Once again it is time to speculate on the return of William Shatner to Star Trek. The latest thing that has people buzzing is the Quentin Tarantino Trek project currently being fleshed out into a script by Mark L. Smith, to be produced by J.J. Abrams.
So, would William Shatner be interested in reprising his role as James T. Kirk in this project? The short answer is “Yes.” He was asked this question on Twitter and his response was “Depends on the script, but if it was good then absolutely. Why not?”
Depends on the script but if it was good then absolutely. Why not? https://t.co/qaf9Bolg21
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) January 24, 2018
While that response is seemingly perfunctory, it is certainly more enthusiastic than when TrekMovie posed the same question to Shatner about if he would be interested in appearing in Star Trek: Discovery. At the time, the actor seemed more skeptical, noting it would have to be a “remarkable” idea to garner his interest.
(L-R) Actress Nichelle Nichols, Actress Sonequa Martin-Green, and William Shatner arrive on the Red Carpet for the STAR TREK: DISCOVERY premiere event on Tuesday, September 19th in Hollywood, (Photo Francis Specker, CBS)
On board for Tarantino Trek
Shatner isn’t the only Trek actor interested in the Tarantino Trek project. Sir Patrick Stewart has also expressed enthusiasm about it, as has John Cho, who also endorsed the idea of including actors from the original Star Trek series like Shatner.
Of course, over the last decade Shatner has often talked about the possibility of returning to do a feature film and as recently as October of last year (before the Tarantino project was announced) the actor said he thought there could be an “interesting story” to tell with him as Kirk again.
As of now, nothing is known about the project, even if it would include any or all of the Kelvin movie cast seen in the previous three J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek films.
Shatner’s last Kirks?
In 2006 William Shatner reprised the role of Kirk for a DirecTV commercial.
And in 2013 he played Kirk again as a gag where he appeared on screen at the Oscars to talk to his big fan, host Seth MacFarlane.
Keep up with all the news regarding the next Star Trek feature film at TrekMovie.com.
that would be awesome if it made sense and it was a awesome story
If anyone can pull this off it’s Tarantino.
Of course he would do it.
The money!
Cynical I know, I am.
Actually the likely reason he is reluctant about TV is because he doesn’t need the money. He’s very wealthy and can do whatever he wants.
Second reason is he knows his value to Star Trek which is far greater than his value in any other role. My impression has always been he just wants to be respected.
Show him respect with a reasonable price and a good role and he’s there.
Imagine QT directing a Trek film that sees both Stewart and Shatner return to the franchise? Wow.
He owns show horses, He can always find something to eat up a paycheck. If he still has a piece of a horse farm in Kentucky, he doesn’t need to look too hard. Those beasts are money pits. I’m not saying he needs the money, just he probably isn’t looking to turn down work. Like the reality show with Winkler and Bradshaw.
Agreed. One more Kirk and Picard crossover would be totally epic and a gift to the fans. Maybe have some other TNG cameos like Riker, Deanna, Geordi, and the like, and it could be a fantastic book end for the old guard. I’d love to see it! (Probably several times in the theater.)
It isn’t about the money. He’s got plenty and then some (he made a fortune with Priceline). I think it’s the idea of working with Tarentino that he finds appealing and I’m sure Tarentino would love to work with Shatner.
I am definitely a fan of the idea of bringing in Patrick Stewart..
Oh here we go again. First, a good script wasn’t a requirement for his appearance in GEN. Guess he’s elevated his standards. Second, Bill, somebody has to ask you. Third … Who wouldn’t want to work with Tarantino? It doesn’t mean this is the project it should happen on. Fourth … Bringing back Prime James T. Kirk is a bag of hurt. Tarantino would face the same challenges as everybody else. Scotty’s the miracle worker here, not Tarantino. And there’s not likely a story where old Kirk features prominently that makes any sense, unless the story is all about old Kirk, and there’s no way it will be.
It’s really time to let this fantasy go. The same with Picard, or any of the others.
