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Timothy Olyphant says he lost Captain Kirk role in Star Trek to Chris Pine because he was younger

"Somewhere along the line, J.J. called and said, 'I found a guy, younger, who's really good.'"

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Published on August 10, 2023 05:10PM EDT

Timothy Olyphant is boldly going into detail about losing the role of Captain Kirk to Chris Pine for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies.

The Justified actor, 55, revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he was in the running to play the Starship Enterprise's enigmatic captain, but the role ultimately went to Pine, 42, because he was younger.

"Here's what I can tell you about Star Trek: I went in and auditioned not for Captain Kirk, but I remember reading with J.J. Abrams and he's just a lovely, lovely guy. And just a lovely, lovely audition process," Olyphant explained. "Somewhere in there, I was auditioning for Doc, he's like, 'I already got a guy for Doc, so I don't need you for that, but I don't have a Kirk.'" (The role of Dr. Leonard McCoy would go to Karl Urban.)

Timothy Olyphant; Chris Pine in 'Star Trek Beyond'. Michael Kovac/WireImage; Everett Collection

Alas, it turned out Olyphant got some Kirk competition. "I believe it was one of those things where it's like they might have been prepared to hire me, but they wanted somebody younger, and [Abrams] was having a hard time finding somebody younger," he said. "And somewhere along the line, J.J. called and said, 'I found a guy, younger, who's really good.'"

(Reps for Abrams representatives didn't immediately respond to request for comment Thursday.)

Pine would go on to live long and prosper as Kirk in Abrams' 2009 film Star Trek as well its sequels, 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness and 2016's Star Trek Beyond. He was accompanied on his interstellar adventures by costars including Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldaña, and John Cho.

Despite losing out on the role, Olyphant maintained on the podcast that he has nothing but love for Pine.

"I have since then met Chris Pine and I am a huge fan of him both on and off screen. I love that guy. He's a good dude." He said. "This sounds very show business-y, but I had the honor, we're going to say honor, to go to the Golden Globes one year… and I spent most of the evening at the bar with Chris Pine. Just really adored him. What a good guy. I really like his work. He's one of those guys who makes it look simple and easy."

He only has positive memories from his time auditioning with Abrams too. "Auditioning sucks," Olyphant said, "and the fact that I remember the audition process fondly says a lot about J.J. Abrams and what a wonderful man that guy is."

Olyphant told MTV back in 2007 that he had "met with J.J. Abrams" to discuss playing an unspecified character in Star Trek but it eventually fell through. "That led to a series of conversations and I was very flattered. Lots of emails exchanged between the two of us," he said at the time. "Ultimately I think we both were aware that it just didn't make sense. It was a mutual thing."

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Timothy Olyphant says he lost Captain Kirk role in Star Trek to Chris Pine because he was younger

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