William Shatner: I’m Not In Star Trek Sequel

The question of whether or not William Shatner will appear in a new Star Trek movie has been a hot topic since the first JJ Abrams Trek film was announced in 2006. Much of that speculation has come from Shatner himself, but it appears that today he is also putting the talk to an end. Details below.

 

Shatner:  I will not be in Star Trek 2 – "Captains" is Trek farewell

William Shatner appeared today at the Calgary Expo in Calgary, Canada. According to a report sent in by TrekMovie reader Ryszard Gold, Bill was asked by a fan if he will be in the next Star Trek movie, and Shatner replied:

I’ve become an acquaintance of J.J. [Abrams] of late…But, I’m afraid no, no I will not be in Star Trek 2.

Shatner then segued into talking about his upcoming The Captains documentary, which he described as his "final farewell to Star Trek."

This news will come as a blow to fans who were hoping to see Shatner as Captain Kirk one more time. There was much discussion about Bill appearing in the 2009 Star Trek film and there was even a scene written for him, but in the end JJ Abrams decided that it just didn’t fit with the film, although he later told TrekMovie that it was a very difficult decision. Even with all of that, speculation Shatner just moved on to the sequel.

Such a definitive declaration is a big change for the man behind the original Kirk, who as recently as April of this year was still expressing home that he would appear in the 2012 Star Trek sequel. It is not clear why Bill has changed his tune. It is possible he has been told there is no role for him, but as the script is still not finalized, it is also possible he is just assuming there is no role for him. Bill also stated that he thought the sequel would be shooting this summer. As shooting is now planned for the fall, this may also indicate that Bill is not privy to the latest inside details. 

UPDATE: Video & Photo of Shatner getting his white hat

A tradition at the Calgary Expo is to bestow the main guest with a special white cowboy hat, making them an honorary Calgarian. Yesterday Shatner got his hat and Ryszard caught the moment on video.

And here is a good photo from the hat event (via Zpork on Flickr):

William Shatner & Major Nenshi
Mayor  Nenshi makes Shatner honorary Calgarian
(photo: Andrew of Zombie Darkroom)

 

POLL: Happy? Sad? Unsure? Don’t Care?

Snap poll time, how does this news make you feel?.

[poll=663]

 

Photo & Video: Ryszard Gold

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Thank goodness… it’s time to let the new crew shine.

@ 1.

Part of me (a very large part) agrees that yes it is time for the new crew to shine. And yes, our Captain Kirk has had his rather inglorious death scene.

At the same time though, the other part (fanboy holdout part) really wants to see Shatner do his stuff on the bridge one LAST (seriously last) time.

I for one want to see the Shat in Trek one last time. i think the Role that Bob Orci wrote for him in Trek 09 would still be perfect. Please. Make it so.

Here we go again….

Yes. Here we go again. I bet 500 Bars of Gold Pressed latinum that Anthony will have to warn people to or at the very least be nice. Any takers.

VERY Disappointing. We will never see Shatner as Kirk again now. Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!

oh goodness we’re going to have a hundred more rounds of “yes I am!” “no I’m not!” aren’t we?

Allow me to sum up this issue once and for all.

Is the ideal scenario to let the new crew swim on their own? Yes. Is the idea scenario to “save” William Shatner if some “stunt casting” is needed for the 3rd or 4th film? Yes.

Does anyone else feel a little uncomfortable “waiting” for 3-6 more years for that possibility considering Shat’s age?

Like Sarek said in Star Trek IV, “do it now. While we still can”

A cameo or very small role would be very nice for Shatner, but I have to admit, with or without it won’t have much to do with the success (or lack of) of the sequel. It’s just a cherry on top of the ice cream sunday – we’d love to have it, but with or without it, we’re still going to eat the ice cream sunday. At least, that’s my perspective on the matter… I still consider this to be bad news, as I was hoping he would have some small role similar to the rejected ending of the previous film.

@5 I see your 500 bars, and raise you 200 quatloos.

I voted “little sad /it would have been OK”… but at the same time I think it’s new crew time… so, I have an emotional conflict about it… :-) :-)

ST 2010 should be a remake of ST V with Shatner playing “God”

“It is possible he has been told there is no role for him, but as the script is still not finalized, it is also possible he is just assuming there is no role for him.” – AP

….Or maybe is top secret … LOL

:-) :-)

It’s still not too late for Willam Shatner to voice Kirk in a CGI animated movie set in the Prime universe. We could also get Leonard Nimoy for it too. Come on CBS. What other suggestions should I have for CBS head Les Moonves to make it so? Already suggested a part for wife Julie Chen in the Star Trek 2012. I suggested an android role for her since she’s known as Chenbot. Maybe Les’ son could play Spock-Uhura’s love child. Oooh, how about this one. Cast Charlie Sheen as a red shirt in the 2012 movie and he gets eaten by giant alien monster Crunch. Will that make you happy Les?

There’s not going to be any Star Trek in 2012, Les. It’s just a TV movie released to say TNT or AMC or SyFy. It’s not that scary, Les. Then make a ton of dough on DVD sales.

Will never get over him not even being asked/shown his scene for the last movie. That was a very stupid move.

Makes no sense to have Shatner in the second movie.

This is a ploy. Shat is in it. Otherwise he wouldn’t have said he wasn’t in it.

That sucks. Shatner should be involved in the new film or at least part 3. Shatner as Kirk would make this a better film.

Can they at least re-use that scene that was intended for prime-kirk at the end of Trek 09 ? Lets put that in the trek sequel. It would be a nice easter egg for the fans. Please reward us with that !