Yeah. Same with Nimoy. He said his goodbyes on TUC. No reason for him to return. Oh wait. Never mind.
I don’t know, maybe Tarantino can do a movie with Shatner and title it ‘Kirk’.
It will be about him and Picard getting old together in the Nexus.. Kirk will discover his son David again while trying to help Picard get back to France to reunite with his family before he dies. {Yeah, I know no one ages in the Nexus, I’m just trying to do Tarantino a solid.)
The whole Nexus thing is overblown.
In 2009, they had a convoluted time travel plot where we, the audience, wasnt even privy to how or why it happened. They literally had to stop the film half way through and have Spock Prime, with the help of flashbacks, explain the plot.
And people say they just couldnt undo the Nexus? They could do it in the friggen opening credits.
They could undo the Nexus in an episode of Discovery if they truly wanted to. Hell with the spore drive the ship can probably enter the thing no problem. I never remotely doubted that. The issue is do they WANT to undo it and the answer clearly seems to be no.
THAT said though who knows what idea Tarantino has. Maybe he wants to bring the TOS cast back with the DS9 cast. Maybe he wants to reboot TNG. Or another KT film (which is probably most likely). Or maybe he wants to wipe the slate completely clean and do something totally new and original with a new cast of characters (that would be MY vote ;)).
Either way until we even know what it is, its all up in the air.
Actually, I’d be interested for Tarantino getting sold on bringing back George Kirk. Pine and Hemsworth working out JT’s daddy issues with Tarantino dialogue sounds fun. It will never happen, but it would be fun.
It sounds like that idea is dead unfortunately. Hemsworth said he hasn’t heard a peep in months. I didn’t love the idea but I was willing to see what they did with it.
Oh yeah. It looks like it was dead before Tarantino popped into the picture. I was just spitballing.
OK I gotcha!
I like the idea that the next movie could be about the Nexus becoming unstable and all the people who are in it will die unless they get out.Kirk’s echo is still in the Nexus. Because of the Nexus instability, an alarming number of star ships are being lost in it. Federation, Klingon, Romulan and all the other major powers have lost ships in this modern day Bermuda Triangle.That is where Captain Picard of the Enterprise and Captain Riker of the Titan have been ordered by Star Fleet Command to investigate this anomaly. That is your story. It also could be the Kelvin crew that is sent to investigate. If it were possible my favorite crew would be led by Leonard Nimoy’s Captain Spock bringing the old gang back together to investigate these mysterious disappearances. Maybe combine the 24th century with the 23rd century and have Picard and Spock discover Kirk is still alive in the Nexus. It is a race against time to get Kirk and everybody else out of the Nexus before it implodes. A major theme of the film would be that all the major powers would have to work together to get out of the Nexus. That is a traditional Star Trek theme. Have these adversaries work together to solve the problem.
That sounds plausible but with one problem. Nimoy is dead and Shatner is what 87 in March, time is marching on. I want a not her Trek movie with Chris Pine and all new Trek original actors!
That is why either a TNG movie with Picard finding Kirk still in the Nexus or the Kelvin crew finding him is the more likely of these scenerios. I am open to either option. Patrick Stewart has shown an interest and so has John Cho. I assume all of the actors would jump at the opportunity.
He’s not campaigning for a part. A fan asked if he would, he gave a response and he said sure. That’s pretty much the long and short of it.
There’s no problem really. Just ignore Generations. It was a rubbish film, fans mostly hate it, the writers are embarrassed about it, the cast weren’t very enthusiastic, the wardrobe department even hated the costumes, necessitating reshoots using DS9 and TNG uniforms. It was a rush job that was chucked into cinemas, best forgotten.
Simply offer Mr Shatner a good amount of money to return (he deserves it, having been the face of Star Trek for over 50 years) and tell an interesting story. Maybe get Denzel Washington on board; he spoke plenty of Tarantino-written Star Trek dialogue in Crimson Tide.
