Laurence Luckinbill On His Star Trek V Memories & Playing Spock's Brother

Laurence Luckibill is best known for playing Sybok, the brother of Spock (Leonard Nimoy), in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Luckinbill has written his memoir detailing his remarkable life and career on stage and screen, his travels, and the hard lessons and happiness he found along the way.

Affective Memories: How Chance and the Theater Saved My LIfe by Laurence Luckinbill can be ordered on Amazon and wherever books are sold. Luckinbill decided to write his memoir after years of telling stories of his life and adventures to his children. In Affective Memories, Laurence discusses his childhood and alcoholic father, finding his calling as an actor, achieving great success in theater, film, and television, but also facing disappointment, his international work for social justice, and his personal life as a father of five and as husband to Lucille Ball’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz.

Screen Rant had the pleasure to chat with Laurence Luckinbill about playing Sybok in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, where he worked with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, his advice to the next actor to play Sybok in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and his family, including Lucie Arnaz, and his nieces, The Matrix creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski.

Was Sybok “Mad” In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier?

Screen Rant: I would love to start by asking you about my favorite scene in Star Trek V. There’s a moment where Kirk says to Sybok, “You are mad.” And then you pause, and you reply, “Am I? We’ll see.” That moment to me is electric and always gives me goosebumps. Do you recall filming that scene?

Laurence Luckinbill: I certainly do. I talked about that scene as a bellwether in my entire movie existence, which was 26 movies and stuff. And how you must think on camera. And if you can think as the character, you, Laurence Luckinbill, doesn’t exist . Only Sybok decides, ‘What is he thinking?’ And if you’re actually thinking, then when Kirk says, ‘You are mad,’ then Sybok has to consider that. Because I’m sure he has considered it. He’s not a very logical guy. But he’s an emotional guy. But all the more reason why he would be concerned about himself. And if his relationship to God is false, you know, religious zealots go through these problems.

And so, when Bill says to me, ‘You’re mad!’ And I say, ‘Am I? We’ll see,” it’s a good it’s a real question. And what precedes it is if I had to think as Larry, if somebody said, ‘You’re nuts,’ Okay. Depending. And that moment is a bellwether to me because it’s like the apex of what I was trying to always try to do with Phelps. I achieved it and The Boys in the Band too, because we had done that play for three years. And we knew every aspect of our own relationship to those characters. And so, some of that truth came through there too. And those are the two movies that I can watch. The rest of them, some of them are good. Some of them are really superlative. Especially the little independent movies I did. But as far as the biggest, this was that moment, and I return to it quite often.

Sybok’s Appearance In Strange New Worlds & Laurence Luckinbill’s Advice For Star Trek’s Next Sybok Actor

In your book, you write that your mother wanted you to go to medical school, and you flunked out and found the performing arts as your calling. And it’s funny because your story is very similar to what we know about Sybok’s backstory where he also rejected what his parents laid out for him and went onto his own path. When you got the part or when you were developing the character to play him, how much backstory were you given? Or did you add that yourself?

Laurence Luckinbill: I was not given backstory. It was very, very skinny. Now I understand that they’ve got a new take on it. And they’ve set up Sybok in a new way with a better backstory, or a full backstory.

Well, a little bit more of a backstory. As it is right now, from what we know, about 25 years before your movie, Sybok was married to a space pirate. And he’s currently imprisoned in a Vulcan rehabilitation center. And his wife, the space pirate [Captain Angel played by Jesse James Keitel] was trying to get him out. So they hijacked the Enterprise, much like Sybok will in the future.

Laurence Luckinbill: Oh my goodness.

They hijacked the Enterprise to try to blackmail Vulcan into letting their husband out. And then Spock stopped them. And then Spock had to admit that Sybok is his brother, but only to one person. So it’s still a secret.

Laurence Luckibill: But why is it such a secret, I wonder?

To maintain canon. Because Kirk didn’t know Spock had a brother in your movie.

Laurence Luckinbill: That’s like a church. (laughs) Maintaining the canon.

Nobody was actually cast as Sybok. We only saw the back of his head very briefly. It was the big reveal at the end. I’d love to ask you this question: At some point, someone else will finally play Sybok. Do you have any advice for that actor?

Laurence Luckinbill: I do, I do. Hold on very hard to the idea that this is a man who really wanted to change the world that he knew to a better one, to a better world. And I’ve told the story before, but when Bill [Shatner] said, ‘Let’s meet to talk about how you see the role,’ we were supposed to have dinner, but we ended up at an orange juice bar with [us] standing in the corner. And he said, ‘Well, how do you see the part?’ and I said, ‘Lenin.’ And he said, ‘John?’ And I said, ‘No Vladimir Ilyich.’ And he said, ‘Wait a minute, this isn’t a commie movie.’ I said, ‘No, no, that’s not my intention.’

My intention is the fact that all of these reformers start with the intention of making things better for people, for humans, freedom, equality, justice, all those things. But when they reach obstacles, and there are many people who don’t want the kind of government that the guy is projecting, then they start to get dictatorial. And that’s what happened when Sybok decided the key thing was to steal the Enterprise, which was a criminal act, and he knew that. But if you recall the ending, which I’m very, very fond of, where Leonard and I became brothers, and then I sacrificed myself for the community.

And so, I would tell anyone who’s got the new Sybok robes to remember, really, that his impulse is good, is really good. He is not a villain. He is someone who has made mistakes. You and I might make those mistakes. And in terms of trying to change your family or hold the community better, or something like that, you might get nuts and say, ‘No, you will do it this way.’ But the impulse [is] to make things better, and really, at its heart, is let me take your pain away. Let me make life better for you. So, that was what that is. That is my take on it. And I resisted the idea of being the villain. And I told Bill that. I said he’s not a villain. He’s a heroic guy. And he’s just, he’s just in the way of the legal stuff, you know. That’s what I would say.

