (2009). Urban, who had been a fan of the original series, actively pursued the role and was pleased by the amount of humor the role afforded him, having not had a chance to flex that muscle since "The Price of Milk." Urban's turn was particularly memorable due to his flawless approximation of actor DeForest Kelley, who played Bones in the original "Trek" franchise. In 2010, he turned up as one of the younger cast members in the action movie "Red," starring luminaries such as Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, and later appeared as the enigmatic Black Hat in the vampire-centric adventure film "Priest" (2011).

Urban next took up the mantle of the imposing comic-book hero Judge Dredd for the movie reboot "Dredd" (2013). Although the gritty, firearms-filled movie wasn't a major financial success, it impressed both diehard fans and less-devoted viewers, largely due to his convincingly steely turn. In 2013, Urban kept his sci-fi/action run going strong, portraying Dr. McCoy once again in the tense sequel "Star Trek Into Darkness" and appearing in another franchise installment with the scrappy, pared-down space tale "Riddick," once again featuring Diesel. Returning to television during the same year, he took the lead in the Abrams-produced futuristic cop show "Almost Human" (Fox, 2013-14), working opposite Michael Ealy's emotive android.

Ark: The Animated Series Stream

The Sea Beast Stream

Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys Stream

The Boys Stream

Bent Stream

Wrestling: WWE SmackDown!

Thor: Ragnarok Stream

Acts of Vengeance Stream

Building star trek, syfy presents: live from comic-con.

Star Trek Beyond Stream

Pete's dragon.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Stream

Almost Human Stream

Almost human: extras, walking with dinosaurs.

Star Trek Into Darkness Stream

Riddick Stream

Dredd Stream

Priest Stream

And Soon the Darkness

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Black water transit.

Star Trek Stream

Comanche moon, out of the blue.

Doom Stream

The Chronicles of Riddick Stream

The Bourne Supremacy Stream

Jimmy Kimmel Live! Stream

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Stream

The lord of the rings: the two towers.

Ghost Ship Stream

The irrefutable truth about demons, the price of milk, via satellite.

Xena: Warrior Princess Stream

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Stream

News about Karl Urban

‘The Boys’ Season 4 Sets Summer Premiere as Homelander Teams With Victoria Neuman (PHOTO)

‘The Boys’: Homelander Manipulates the Masses in First Season 4 Teaser (VIDEO)

‘Almost Human’ Turns 10: Where Are the Short-Lived Sci-Fi Series’ Stars Now?

‘The Boys’ Season 4 Sets Premiere With New Billy Butcher & Homelander Posters (PHOTOS)

Spoiler Alert

‘gen v’ showrunner breaks down that homelander finale twist, ‘the boys’ connection & more.

‘The Boys’ Blooper Reel: See the Stars Get Silly on the Set of Season 3 (VIDEO)

‘The Boys’ Team Teases Start of Season 4 Production (PHOTOS)

‘The Boys’ Showrunner Teases What (and Who) Is Next for The Seven & Co.

Chaos Reigns & Heads Explode in ‘The Boys’ Season 3 Finale (RECAP)

‘The Boys’ Ruminates on Fathers & Sons—and Drops the Grandaddy of All Plot Twists (RECAP)

Best Lines of the Week (June 17-23): ‘I Will Do What I Must’

‘The Boys’: ‘Herogasm’ Will Leave Fans Sweaty & Satisfied (RECAP)

‘The Boys’: A Lot Happens in ‘The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies’ (RECAP)

‘The Boys’ Renewed for Season 4 at Prime Video

‘The Boys’: It All Goes Wrong for Stan Edgar in ‘Glorious Five-Year Plan’ (RECAP)

‘The Boys’ Turns Back the Clock to Introduce Soldier Boy (RECAP)

‘The Boys’: Listen Up — It’s Time Meet the Real Homelander! (RECAP)

‘The Boys’ Season 3 Premiere: Remember That Ant-Man Joke? (RECAP)

‘The Boys’: Everything You Need to Remember Before Season 3

‘The Boys’ Season 3 Trailer: Could Soldier Boy Be Butcher’s Secret Weapon? (VIDEO)

‘The Boys’: 5 Questions Raised by the First Season 3 Teaser

‘The Boys’: Soldier Boy Arrives & Billy Butcher Transforms in Season 3 Teaser (VIDEO)

‘The Boys’: Billy Butcher Takes the Spotlight in Season 3 First Look (PHOTO)

12 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Shows We’re Looking Forward to in 2022

Where ‘The Boys’ Left Off, and the ‘Meditation on Toxic Masculinity’ Coming in Season 3

‘The Boys’ Season 3 Wraps Production – See the Cast’s Reactions

‘The Boys’ Stars & Boss Take to Social Media to Share Season 3’s First Day of Shooting (PHOTOS)

