William Shatner revealed what it would take to get him back on the USS Enterprise to reprise his role as a “Star Trek” captain after more than 30 years away from the role.
The 92-year-old actor — who is probably best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk in the “Star Trek” franchise — spoke to the Hollywood Reporter about his most famous role and whether he would be up for reprising it, if the right opportunity presented itself.
“Leonard [Nimoy] made his own decision on doing a cameo [in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 ‘Star Trek’],” Shatner said. “He’s there for a moment, and it’s more a stunt that Spock appears in a future.”
“If they wrote something that wasn’t a stunt that involved Kirk, who’s 50 years older now, and it was something that was genuinely added to the lore of ‘Star Trek,’ I would definitely consider it,” he added.
Shatner landed the role of Kirk in 1966, but the series was canceled after just 3 seasons. Despite being short-lived, the show earned a cult following and eventually spawned a movie franchise and numerous subsequent TV series like “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star Trek: Enterprise,” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” among many others.
William Shatner on #StarTrek V, his only film as a director: “In my mind, I failed horribly. When I’m asked, ‘What do you regret the most?’ I regret not being equipped emotionally to deal with a large motion picture” https://t.co/8bVjvdf0UA
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 18, 2024
Shatner also spoke about those various “Star Trek” series that have come along since his was canceled and explained why he thought the creator of the original sci-fi series, Gene Roddenberry, wouldn’t like them at all.
“He was in the military, and he was a policeman,” the famous actor said. “So there was this militaristic vision of ‘You don’t make out with a fellow soldier.’’There are strict rules and you abide by the rules. Around that, [the writers] had to write the drama. But within that was the discipline of ‘This is the way a ship works.'”
“Well, as ‘Star Trek’ progressed, that ethos has been forgotten [in more recent shows],” he added. “I sometimes laugh and talk about the fact that I think Gene is twirling in his grave. ‘No, no, you can’t make out with the lady soldier!”
In 2021, Shatner famously went from playing a character who had ventured out of our world to being a real-live spaceman when he became the oldest person to travel to space as part of the crew with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin spacecraft.
Speaking after he returned to earth, Shatner became emotional talking about how vast and empty it was outside of our planet.
“I was weeping uncontrollably for reasons I didn’t know,” Shatner told THR. “It was my fear of what’s happening to Earth. I could see how small it was. It’s a rock with paper-thin air. You’ve got rock and 2 miles of air, and that’s all that we have, and we’re f***ing it up. And, that dramatically, I saw it in that moment.”
Related: William Shatner Answers Whether He Plans To Return To Space