Chris Pine Is Synonymous with Star Trek 2009, But This X-Men Actor Almost Did Something Else With the Role

With filmmaker JJ Abrams at the helm, Star Trek (2009) brought the franchise into a new era with stars Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura, Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, or “Jim” to his friends. Kirk quickly became one of Chris Pine’s most notable roles and Abrams’s take on the franchise, known as the Alternate Original Series, successfully went on for two more sequels Star Trek: Into Darkness (a take on the classic Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan) and Star Trek: Beyond. 

Abrams was unafraid to make changes to the source material, such as the decision to pair up Uhura and Spock romantically, and to set the first adventure with Kirk fresh out of the academy. Still, it felt like Abrams arrived at a modern consensus that stayed true to the spirit of Star Trek while marketing it to modern audiences. James McAvoy, while on the press circuit for his directorial debut for California Schemin’, revealed that Abrams’ Star Trek could have been completely different. Known for his roles as Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and more notably as Charles Xavier in the 2010s X-Men films, James McAvoy was also JJ Abrams’ initial pick for Captain Kirk. 

The Kirk of Star Trek (2009)

On a recent appearance on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast with Josh Horowitz, McAvoy finally confirmed which role he turned down. Horowitz had guessed it must have been McCoy two years ago, but McAvoy confirmed that, at a lunch meeting with director JJ Abrams, it had been Kirk he was asked to screen test for. 

From McAvoy’s first reading of the script, he thought it was brilliant, but he was confident that he wasn’t right for it. Jim Kirk in Abrams’ Star Trek is not only the quarterback of the team, but he’s the quarterback that’s gone rogue. The story, then, is about how the Kirk audiences see on screen could become the Kirk seen from Star Trek: The Original Series. In McAvoy’s view, the actor they needed for Kirk was not only a Hollywood leading man — a box that Chris Pine resisted multiple times throughout his career — but somebody who could do several things at once. An actor playing Kirk needed to balance seriousness, earnestness, authority, and comedy while still nodding to the acting choices that William Shatner made when originating the role. 

A Very Different Kirk 

If McAvoy had agreed to do the screen test and landed the role, Kirk would’ve been very different. McAvoy is a great actor, but his presence compared to Chris Pine feels very different. McAvoy isn’t, as he described Pine, a “stud”, and instead, his screen presence lends itself more towards the cerebral. It’s no mistake that one of his most notable roles to date, Charles Xavier, is that of a telepath. It’s also hard to imagine him bouncing off of Zachary Quinto’s Spock in the same way, given the two actors feel similar in their presence instead of opposites.

It’s curious whether Abrams would’ve leaned into the cocky, flirty Kirk that continues with Into Darkness and Beyond, or if Kirk would’ve gone darker. McAvoy is very adept at playing morally complex characters — something that meshes better with Star Trek’s more contemporary tv offerings than the optimistic original series with Kirk as earnest and kind. While McAvoy considered Abrams’ Star Trek script undeniable, there were complaints about the drifting of characterization of Kirk from the original series, something that more than likely would’ve been exacerbated without Chris Pine’s charm. 

An Alternate Trajectory for McAvoy

More importantly, if McAvoy had taken the role of Jim Kirk, he likely wouldn’t have been able to play Charles Xavier in X-Men: First Class in 2011. Star Trek came out in 2009, Star Trek: Into the Darkness premiered in 2013, and Star Trek: Beyond in 2016. Pine managed to be in a few films outside the franchise during its run, such as Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Into the Woods, and lent his voice to the animated film Rise of the Guardians, but Jim Kirk was very much his main role during that time. It’s unlikely that McAvoy would’ve been able to balance both Star Trek and X-Men at the same time. 

Following his success with X-Men, McAvoy starred in M. Night Shamalayan’s Split in 2016, and later reprised the role in 2019’s Glass. In 2017, he played adult Bill Denbrough in It: Chapter Two, along with playing the villain in 2024’s horror thriller Speak No Evil. After all that, it’s hard to picture McAvoy as Kirk. 

Did James McAvoy, and us, misjudge his abilities? Would he have made an excellent Kirk? Let us know in the comments!