7 Questions We Need Answered in ‘The Boys’ Season 3

‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ Turns 25: Little-Known Facts About the Fantasy Series

Homelander & Butcher Go Head-to-Head in ‘The Boys’ Season 2 Trailer (VIDEO)

Where ‘The Boys’ Characters Pick Up in Season 2

‘The Boys’ Will Be Back! Amazon Renews Series for Season 3

‘The Boys’ Are ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ in Amazon’s Season 2 Trailer (VIDEO)

5 Things to Remember Ahead of ‘The Boys’ Season 2

‘The Boys’ Are Back! Amazon Unveils Season 2 Premiere Date & Sneak Peek (PHOTO)

Everything We Know About ‘The Boys’ Season 2 So Far

‘The Boys’ Season 2 Trailer Takes the Action & Carnage to Another Level (VIDEO)

What ‘The Boys’ Told Us Before Their Kick-Ass Show Kicked Off (VIDEO)

7 Questions We Need Answered in ‘The Boys’ Season 2 (PHOTOS)

‘The Boys’ Cast and Showrunner Tease R-Rated Characters, Action & More (VIDEO)

‘The Boys’ Final Trailer Teases a Bitter Battle Against Bad Superheroes (VIDEO)

‘The Boys’ at NYCC: Simon Pegg’s Panel Surprise, ‘Depraved’ Superheroes & Changes From the Comics

Heroes Wiki

-Welcome to the Hero/Protagonist wiki! If you can help us with this wiki please sign up and help us! Thanks! -M-NUva

• Doctors and Scientists
• Live Action Heroes
• Comic Relief
• Lawful Good
• Voice of Reason
• Status Dependent on Version
• Movie Heroes
• Sympathetic
• Determinators
• Philanthropists

Leonard McCoy

• View history

Leonard Horatio "Bones" McCoy , MD was the tritagonist in the sci-fi television program Star Trek . He was portrayed in the original series, the first six Star Trek motion pictures, and the pilot of Star Trek: The Next Generation by the late DeForest Kelley. His alternate reality counterpart was portrayed by Karl Urban in the 2009 film Star Trek .

• 4 Navigation

History [ ]

"Bones" was a hot-blooded and humanistic person that has been noted as a physician and scientist of the 23rd and 24th centuries. He was an accomplished surgeon, physician, psychologist, and exobiology, and was also considered an expert in space psychology. As ship's surgeon and chief medical officer, he served aboard the USS Enterprise and USS Enterprise-A for a combined twenty-seven years.

McCoy was the son of David and Eleanora McCoy. He attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), and happened to meet the joined Trill Emony Dax. She suspected that he would eventually become a surgeon.

As a young man McCoy had married and fathered a daughter, but later divorced. To escape the pain he felt at his marriage falling apart he entered Starfleet. He later met a young Starfleet officer named James T. Kirk and became close friends with the man. McCoy served on a medical mission to Capella IV before joining his friend Kirk as chief medical officer on the Enterprise . Over the course of the five year mission McCoy came to consider first officer Spock a close friend as well, even though they frequently argued with each other. McCoy also became good friends with the others on the Enterprise senior staff - including Nyota Uhura , Pavel Chekov, Hikaru Sulu, and Montgomery Scott . He became friends with Enterprise head nurse Christine Chapel and remained friends as she became a medical doctor herself and continued to work alongside him on the refit Enterprise .

After the Enterprise was refit following the end of its first five year mission under Kirk's command, succeeding Captain Willard Decker recruited a very diverse crew with assistance from Lt. Commander Uhura. When the Enterprise left spacedock to deal with V'Ger, she had the most diverse crew in the fleet. At first Dr. McCoy was critical of this, fearing unexpected complications that could result from so many species living and working together. He later changed his mind, and his experiences working with such a diverse crew in the coming years led him to become an expert on alien physiology. McCoy began work on a medical textbook called Comparative Alien Physiology , and spent the next quarter century working on it. McCoy's work came to be regarded as one of the classics of Federation medicine along with Grey's Anatomy , and medical professionals throughout the Federation were familiar with the work. In the mid 24th century McCoy lamented that the work could never be kept truly up to date owing to the continued contact with alien life forms.

It was McCoy that Spock chose to safeguard his katra , or his immortal soul, when Spock entered the warp chamber to save the Enterprise at the cost of his own life. Heading back to the Genesis Planet, Kirk and the Enterprise crew retrieved the Genesis regenerated body of Captain Spock. This came at a terrible price as Kirk's son David Marcus was killed by the Klingon commander Kruge's crew, and Kirk was forced to destroy the Enterprise to keep her from falling into Klingon hands.

