Karl Urban agrees with audience backlash about his character in Star Trek Into Darkness

When you’re a star of multiple film franchises (The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek), and about to join another one (the Marvel Cinematic Universe), sometimes the character you’re playing may not get quite the attention it deserves – and Karl Urban has admitted to just that in an interview with Stuff.

When asked about the minimised role his character, Bones, received in the sequel to 2009’s Star Trek, Urban admitted that he saw it too. ‘There definitely was a bit of a backlash from the audience,’ he says, ‘and, quite frankly, I agreed with them.’ Urban joins a seemingly huge number of dissenters of Into Darkness, a film which sparked a debate about unwantonly sexist scenes, the futile cover-up of ridiculously obvious plot reveals, and now, it seems, the disservice of audience-favourite characters.

Urban did have very positive things to say about the upcoming Star Trek Beyond, however, and Bones’ part in it, saying he was ‘really pleased with what I saw’ after finishing work on the film. ‘I think the producers and writers have listened to [the] audience and thankfully the Bones that you see in Star Trek Beyond is the most fully realised, rounded and dimensional version of the character that we have had in these last three films.’

Onwards and upwards then, eh? Justin Lin, director of Star Trek Beyond, has a number of Fast & Furious movies under his belt, showing that he can juggle multiple characters as part of a team while still giving them their individual moments and arcs. Sounds like he’s cracked it – for Urban, at least.

Star Trek Beyond is released on July 22.