Over the last few years, Timothy Olyphant has ventured to the Old West in "Deadwood," the suburbs in "The Girl Next Door," and the corridors of power in "Live Free or Die Hard," but in a surprising admission, the actor confessed exclusively to MTV News that he almost boldly ventured where no man has gone before.

"I went in and met with J.J. Abrams about one of the characters," the 39-year-old actor revealed of a secret casting session with the director for the "Star Trek" reboot. "That led to a series of conversations and I was very flattered. Lots of emails exchanged between the two of us. Ultimately I think we both were aware that it just didn't make sense. It was a mutual thing."

Olyphant's confession raises more questions than it answers, of course, chief among them exactly what character he was supposedly up for. Based solely on the actors who eventually signed on, Olyphant would seem most like Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy) in age and temperament, but it's not outside the realm of possibility to think he might have been up for Nero or even Captain Kirk.

Regardless of who he was up for, though, Olyphant is certain Abrams made the right choice with who he eventually got. Read more...