After leaving the rapidly disintegrating Genesis Planet, Kirk and his shipmates returned Spock to Vulcan. There a Vulcan priestess transferred Spock's katra back to his regenerated body. Over the next few months McCoy underwent a series of mind melds to ensure that any remaining parts of Spock's consciousness had been completely transferred back to Spock. McCoy semi-jokingly told Spock to never put him through that again, to which Spock assured him that he had no intention of dying again anytime soon nor being raised from the dead again. Even after fal-tor-pan was completed McCoy still retained a few of Spock's memories, including some of Spock's pet sehlat I-Chaya.

When the Whale Probe attacked Earth, McCoy accompanied his shipmates back in time to the late 20th century to retrieve humpback whales that the probe was looking for. McCoy played a key role in helping secure the plexiglass needed to build a tank to hold the whales. When Chekov was seriously injured in a fall and was located at Mercy Hospital, McCoy, Kirk, and Gillian Taylor snuck into the hospital so that McCoy could treat him. Ultimately, the mission to retrieve humpback whales was successful and the whales the Enterprise crew brought to the 23rd century were able to convince the probe to leave.

After the Federation council dropped all the criminal charges against McCoy for his role in the unauthorized mission to save Spock, he and his shipmates were assigned to the Enterprise-A . McCoy served as CMO on that ship until that ship had been decommissioned in 2293.

Prior to standing down from duty on the Enterprise-A , McCoy participated in the peace mission to the Klingon Empire . He began studying Klingon anatomy in depth and even considered opening a practice dedicated to treating Klingon patients.

After the apparent death of Kirk McCoy continued his career in Starfleet and worked his way up the ranks. McCoy attended the wedding of his friend Spock to Saavik in the 2340s. By 2365 the 137 year old Admiral Leonard McCoy boarded the Galaxy class USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) to inspect the medical facilities. Commander Data escorted him to a shuttle that was taking him to the USS Hood . On the way McCoy told Data that the new ship had the right name, and that if they treated the Enterprise like a lady she would always bring them home.

When Montgomery Scott was rescued from the USS Jenolen in the late 2360s, he was delighted that Doctor McCoy was still alive. He chuckled at the thought of McCoy - who had been one of the most opposed to Starfleet's Admiralty during their years of service together - winding up joining them instead.

• In Star Trek: The Original Series and in the first six Star Trek movies, he has brown hair, but in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation , he has white hair, due to aging.
• In the novel Provenance of Shadows McCoy died at his home shortly after his visit to the new Galaxy -Class USS Enterprise in 2364, an event contradicted by other stories.

Gallery [ ]

Navigation [ ]

• 1 Mariko Toda
• 2 King Baldwin IV
• 3 Yoshi Toranaga

• April 24, 2024 | Coffee Table Book On The ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Makeup Artistry Of Glenn Hetrick Coming In September
• April 24, 2024 | ‘William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill’ Documentary Arrives On VOD On Friday
• April 23, 2024 | THEORY: Did ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Finally Resolve The “Calypso” Mystery?
• April 23, 2024 | The Fight Against The Space Parasites Isn’t Going Well For B’Elanna In Preview Of ‘Star Trek: Defiant’ #14
• April 22, 2024 | Preview ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Episode 505 With New Images, Trailer And Clip From “Mirrors”

Karl Urban On How Bones Changed His Career & Star Trek Sequel

| October 14, 2010 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 65 comments so far

Urban planning to have fun with Trek next year + says Bones role changed career

Karl is out promoting the action comedy Red , which opens this weekend. Here is a clip of him on Extra talking about the film, Dredd and returning to Star Trek , confirming again that shooting is planned for "mid next year", and he once again calls the team behind the film "a bunch of Einsteins" going on to say "they are going to create something special". The actor says he doesn’t know what is in store for his character of McCoy but he expects it to be "a lot of fun.’

Urban also made a similar statement to Newsarama when asked if he was nervous about the second Star Trek film. The actor replied:

I think it would be dangerous for anybody to take their eye off the ball. While we had a huge amount of fun making ‘Star Trek’, we were also hyper focused on what we were doing. But I have a huge degree of confidence in J.J. and the writers. I think they’re like a bunch of geniuses making it together so I know they will cook up something special.

In an interview with TulsaWorld , the actor talked about how Star Trek has changed his career, but even he can’t get secrets out of JJ Abrams. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

“I have no doubt that some people perceived me as just being simply an action guy, but playing ‘Bones’ went a long way toward convincing them otherwise,” he said. “I can judge that by the number of offers and how often the phone rings since ‘Star Trek’ came out.” Urban offers no details on the “Star Trek” sequel planned for 2012 other than to say that shooting begins sometime next year. “Prying information out of (“Trek” director) J.J. Abrams is a difficult task, but I’m really looking forward to climbing aboard the Enterprise again,” Urban said.

Karl was also the guest this week on Jimmy Kimmel Live along with Red co-star Bruce Willis. He didn’t talk Trek, but here is the video anyway (including a clip of him fighting Willis in Red ).

