I was in the last week of shooting ‘True Detective’ when J.J. Abrams called last December. He asked me, ‘Do you like ‘Star Trek’? If you do, you should take this, be bold, and just go for it.’

I thought about how much a part of my life ‘Star Trek’ was. Growing up, my parents had this little fish and chips restaurant in Anaheim in the shadows of Disneyland, and they didn’t close until 9 PM. As a family, we didn’t eat dinner until 10 PM, and we would watch the original ‘Star Trek’ every night at 11.

My dad worked 364 days a year, only took Thanksgiving off, and from age 8 to 18, the only time I could hang out with my parents was by staying late. And every night, it was ‘Star Trek’ on Channel 13 in L.A. That was my childhood.

All my friends were ‘Star Wars’ kids but I didn’t go to the movies, so I was the ‘Star Trek’ kid. Thinking about this, it became a very personal and very emotional decision.