You know what would make real news? The out-of-work Star Trek actor who says he WOULDN’T want to be in Tarantino’s Star Trek movie. ;)
I mean sure, I get it, when an actor makes a statement like this it makes news but no actor is going to NOT want to do it. And if someone didn’t I really want to hear from that one and their reasons why because we know its going to be far far less of them.
There is a link of Shatner playing Captain Kirk in a Direct-TV commercial, does anyone think he wouldn’t be in this lol.
Shatner isnt out of work.
In terms of Star Trek I mean lol. Yes every Trek actor would love to be in this film, I don’t think there is any question. This isn’t news but I’m not getting on anyone’s case for reporting it.
too bad killed in Generations, would have been ok to see old Kirk as Admiral like old man logan
In the Kelvin timeline he wouldn’t be Prime Universe Kirk so it could work.
best idea I’ve heard
Ive always disliked the idea of Shatner as Kelvin Kirk because its not OUR Kirk. But its better than nothing.
somethoughts,
Re: too bad killed …
Too bad Keeler, Scotty, Spock, Tasha Yar, etc. were killed, but then when has STAR TREK ever let a little thing like a character’s death prevent his or her return?
No one waited over 20 years to resurrect them though. And they were usually brought back on their TV or movie series, when they were the most relevant.
Tiger2,
Re: No one waited over 20 years …
Nonsense, the Khan character killed in the 1982 movie was resurrected in the Kelvin timeline 30 years later at the box office.
Besides STAR TREK fans handle the concept of decades passing with ease. Data was resurrected centuries after his decapitation.
LOL man thats apples and oranges. The KT films are a REBOOT, did you really make this into an argument? And if you go by that logic you would be happy with a completely different actor playing Kirk then if they resurrected him? Wasn’t the point was to get Shatner specifically?
And I’m not suggesting no one can’t ‘handle’ it, I’m saying its pretty irrelevant now to bring him back as I BEEN saying. Sure if they brought him back, fine, but this isn’t the case like bringing Nimoy back since A. They brought him back literally just two years later and B. When the character was still very relevant starring in his own set of films.
Look, this issue comes up every few months now. I get it, the Shatnter fanboys want to see him play Kirk again–for one last time. I think most Trek fans wouldn’t mind seeing that but from both studio and story POV it doesn’t feel very relevant or necessary to do that, literally just fan service and nothing more. And especially when they want new fans and create characters that are going to be around for awhile and not just appease old ones with a one shot appearance with a 90 year old actor.
Now before you start typing if Tarantino is actually making a movie that is bringing Shatner and a few other actors back from the previous shows then FINE, I hope its good. I just seriously doubt thats something Paramount would want though so I don’t see it happening. But if I’m wrong, I would certainly be interested in how they do it.
Tiger2,
Re: The KT films are a REBOOT …
Wait, so that’s your hangup? You don’t see an 87yo Shatner returning to his Kirk role as in and off itself requiring some sort of reboot? You ridiculously believe TUP, myself and others fully expect to see him onscreen today WITHOUT some kind of what you’d regard as some sort of GENERATIONS reboot explanation?
They don’t want a reboot with Shatner man lol. This is the kind of sad delusion you will tell yourself. No one at Paramount remotely cares about basing a story about his resurrection. I don’t see an 87 year old Shatner returning because there is no real incentive of him returning since the only people care about it are people like you. Well, guess what, you’re going to watch everything Star Trek anyway. They are more interested in the NEXT Trek star as the KT films and now Discovery is doing, people who probably was born AFTER they killed the guy off in Generations and not that interested in an 80 something fighting Klingons half his age. And they are now college age.
I will give credit to Shatner here, he knows its over as well. He was simply replying to a fan ‘sure’ but that’s all it was.
Tiger2,
Re: sad delusion
You can’t deny they wanted and did a reboot with his peer, Nimoy, continuing it into his eighth decade, because that’s precisely what they did. To my mind, to claim what was done, once, absolutely can’t be done again, by a motion picture studio industry hell bent on repeating things, is the height of delusion.