[ Part 2 | Part 3 ]

And here is Karl on G4’s Attack of the Show talking more about Red and giving some details on Dredd as well.

Trailer for Urban’s "And Soon The Darkness"

A while back Karl Urban shot a low budget remake of the horror film And Soon The Darkness. The film is now slated for release on December 17th in limited release, and then on DVD and Blu-ray December 28th. Here is the new trailer.

Karl Urban captured the essence of Dr. McCoy better than any other member of the cast in Star Trek 2009. I hope he gets more screen time in the sequel.

Karl Urban’s Bones was a wonderful homage, the closest to a spot on rendition, without being a spoof or mechanical impersonation. Obviously a guy with a love for the show, as well. It shows in his acting.

Karl Urban was quite simply the best cast member of the crew. He nailed it, he channeled DeForest Kelly in ways us mere mortals cannot. The second best would have to be Simon Pegg as Scotty.

Karl is a terrific actor and a Trekkie. I’ve been his fan since he played Cupid on Hercules. Can’t wait to see his role expanded in the Trek.

“A log of fun”? Is hat an Aussie expression?

Well, I certainly hope that they do get more into the Kirk-Spock-McCoy friendship that we all know and love. That’ll give Karl more to have a log of fun with.

Bruce Willis for Picards grandpop!

@6: Bruce Willis is bald and awesome, but he’s about as French as an all-dressed pizza, so regretfully, no. ;)

Great Karl…..BUT still exaggerating about the Einsteins……hmmmm!!!

8 — Agreed. He is way too fast and loose with that term and “geniuses.” The writers and producers are neither. The film was not that great.

8 and 9 — this was the best reboot of all time. Quit smoking that weed…I mean medicinal marijuana…please. :-)

Karl Urban is a klassy actor. :-)

J.J Abrams was obviously smart enough to cast Karl Urban, who nailed his character the best and (probably) made DeForrest Kelley smile in the afterlife.

I doubt very many fans, including you two, would’ve had the foresight to cast Mr.Urban.

So let’s give J.J Abrams and the writers some much deserved credit for bringing back Star Trek with “Star Trek”.

And one more thing: More Mcoy. More Karl Urban. More Kirk, Spock, McCoy moments. That would be great, thatnks.

P.S I honestly believe, with the right script and dialogue, that Karl Urban can be nominated for an Oscar for “Best Supporting Actor” as Dr. Leonard McCoy. That would be historic. That would be sweet.

that should be “More McCoy” as well as “thanks” instead of “thatnks”!

DAMN TYPOS!!

Best reboot… nah. It’s a pretty good movie, but it’s far from knocking sliced-bread off its golden pedestal.

I think the honor of best reboot should go to Casino Royale—intelligent script, top notch direction and acting, and the first Bond flick in a long time to make Bond seem like an actual government agent and not a Playboy Club member looking for his lost key.

But isn’t it sad that now we argue about which reboot is the greatest and not which MOVIE?! Or… maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just being nostalgic for the time when ‘reboot’ was only used in computer manuals and on Saturday morning TV. ;)

“Batman Begins” was great as well!

D’oh! I forgot all about Batman Begins! Hmmm…. now I’m not so sure. I’ve been a Batman fan a lot longer than a Bond or Star Trek fan….

Well… as the Black Knight said, “All right. We’ll call it a draw!” :D

They rebooted Batman when they made it a comedy in the 1960’s camp TV version of it. :-) “Holy comic book parody, Batman!”

I DEMAND MY FAIR SHARE OF SCREENTIME! Oh, and maybe a shot of Scotty caressing my transfer coils…mmm (He always did have a thing for me) And LOSE THE FLASH GORDAN NACELLS, I prefer the utilitarian look, with the pulsating ruby buzzard collectors. Don’t forget, I’m a big part of what Star Trek is all about. Them red, gold, and blue shirted guys just press the buttons, but it’s ME that $ave$ the day. Show a lady some respect.

Casino Royale and Batman Begins were solid reboots. But I still like the original “Batman” reboot in the 80’s better (not the series, just the first movie compared one-on-one to “Batman Begins”), and Casino Royale pales in comparison to the 60’s Connery Bond movies.

Ha! If Urban needs more info on what’s going to happen in the next Trek, tell him to come here! We always figure it out before anyone else, that and Orci shows up and blabs…I mean confirms our suspicious…

That, and Urban/McCoy needs more screen time. He was absolutely amazing. I would swear he was channeling Kelly. What a professional.

#17 & #19

I don’t think the Batman series or Batman ’89 were necessarily reboots; they were simply reflecting the Batman comics of their respective periods. Just look at Batman comics of the 50’s and 60’s before the series aired. They were cartoonish and campy—just like the show. Then look at Batman comics of the 70’s and 80’s before Tim Burton made his movie. They were darker with a more serious tone—just like the movie.

