William Shatner is one of the most active and busy ninety-three-year-olds in fandom, doing more convention appearances than many actors half his age. At the Vancouver Fan Expo, he hinted he might return to Star Trek one last time.
Captain Kirk infamously died in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations film, a movie that bridged the gap between The Original Series and The Next Generation with a Nexus ribbon that trapped people in time, taking Kirk with it from his era and spitting him out just in time to save a planet for the climax of the movie.
While Kirk’s death saved billions on a nearby planet, the scope of the scene felt anti-climactic for the character’s final goodbye. He helps Jean-Luc Picard, who then finds him after the fact to let Kirk know they won, with Kirk’s final words being, “It was… fun.”
A recent fan film titled 765874 – Unification had a digitally enhanced version of Kirk traveling to the afterlife to find his friend Spock in a touching experience that left fans clamoring for Star Trek more than anything Paramount has offered in this recent Alex Kurtzman era. It’s gotten discussion going of Kirk potentially coming back.
William Shatner answered a question at Fan Expo Vancouver, saying, “I have been asked to come back as Kirk so many times. If Kirk is going to come back, it has to mean something. It has to be the show. But I was so impressed by this writer, so I said let’s talk after I’m done in Vancouver. So I’m awaiting a pitch to make it the show, it should come on Monday or Tuesday.”
It's interesting that he’s talking about a series at this juncture when he’s declined to come back and reprise the Kirk role so many times in the past, including the 2009 J.J. Abrams film where early versions of the script had the original Kirk making a cameo appearance.
Shatner also co-wrote a series of novels where Kirk was brought back from after Generations with the help of a Borg-Romulan alliance of technologies—something that delves a little too far into fan fiction, though was fun for fans to get a Captain Kirk in The Next Generation Star Trek era for a few novels starting with The Return.
It’s also not the first time Shatner said he’d be interested in reviving the role under the right circumstances. Before, he said he wouldn’t do a series. “If they wrote it and it made reasonable sense then I’d love to [revive Captain Kirk],” Shatner said in an interview with Metro UK about five years ago.
“I wouldn’t do a series,’ he continued. ‘If the role was written properly and it wasn’t a cameo or gratuitous; being there just to show my face, I wouldn’t do that,” he concluded.
Whether this project will come to fruition is yet to be seen; as Shatner has said, this is still just in the pitch phase, but fans are always excited to see the big man return to his iconic role.
What do you think of William Shatner hinting at Captain Kirk’s return in Star Trek? Leave a comment and let us know.
For a great novel series with classic Star Trek feel, with sci-fi spy thriller action, read The Stars Entwined on Amazon!
"The Erath of Khan" introduced the subplot of Kirk facing maturity. Admiral or Fleet Admiral Kirk would face possibly a couple more sons emerging. In high command, he would now send fast ships and daring captains into peril or death, facing the Kobayashi Maru test on a larger scale. Who dies he spend, and what cost?
While it would be cool if Shatner filmed another Star Trek, it would have to be set in the StarFleet Old folks home, and he could share a room with Picard. Just kidding. He could be the Commander of StarFleet and launch a new enterprise. Or he could be a fleet admiral.
It might be fun to watch.