I wonder why Abrams and co. have no use for the man? If it were announced tomorrow that Shatner was back as Kirk fanboys everywhere would go nuts…The man and the character are the biggest icons of the entire franchise. Truly a poor decision on Abrams/Orci etc part to deny him a role in the film. Where would ST be w/out Shatner?

Shame, he should have been in the 1st one with Nimoy.

?? There is no “new crew”, the new crews were in TNG, and VOY …. What Abrams made was an abomination.

JJ and crew need to address this and end it now. When Mr. Orci is here, he should either concur or say if they are planning a role

I say let it be. I don’t see how he could possibly be in the new film without it seeming contrived.

A little sad. Sure it probably wouldn’t have worked, …but I can’t help feeling, what if…

A disgrace. Shat isn’t going to live forever. Give him some respect and let him appear in the damn movie. There would be no Star Trek if it wasn’t for this guy. Plenty of fans want to see him. Isn’t this what it’s all about???

#11 Derf. i see your 200 Quatloos and raise you 2,000.

I still think the sceen from the first movie would have ben a great sceen with shatner… I had tears when i red the script. Totally missed chance by JJ and the supreme court!!

I was there in Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo when Shatner mentioned this, my feeling when I heard him say it, that he was just not sure if there is a role for him in the movie.

I still hope that the writers will give him & the fans a final chance to appear in the movie.

I think J.J Abrams should offer William Shatner the hologram scene he wrote for the first film. If Shatner doesn’t want to do it, and demands a bigger role, then J.J can say no. But if Shatner is willing to settle for a cameo, then by all means I and most other fans would welcome it.

Also, I’m pleased to see there hasn’t been any Shat-bashing……..so far!

“I’m not in ‘Stark Trek’ sequel”? Great! Wonderful! Awesome! Say good-bye. I’ll watch the Captains documentary. Promise.

I’d rather see him in his captains documentary, sharing some anecdotes with his fellow Trek actors, than in some shoe-horned role in the next movie. Pine did a fine job carrying the torch forward—or backward, depending on how you look at it.

Oy, remakes… don’t get me started.

What would happen if Shatner DID end up in the next film, and it just plain didn’t work out well? Where would that leave Shat fans?

I have a way for shatner to become a regular with the new movies for bit parts without bring in old universe Kirk.
have Shatner play Kirks uncle, his fathers brother :)
I don’t know wether Kirk had an uncle in the old series but it would be a way to bring in shatner as family and give kirk a hint of the kind of man he could become

Bob’s Shatner scene was THE vehicle for his reappearance. It fit organically into the story and was a nice finishing touch.

If calls for a special edition re-release of the movie, ala CE3K, including that scene are not heard, then I suppose that’s the end of it.

Shatner had his exit from the franchise (arguably, it could’ve been better), and now it’s time for the new crew to show us what they’ve got without any training wheel support from any of the TOS cast.

Spock Prime in ST09 was critical to the story, but his purpose has been fulfilled. There is no need to bring in any more TOS folks; they’ve already had 6 movies together (7 if you count Generations as both a TOS/TNG movie).

The new cast intrigues me very much; I want to see more of them as a unit.

So, for right now at least, if you add the two sides of that poll together (Yes!+Don’t & Little +NO!), it’s a dead even 50/50 split. It’s nice to see we represent such a well-balanced demographic of the fan base here. :D

:’ (

I guess Shatner is more “baggage” with which JJ would rather not be encumbered.

Too bad. It seems wrong, on several levels.

But JJ’s career is zooming toward the stratosphere. Thanks in large part to Star Trek.

I love William Shatner, but it would be a shame if his final appearance as Capt. Kirk was in some contrived, junk movie made for the lowest-common-denominator audiences, most of whom don’t even like the real Star Trek.

#35 – “have Shatner play Kirks uncle, his fathers brother :)”

That has been what I have been saying pretty much from the outset. Having him play James T Kirk is not right and makes no sense. If Shatner was to be in it, then having him an older Kirk relative of the young captain James T Kirk makes more sense. It also means that Shatner could still play one or two of the interesting Kirk mannerisms and quirks. After all, it is quite possible that some of those quirky speech patterns etc. that we saw in theTOS series and movies may well have been learned/inherited from an older relative.

I think Shatner is saying he is not expecting a role and that fans should not expect to see him in the next movie either.

I wager 10,000 quatloos on the newcomers!

Any video of this event? I want to see him get white-hatted too. That’s what they do in Calgary.

But how to bring him back anyway? It seems from the first movie that Spock came through the anomaly alone.

Maybe the Nexus would swoop by the Enterprise, dropping off Kirk, Picard and Guinan, leaving their characters unchanged in the new timeline.

@42

4000 quatloos that the newcomers can’t be trained and will have to destroyed.

I would like to see him in one more film somehow. Just a nod. He’s not getting any younger, but if he’s not in it, I’d be okay with it. I loved ST’09, i want to love the next one. Just so long as it doesn’t come off as gimmiky.

45.

Andy, i’ll take that bet. Hope you’re good for it! :>)

@40, Star Trek is not real, it’s just entertainment.

JJ won’t be happy- all that free publicity for the next movie has now gone.
Getting that kind of coverage next time is going to cost big.

#37 Nimoys part in ’09 was only critical to the story cos that was how they wrote the story! lol
If he had said no they’d have done a whole different story! They wouldn’t have done the same one but just left blank bits of screen and dialogue where Nimoy was supposed to have been!

Bottom line, if they’d wanted Shatner in at all he’d have been in. All this guff about not knowing how to bring him back just made them look like unimaginative hacks!
Sorry Bob, it really did!