It was What’s-His-Face who ‘rebooted’ the Batman movies (Batman Forever and that other one that shall go unmentioned) by making them more campy. Thank God for Nolan rebooting it back.

Ugh. Could we retire the word ‘reboot?’

I loved Star Trek, however I feel we should have the original triplet of Kirk, Spock and Bones back.

Uhura just did not interest me, sure have her romance Spock that’s fine. At the end of the day it’s just I’m no fan of Miss Saldana, then again I suppose I could always be proved wrong eh Mr Orci? :-)

Vultan, good points. I think that Batman is endlessly fascinating because he’s so human and superhuman at the same time, without being literally almost invulnerable.

Superman is fundamentally a superbeing that tries hard to be human; Batman is human who has achieved being superhuman.

The two are opposite sides of the same coin.

I like modern mythology a great deal.

Someone once said that in a sense, Superman is the disguise for Clark Kent rather than the other way around. That’s an interesting way to look at it. If that’s true, then is Bruce Wayne the disguise for Batman?

Batman came first, since Bruce the millionaire was, first, the child who saw his parents murdered — the child who was the sine qua non of Batman. In that sense, Batman existed before millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne.

Very good points, Hat Rick.

There’s a scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2 where the character of Bill gives a wonderful speech about the identity issues of Superman/Clark Kent you mentioned. I don’t really remember how the speech fits into the scene (it’s Tarantino you know!), but it really makes you think about Superman in a whole new way. At least it did for me.

And I do think that Batman is the real Bruce Wayne… or at least it’s his inner, angrier child that continually takes over and lashes out at those he perceives to be in the same league as the man who killed his parents—call it childhood wish-fulfillment!

And the same goes for the Watchmen’s Rorschach… but in a much darker way. :)

I thought Karl Urban was terrible casting when he was first announced in the role and now he’s without a doubt my favourite actor from the new cast. I think this time around I’m going to keep an open mind regarding any news and announcements. I’m still hoping the sequel is going to shy away from doing Khan but if they do go down that route then I’m not going to get too upset about it.

There was Oscar talk re: Urban’s Bones (that some would call it mimicry but it definitely made the movie and he should have gotten a supporting actor nom) from at least one major newspaper (canada’s National Post). Maybe next time.

MORE BONES IN 2012 !!! The trinity of KIrk(Action/leadership), Spock (Logic/reason), McCoy (humanity/compassion) was missing in the first movie. ….maybe missing is too harsh, but it was not a major theme as it should be!

26. I agree. They got the spirit of the thing right.

Agree CDR – infact they missed most of the essence of StarTrek in the first movie.

I think the ingenuity of Star Trek (2009) was creating something that was neither a reboot, prequel and sequel but all at the same time. They managed to push the movie in a new direction while still following the story that came before. Being fond of canon, I would have been bothered by a clean reboot that just ignored everything. That would have created an us vs them atmosphere in Star Trek. But doing it the way they did avoided that and allowed total fans like myself enjoy and accept the new Star Trek without feeling we are writing off everything that happened before.

I love the Bond movies. The reboot worked well there, partly because each Bond movie is really a self contained movie anyway, as opposed to a sequel (except for Quantum of Solace). A side note–I hope MGM gets their act together. I am anxious for the next 007 film also.

I also give them kudos for picking the cast. Urban and Greenwood were definitly at the top of the list.But the entire cast did a good job (Yelchin needs a little work though, of all, he seemed most like he was mocking the original actor).

While ST09 was not MY ST…I am willing to cut some slack since it at least brought ST back to the screen and generated some excitement from even admited previous non-fans like Mario. That being said, I am hopeful that more of the essence of TOS will come out in ST12 and still continue the positives in ST09.

Until then, it is definitely NOT the best reboot or original movie around. I am okay with the recasting of TOS without trying to be totally Shatner-Nimoy-Kelly and the others–the alternate universe certainly gives the actors room to reimage the characters in their own likeness. Like others here have noted, I too think that Urban best captured Kelly’s McCoy without trying to be Kelly playing McCoy.

So, in true Trek fashion…there are always possibilities!

Battlestar might be the best reboot, but Star Trek could be too.

I think the consensus is unanimous: more Urban/McCoy and more Kirk/Spock/McCoy “stuff.”

#25 – “Watchman” was unwatchable — a train wreck of a movie.

28 and 30 — Bones/Kirk and Spock had just met for the main portion of the movie, so it would not have been believable is the three of them started behaving in TOS-mode instantly — that would have looked force. The movie showed it developing though, which is as it should be. I will expect in the next movie that we will see more of TOS-mode behavior between the three.

35. That’s what I heard, but when I rented it I ended up loving it! As in all things, it’s all a matter of taste.

Actually, I agree with you about Watchmen (it’s the only movie I’ve ever walked out on), but I was referring to the comic book Rorschach.

