Karl Urban is confident that Star Trek 4 will start filming within the next year or so. Urban has played the irritable character, Dr. Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy across three films in J.J. Abrams' and Paramount Pictures' rebooted timeline of the Star Trek franchise, and it looks like he can't wait to get back onto the Enterprise for another adventure.
Urban has earned plenty of fans due to his many contributions to movie franchises and scene-stealing characters. He recently played Skurge in Thor: Ragnarok and brought an iconic comic-book personality to life in Dredd. He's even been a fan-favorite actor to play Batman on the big screen, something that he recently said he was open to doing if the opportunity arose. But the actor has been constantly linked with the role of McCoy. After all, he's played the character three times so far in the new timeline, starting with Abrams' 2009 reboot and the film's two sequels. Although Star Trek Beyond under-performed at the domestic box office, which led to something of a hiatus for the franchise, Paramount is still pushing ahead with another installment, but Urban's involvement in that film remains unclear. Plus, last year's announcement that Quentin Tarantino would develop a new Star Trek movie has neither confirmed nor excluded Urban's return as well.
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However, while promoting his new movie Bent, Urban spoke to JoBlo about McCoy and whether he would ever play him again, as well as when Star Trek 4 could potentially start filming. He said:
"It’s really a question for Paramount (laughs). But, that being said, I have such a blast working on those Star Trek movies. You know, that cast, we’re like family at this point. I’m pretty confident within, hopefully the next year, that we’ll be back on the set."
Urban doesn't mention Tarantino's involvement and there may be an element of wishful thinking involved. But it is encouraging to hear him give a measurable time-frame and indicate his belief that the Abrams' Star Trek cast will reunite for at least one more journey. It could also indicate that the actor may be aware of some studio talk that hasn't been made public yet. As Tarantino is hard at work on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, there have been no further updates as to whether his version will be another reboot or involve the established cast members. Actors John Cho and William Shatner have already declared their interest to work with the director, and as long as all the other actors return, Urban seems to be on board as well.
Whatever the reasons for Urban's "confidence," there are plenty of fans who would love to see the Abrams cast in a new movie, whether that ends up being under the direction of Tarantino or not remains to be seen. Hopefully, the actor's words will end up being prophetic. In that case, audiences could hear some positive news on the production of Star Trek 4 before 2018 ends, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
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Source: JoBlo