Scottish actor James McAvoy is one of those self-professed Star Trek fans who has expressed great interest in appearing in the series, so it’s surprising to hear him talk about why he turned down a role in one of the Kelvin universe feature films produced by JJ Abrams.

Why McAvoy said no to JJ

McAvoy was a guest at Happy Sad Confused Podcast, when host Josh Horowitz mentioned their mutual love of Star Trek and after they talked a bit about their favorite shows and movies, McAvoy was asked how he never made it into Final Frontier. The BAFTA-winning actor then revealed that he had been “close” to landing a role in one of the recent Star Trek films. McAvoy wouldn’t be specific about what role he was offered, but spoke about how he tried to make it happen:

“I was offered something. I didn’t want to do it. I suggested I could do something else. They wanted to do a camera test with me and I said, ‘You know what, it’s fine, don’t worry.’ Not because I didn’t want to, but because I just didn’t think I was the right fit.”

McAvoy went on to say that he believes Abrams ultimately cast the right actor for the role:

“They absolutely understood what I was telling JJ, what I thought of the role and what kind of actor he should be. I’m not saying he understood that just because I said that. But the kind of person I thought I wasn’t, he understood it. And it’s brilliant. And I love the new ones. I love JJ’s films. They’re excellent.”

It’s not clear what role McAvoy was offered (and asked to play) or which of the three films produced by Abrams he’s referring to. Rumors that McAvoy was being approached for the role of Scotty in Abrams’ first Star Trek film began in early 2007, several months before Simon Pegg was cast in the role. After initial denials, McAvoy became increasingly evasive about whether he was in the running for the role of the USS Enterprise engineer. It’s unlikely he would have turned down a role as iconic as Scotty, so he was probably offered another role.

You can watch McAvoy’s speech about Trek below.

McAvoy’s Trek dream

Although he came “close” to that one role, McAvoy has made it clear in recent years that he desperately wants to be a part of Star Trek. Star Trek: Picard was in development, he offered his services more than once to play a young Jean-Luc Picard, noting that he was uniquely qualified as he had played a young Charles Xavier (originally played by Patrick Stewart) in 3 X-Men Movies. He is such a huge Trek fan that he used his time during the pandemic to make his own Trek fan film called Star Force: Sci-Fisolation.

Recently, McAvoy noted that, in his mid-40s, he may no longer be able to play young Picard, but he is still hoping for a Trek role. There are currently two active Star Trek feature film projects at Paramount Pictures (the Origin Story and Star Trek 4), so he may still get his chance. And of course, there could still be a role in the new Starfleet Academy Show, in which Trek fan Paul Giamatti participated, or maybe even the fourth season of Strange new worldsThere are always … possibilities.

James McAvoy in the self-made “Star Force” 2020

Stay up to date with the latest news from the Star Trek universe at TrekMovie.com.