That is, the comic book character of Rorschach, not his own comic book—you know what I mean.

Karl Urban is a class act. Let’s hope JJ & Co get the Kirk/Spock/McCoy balance right in the next movie.

Urban was also great in the Lord of the Rings

The casting of Trek 2009 was amazing, and Karl Urban by far the best of all! Can’t wait for the sequel! I love the Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship dynamic as well but hope the other characters are not left in the background as set decorations… please develop the triumvirate but not at the expense of the entire team. Sulu,Uhura, Scotty & Chekov need vital screen time too!

#41 — Check out a little known gem called “Pathfinder” — a surprisingly good action movie with Urban in the lead. Vikings meet American Indians in the 10th century and all hell breaks loose.

#1 of course he captured the likeness of bones better then any other cast member (He’s the one who played him, remember.) I’m kidding…. your correct, he did an excellent job. I was a fan of him from LOTR and Star Trek only solidified that.

He’s from New Zealand not Australia.

As much as they might try to defy the odds, there is world of difference between us.

He’s from New Zealand not Australia.

#45 & #46

One world of difference… coming from a cloned Aussie. It’s the Twilight Zone!

Is he still calling JJ an Einstein?

Hey, who knows? He could be making a Back to the Future reference.

In addition to playing Cupid, he also played Julius Caesar in Xena. The show actually had a great supporting cast.

Screen Rant

What karl urban has done since star trek beyond.

Karl Urban plays a pitch-perfect Dr. McCoy in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies, but here are the roles the New Zealand actor has starred in since.

Since his time playing Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, New Zealand-born Karl Urban has shown his range by starring in some projects very different from Star Trek . Karl Urban first played Dr. McCoy in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film in 2009, alongside Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto's Spock. Taking place in the alternate Kelvin timeline, Abrams' movies follow the early adventures of the USS Enterprise and her crew. In both the Prime timeline and the Kelvin timeline, Dr. McCoy eventually becomes the Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise, and Urban mastered Bones' Southern charms in a pitch-perfect tribute to the late DeForest Kelley.

After the success and positive reception of Star Trek (2009), two sequels were made: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Star Trek Beyond (2016). Karl Urban played Dr. McCoy in all three films and was slated to reprise the role for the fourth Star Trek film. Despite being in some form of development since 2015, Star Trek 4 remains in limbo . Though most of the main actors have stated they would like to return, even they have very little information about when or if the film will be made. Karl Urban has landed several big roles since his time as Bones, including one of the lead roles on Amazon's irreverent superhero show, The Boys .

Karl Urban's Best Acting Roles After Star Trek Beyond

In his most well-known role since Star Trek Beyond , Karl Urban leads the cast of Amazon Prime's The Boys as Billy Butcher alongside fellow Star Trek actor Jack Quaid as Hughie Campbell. Billy Butcher takes Dr. McCoy's grumpiness and dials it up to eleven, but that is about all the two characters have in common. As the leader of the vigilante group known as The Boys, Butcher has made it his life's mission to bring an end to superheroes. Based on the Garth Ennis comic book series of the same name, The Boys has been nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmys and has earned praise from both audiences and critics.

In the same year Star Trek Beyond was released, Karl Urban appeared as Gavin in Disney's Pete's Dragon . In 2017, Urban became a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Skurge in the incredibly fun Thor: Ragnarok . Before Urban took up the role of Billy Butcher in 2019, he starred in a few smaller movies including, Acts of Vengeance (2017), Hangman (2017), and Bent (2018). Most recently, in 2022, Urban voiced the main character in Netflix's charming animated comedy, The Sea Beast , which received a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

No One Has Played Bones McCoy In Star Trek Since Karl Urban

Unlike his Star Trek counterparts, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy has not been played by any other actor since Karl Urban's portrayal of the character in Star Trek Beyond . In the Prime Star Trek universe depicted in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Ethan Peck has taken on the role of Spock, while Paul Wesley has become the latest actor to portray James T. Kirk. Strange New Worlds takes place several years before Dr. McCoy becomes the Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise, but it's still possible Bones could make an appearance at some point.

Now that the Star Trek franchise has seemingly moved its focus back to the Prime Universe and its Paramount+ projects, it's unclear whether the cast from the Kelvin timeline movies will reprise their roles. Whether or not Karl Urban takes a break from killing supes as Billy Butcher to return to the Enterprise anytime soon, many fans would love to see a proper send-off for Urban's Dr. McCoy and the rest of the Kelvin timeline Star Trek crew.

Star Trek: There's a Good Reason Kirk Calls McCoy 'Bones'

Star Trek's Leonard "Bones" McCoy had his nickname even before he was a character, and there's a fairly simple reason behind its origin.

