Chris Pine, Karl Urban join Trek Cast

Chris Pine (from the Lindsay Lohan film Just My Luck) and Karl Urban (Eomer in The Lord of the Rings, The Bourne Supremacy) have joined the cast of J.J. Abrams's forthcoming Star Trek film as James T. Kirk and Leonard McCoy respectively, ending months of speculation about the casting of two of the franchise's lynchpin characters.

Pine opted out of a role opposite George Clooney in Joe Carnahan's White Jazz in order to play Kirk, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In fact it was Carnahan's blog reference to Pine's unavailability that spilled the beans about the placement. Fan reaction to Pine's landing the role has largely been wait-and-see, since his relatively unknown status gives us precious little to go on. Especially since the intersection of Trek fans and attendees of Lindsay Lohan films is, I would hazard, relatively small.

Urban, by contrast, is a known quantity, and in LotR the New Zealander demonstrated his ability to handle both action and drama -- not to mention the ability to be both gruff and sage at the same time, the primary requisite for McCoy.

Interview clips and a composite of Pine in the famous gold uniform can be had from the article over at TrekMovie.

The casting of Kirk and McCoy rounds out the casting of the main roles for the film, just in time to begin principal photography in November. (A fuller article duscussing the cast as it stands will be posted soon.) For a larger version of this image, click here.