Karl Urban is no stranger to genre films and television. He's been a part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journey, Riddick, he played Judge Dredd himself in 2012's Dredd, and is, of course, Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy in J.J. Abrams' rebooted Star Trek cinematic franchise. He is also the lead in the new FOX series from Fringe showrunner J.H. Wyman, which is produced by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot. In fact, Abrams approached the actor on the set of Star Trek Into Darkness about the role in the futuristic cop show.

We sat down with Urban recently to talk about his return to television in Almost Human (stay tuned for more on that). During the course of our conversation we asked the actor if, given the close nature of his relationship with Abrams, he'd lobbied to be a part of Star Wars: Episode VII and he replied immediately, "No, absolutely not."

Karl Urban and Fringe's J.H. Wyman Team for Almost Human

Somewhat taken aback by the total clarity of his denial, we asked if he was a fan of the Star Wars franchise. "Oh my God, yes," Urban replied immediately. "I grew up watching it. That was the Holy Grail for me. I was a fan of Star Trek growing up. Star Wars was it. Star Wars was like...I remember waiting for two/three years for that next installment, for Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I've seen every single Star Wars film, even the animated, The Clone Wars, and all that sort of stuff. I just love that universe, but that being said, I have no desire to be part of it. I don't see the worlds of Star Trek and Star Wars joining. I've made a commitment to Star Trek and I'm going to keep it. It wouldn't feel right to me. Being in Star Trek, to suddenly be in Star Wars wouldn't feel right to me."When we pointed out that Star Trek and Star Wars have been joined to some degree now that Abrams is set to helm Star Wars: Episode VII, Urban replied, "J.J. is behind the camera. There's a difference when you're putting a face and a personality in front of the camera, and I wouldn't want to do that do an audience. I, as an audience member, wouldn't want to see an actor from Star Trek in Star Wars. I just wouldn't. When I go into a Star Wars movie I want to be completely enveloped. I don't want to be taken out of the picture by going, 'Oh my God, there's Scotty, what's he doing in Star Wars?'"Urban, a genre fan, is clearly very happy to be a part of the Star Trek cinematic franchise, and has a clause in his contract for Almost Human that allows him to participate in the next film when it goes into production. When asked who he'd like to see come in and take the helm on Star Trek 3, Urban instantly and laughingly replied, "J.J. Abrams.""Look that's a hard one," he continued, "because J.J. has set the bar so high and he is just a unique filmmaker. There's no doubt about it. That being said, I look forward and welcome a fresh take, a new energy. If anything I think that J.J. is an inspiring individual, he's an inspiring director and he's going to push his contemporary to be better than they are. Because they're going to have to be. So whoever takes on the mantle of the next Star Trek is going to do a good job."Though he would not speculate on who an interesting or appropriate director might be, Urban did say that he was sure that Paramount would want to have a movie out by the time of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek in 2016.As to what he'd like to see for the third film, Urban said, "What I really believe we should do now is strive for originality. Because in Star Trek Into Darkness we took one of the most revered and loved adversaries of the Enterprise and put him in there, and did a story that had all of these wonderful nods to films from the past, and episodes from the past. I really think that what we should do from here, in my personal opinion, is strive to be original. Strive to be something different and new. You know, let's not forget that Star Trek as envisioned was about space exploration. And it would be really wonderful to harness the spirit of that and apply it to the next film, so that we do something different than a revenge-based picture."

Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @RothCornet and IGN at Roth-IGN