Dr. Leonard McCoy forms the third part of Star Trek ’s “holy trinity,” along with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. He’s also the only one of the three with a nickname: “Bones,” a references to his role profession as a physician. The The 2009 film reboot was very specific about the origin of McCoy's nickname, but the original character never received an official explanation. It was part of the original concept of  Star Trek  – predating even the character of Leonard McCoy – and was another early sign of the kind of attention to detail that made the show a classic.

Roddenberry’s original pitch for the show included a specific reference to a doctor named “Bones.” It wasn’t Dr. McCoy, but instead Philip Boyce (played by veteran actor John Hoyt), who served under Christopher Pike in "The Cage," and who was replaced, along with most of the rest of the cast, for the show’s second pilot. Nevertheless, the nickname transferred over, and was used in almost every episode when Kirk referred to his chief medical officer. Clearly, it held some especial importance to creator Gene Roddenberry.

RELATED:  Star Trek: Next Generation's Weirdest Episode Was Basically Just Copied From The Original Series

“Bones” is short for “sawbones,” a term from the early 19th century that referred to a doctor’s often-gruesome practice of amputating injured limbs. The implications provide a great deal of character development in a single word. In the first place, it suggests the Enterprise’s mission is a dangerous one, akin to combat, and that the ship’s surgeon is there to repair injuries as much as study new diseases or find new medicines.

But it also suggests something about the character himself, a self-described “country doctor” who can be cantankerous and difficult at times. The “sawbones” name suggests a figure devoted to “practical” medicine, who does what works without necessarily following medical procedure. It’s very much in keeping with McCoy. In fact, before Star Trek , actor DeForest Kelley, like many of his fellow cast members, was largely known for his roles in Westerns ( Gunfight at the O.K. Corral , Warlock, Death Valley Days ), the predominant TV and film genre of the era. So, a gruff country doctor was certainly in keeping with his onscreen persona. And Roddenberry, who famously pitched Star Trek to NBC executives as " Wagon Train to the Stars," was no stranger to Westerns, having written for such TV series as Have Gun - Will Travel , Jefferson Drum and The Virginian .

RELATED:  Star Trek: How Picard Homaged One of Sci-Fi's Most Important Writers

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot was more explicit about the nickname, however. In a conversation with Kirk (Christopher Pine) on their way to Starfleet Academy, McCoy reveals the only reason he’s joining Starfleet is because he lost everything in a divorce. “All I got left is my bones,” he mutters before offering Kirk a drink. In the DVD commentary for the film, Abrams claims the moment was improvised by Karl Urban, a longtime Trek fan.

It’s unclear whether this explanation applies to the Prime Universe’s Bones, but it’s certainly in keeping with the character’s personality: contentious, passionate, grumpy, and forced into a vessel he considers less than safe by circumstance. Either way, it does the same job as the Prime Universe’s nickname by putting a human face on the character and allowing audience members to better identify with life aboard a 23rd century starship .

There is no official word on whether Boyce will appear in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , along with the rest of Pike’s crew, or whether the show will address his nickname of “Bones” if he does. Given how closely the name is associated with McCoy at this point, it seems unlikely. Roddenberry’s commitment to detail paid off in an iconic character, and the nickname remains an inseparable part of that package.

KEEP READING:  Star Trek: William Riker Only Exists Because of Q Interference

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one pl... Read all The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time. The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

• J.J. Abrams
• Roberto Orci
• Alex Kurtzman
• Gene Roddenberry
• Zachary Quinto
• 1.6K User reviews
• 532 Critic reviews
• 82 Metascore
• 27 wins & 95 nominations total

• Spock Prime

• (as Zoë Saldana)

• Amanda Grayson

• George Kirk

• Winona Kirk

• Captain Robau

• Officer Pitts
• (as Antonio Elias)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia Simon Pegg did not audition for the role - he simply received an email from J.J. Abrams asking if he would like to play Scotty. Pegg said he would have done this for free, or even paid Abrams to be in this film, if he had not been offered a role.
• Goofs After Spock boards the Vulcan ship on board the mining vessel, Kirk is seen walking through some pipes. His Starfleet phaser has switched to a Romulan gun (longer barrel and no lights), before switching back to the Starfleet one again in the next scene. He actually acquires the Romulan gun a few scenes later.

Spock Prime : James T. Kirk!

James T. Kirk : Excuse me?

Spock Prime : How did you find me?

James T. Kirk : Whoa... how do you know my name?

Spock Prime : I have been and always shall be your friend.

James T. Kirk : Wha...

[shakes head]

James T. Kirk : Uh... look... I-I don't know you.

Spock Prime : I am Spock.

James T. Kirk : Bullshit.