Laurence Luckinbill On Why Star Trek V Is Good & His Memories Filming The Movie

I really love Star Trek V, especially in the last few years. I rewatch it a lot. During the pandemic, when we were all on lockdown, I reevaluated it with fresh eyes, and it’s a comfort movie to me.

Laurence Luckinbill: That is exactly what I call it. It’s a cheerful movie. There’s something about it, you know, in the beginning with the jokes. Spock flying up El Capitan in Yosemite. And at the end, they’re singing ‘merrily, merrily, row your boat gently down the stream’. It’s about a sweet friendship. And they’ve come through a very difficult situation. Spock has had a shock with his brother sacrificing himself. That would be a terrible shock even if he didn’t like the brother very much.

But I think that I like the movie for exactly the same reason you do. It’s watchable. It’s kind. The villain turns out to be not such a villain. And I like it a lot. And I’ve always liked it. And I was totally surprised when people were dissing Bill. I thought that was really very unfair. There were a lot of problems with the post-production and all of that. Bill was quite frustrated with it. But he was a king to me. He was very good. I like Bill. Still do.

I heard a story though, that William Shatner threatened to throw you off the set for being disruptive with George Takei.

Laurence Luckinbill: Well, George has a funny laugh. And I could make George laugh, and I did. And so we’re back there, the movie days are long days, and the people who are not shooting are sitting over in their chairs, and they’re schmoozing. And so I’m making George laugh. And we hear from Bill: “If you don’t shut up, I’ll close this set!” (laughs)

What were your impressions of Leonard Nimoy? I heard you became friends after you were done filming but on the set, it was more businesslike.

Laurence Luckinbill: It was just business on the set, yes. And there is this thing that’s been said that Leonard wanted to play both parts. I don’t know if it’s true. But Bill wasn’t gonna have that. So that’s how I got the part. And Sean Connery didn’t. [laughs] He was busy already. And so, we did our jobs. And it wasn’t until the last few days when we were shooting the final scenes that Leonard and I really got together in a brotherly way. After the movie wrapped, Leonard and I became friends because that issue was gone. And so, we went to his house several times and had dinner and so on. So that was all to the good.

Lucille Ball & Fate That Laurence Luckinbill Became Part Of Star Trek

You’re married to Lucie Arnaz. Lucille Ball is her mother, and she is one of the big reasons why Star Trek even exists. Do you think now, looking back, was it fate that you also became part of Star Trek?

Laurence Luckinbill: It’s a great irony of some kind or great lesson in life. But here’s the thing, we were talking about that the other day, Lucie and I. And she said when they brought this project to Desilu, Lucy thought that Star Trek was some sort of a comedy with music and people going out on a bond tour from Hollywood, with Hollywood stars. And Gary Morton, her husband at the time, said, ‘Lucy, this is about space, and it’s good stuff.’ And he took his advice. So it was really Gary who influenced Lucy, but she was the executive. And once she made that decision, it was a big one because it was very costly. And it was very brave of her to do that. And she knew a good thing once it happened. She was a very smart lady.

Laurence Luckinbill’s Role In Tom Cruise’s Cocktail

A couple of years ago, when Top Gun: Maverick came out, I did a little Tom Cruise 80’s movie rewatch. I watched Cocktail, and there you were as the father. And I completely understood why you did not want your daughter marrying this bartender.

Laurence Luckibill: Especially because it was Tom Cruise. (laughs) No, that was an interesting thing. I was on tour with my Lyndon show around the world. And I got this call to do this audition for [Cocktail]. And they took me on right away and boom, boom, you got the part. There’s four scenes. And most of the scenes were with my daughter in the apartment. But then, by the time it got to the shooting, I was in only one scene left. And that was okay with me. Because sometimes when you’re an actor, you feel shortchanged. They cut your scenes or something like that, I never quite felt like that. I always felt like, let’s get to it, what does the character need to accomplish?

The father needed to get this guy out of his house and out of his daughter’s life. And it’s only worth one scene because the daughter wasn’t going. And I tried to make that moderately funny when she talked me down and slapped me in the face. But the other three scenes, they were color scenes. And when you’re writing a script for movies, I found this out because I’ve written movie scripts and never sold them because they always wanted me to cut the guts out of them. And I couldn’t do that. So I have a trunk full of pretty good movies and plays that won’t see the light because I never would cut them.

Doing some research about you and your life, I was very surprised to find out that Lana and Lilly Wachowski are your nieces.

Laurence Luckinbill: Yes, it was Larry and Andy back in the day. And Larry was named for me – now Lana – she was named for me. But they’re perfectly happy doing what they do. And that’s a good family. And I’m so sorry that my sister is gone. My younger sister and their mother, Lynn. Lynn and I were like this growing up because she was only four years younger than me. And we were often left to clean up the house and make some kind of food for people because our mother and father worked. And so Lynn’s departure took something out of me. Her husband, too, was a great guy. Ron Wachowski. And their children are great children. They really are. And they’ve attempted so many big things, and they’ve done incredible things.

You know, if they had gone in a different direction. 25 years ago, you could have been a great Morpheus. You could have done the Laurence Fishburne role.

Laurence Luckinbill: Oh, I would have liked that.

Affective Memories: How Chance and the Theater Saved My LIfe by Laurence Luckinbill can be purchased on Amazon at this link.

About Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

A renegade Vulcan makes Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and the Starship Enterprise go to a planet at the center of the galaxy on his quest to find God.