• Crazy credits The first part of the closing credits is styled after the opening credits of Star Trek (1966) , where the starship Enterprise blasts off into space as a monologue describes its mission, and then the cast names appear as the famous "Star Trek" theme music plays.
• Connections Edited into De wereld draait door: Episode #4.157 (2009)
• Soundtracks Theme from 'Star Trek' TV Series Written by Alexander Courage & Gene Roddenberry

User reviews 1.6K

• Mar 22, 2015

Reboots & Remakes

• If this premise is that an alternate timeline created when Nero traveled back in time, then what happened to James Kirk's older brother, Sam, aka George Samuel Kirk Jr.?
• How can Spock's mother still be alive years later (original series) when she dies earlier on in this movie ?
• What is Star Trek about?
• May 8, 2009 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Star Trek: The Future Begins
• Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA (Vulcan)
• Paramount Pictures
• Spyglass Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $150,000,000 (estimated)
• $257,730,019
• $75,204,289
• May 10, 2009
• $385,681,768

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• 2.35 : 1 (original ratio)
• 2.39 : 1 (original ratio)

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

"What Is Happening?": Is Whoopi Goldberg In The Next Star Trek Movie?

• Whoopi Goldberg's possible return to Star Trek was teased by Joy Behar during Zoe Saldaña's appearance on The View.
• Uncertainty regarding Goldberg's involvement in the next Star Trek movie creates confusion during the exchange.
• The exchange on The View hints at Goldberg's potential role in Star Trek 4, leaving fans wondering about her return.

Is Whoopi Goldberg going to be in the next Star Trek movie? Zoe Saldaña's recent appearance on The View raised the possibility, but also created confusion about Whoopi returning to Star Trek . An Academy Award winner, Whoopi Goldberg played Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard. Goldberg appeared in two Star Trek movies as Guinan, 1994's Star Trek Generations and 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis .

Zoe Saldaña and her husband, Marco Perego, appeared on The View to promote their new film, The Absence of Eden . When The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin asked Saldaña about the possibility of the long-delayed Star Trek 4 happening, Zoe asked her fellow Star Trek actor Whoopi if she was "excited" , which then prompted this exchange with Joy Behar that raised the question whether Whoopi Goldberg "got the job" in another Star Trek movie :

Zoe Saldaña: Are you excited? Whoopi Goldberg: Maybe, just a little. Zoe Saldaña: Just a little, right? Just a little. Joy Behar: Don’t tip your hand yet. Whoopi Goldberg: Say what now? Joy Behar: Don’t tip your hand yet. Don’t tell them you got the job yet. Whoopi Goldberg: Okay. Joy Behar: Did you get the job? Zoe Saldaña: (gasps) For Star Trek? Oh my god! Whoopi Goldberg: What is happening right now?… I have no other work. I’m trying to get home to Sardinia. Alyssa Farah Griffin: Do you have it or doesn't you? Whoopi Goldberg: I don’t know!

You can watch the exchange in the video below starting at the 8:39 time stamp:

Zoe Saldaña also told The View that she "would love" t o play Lt. Uhura again in Star Trek 4 :

I just found out simultaneously with you guys that they hired a new writer [Steve Yockey] and they’re working on a fourth script. I would love to go back. It was a wonderful experience getting to incarnate these characters as part of such a legendary show that marked people’s lives, and it continues to do that. And I love to be in space, you guys. I love [Uhura], don’t get me wrong, but I love to be in space.

Star Trek 2009 Cast & Character Guide

What is happening with the next star trek movie, there are two movies whoopi goldberg could possibly appear in..

Whether or not Whoopi Goldberg has a role in the next Star Trek movie is unclear, and the confusing conversation on The View could have just been much ado about nothing blown out of proportion. However, if Goldberg does reprise Guinan or plays a new character, there are two different Star Trek movies in development at Paramount that the Oscar winner could appear in. The long-delayed Star Trek 4, which would reunite the USS Enterprise cast led by Chris Pine and includes Zoe Saldaña, has a new screenwriter in Steve Yockey. Produced by J.J. Abrams, Star Trek 4 is "the final chapter" of the Enterprise crew of the alternate Kelvin Timeline.

Theoretically, Goldberg could appear in either new Star Trek movie as Guinan.

At CinemaCon, Paramount officially announced an Untitled Star Trek Origin movie directed by Toby Haynes ( Star Wars: Andor ), which is targeting a 2025 theatrical release. Haynes' origin is set "decades before" J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009), and it could very well be a prequel to both Star Trek timelines, Prime and Kelvin. Theoretically, Goldberg could appear in either new Star Trek movie as Guinan since the extremely long-lived El Aurian made her home on Earth for decades. There could also be a version of Guinan in Star Trek 's Kelvin timeline. While Whoopi Goldberg may be keeping a potential Star Trek movie role close to the vest, like everything about the next Star Trek theatrical movies, fans won't believe it until they are sitting in a theater watching it.

Source: The View

Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond are streaming on Paramount+

Studio(s) Paramount

Distributor(s) Paramount Pictures

Writers Steve Yockey

Cast Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pine, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho

Franchise(s) Star Trek

prequel(s) Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Beyond