Re: you’re going to watch everything Star Trek anyway
Talk about being delusional; another one of your patently false statements spewed as facts. I have not watched everything STAR TREK. Extremely unlikely that I ever will. Life’s too short to waste on its rare, less than stellar, products.
Nimoy’s character wasn’t dead. Shatner’s was and clear NO ONE has any interest to bring him back unlike Spock which they moved heaven and earth to bring him back in the very next film and even let Nimoy direct it to get him back. In Shatner’s case, they killed the guy and moved on because Star Trek was in a very different place and still is. Its time people like you move on as well.
LOL you haven’t watched Star Trek lately? Seriously? And yet you are here daily commenting on it lol. OK man.
They never really adequately explained how Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier came to be alive at the end of The Wolverine and in the future segments of Days of Future Past, beyond a vague hint at the end of The Last Stand. In Generations, I take the view that once Soran was defeated, the timeline reset itself and Kirk never died. Easy.
Dom, its not if they can bring him back. They can do it tomorrow. Thats NOT the issue. Its Star Trek, they bring characters from the dead all the time.
The issue is do they want to? Its been over 20 years lol, clearly they don’t. And now we have a new Kirk in his prime so its even less necessary now.
I think people have to accept Prime Kirk is the Uncle Ben of the Trek franchise and will never bring him back. And maybe one day they will but I doubt it will be with Shatner himself.
Hmm. Collins as an old, bitchy Edith Keller spitting out Tarantino dialogue with Alexis Carrington venom; married to an old Kirk in a fractured timeline. I’m actually coming around to bringing back Shatner.
Hmm. Collins as an old, bitchy Edith Keller spitting out Tarantino dialogue with Alexis Carrington venom; married to an old Kirk in a fractured timeline. I’m actually coming around to bringing back Shatner.
we could get a shatner prime kirk if the story happened before the christianing of enterprise b or settle for kt old kirk, those are the 2 options that would be awesome, anything else would be convoluted imo
Vaulting ambition.
Missed opportunity with the first Star Trek film
You know, this is Star Trek. Where are the creative ideas? We are talking about a Universe where great figures materialize out of nowhere when needed. I say we bring some of the greatest characters back for a movie that would blow fan’s minds. You say how? I say Q, Picard, Kirk, etc. The crews work together to save the universe. Q could bring Kirk back with a snap of his fingers. No question of death, how he came back, etc. He’d be back and if Q did it, Kirk could exist anywhere, anytime. It’s a plot device we’ve seen before and could easily work here again. No excuses, no arguments, simple execution of brilliance.
@Bradp.2007 — I’m a fan and I don’t want to see any of that.
You start your post asking the question “Where are the creative ideas?”
You end your post with “a plot device we’ve seen before and could easily work here again.”
Doesn’t seem very creative to me.
No offense but none of that sounds very creative, just the same things we seen over and over again.
Hopefully give Kirk a better death than the disappointing one in Generations.
That Oscars clip – reason enough why this should never happen.
True. Im sure the skit at the Oscars was very comparable to the writing, direction, rehearsal, prep time etc of a major motion picture. Well done.
I am reminded of it every time a Bring Back Kirk advocate pipes up. For a dead character, Kirk has been revived onscreen and in novels by Shatner quite a lot over the last 20 years.
LOL I actually liked his cameo as the Oscars. But yeah I think Shatner’s time as Kirk is done.
No Shatner as Kirk will never be done. I actually like the idea of having Q in the new Star Trek and he snaps his fingers to bring back Shatner when our Chris Pine Kirk needs help from the other timeline, would be awesome having both Pine and Shatner in film defeating the Borg for instance, but need to get on with it. It’s time for another Star Trek film now with a Pine and all actors in new Trek!
He’s 87 now and hasn’t been in a Trek film or show in over 20 years. Seriously, its done. And your idea is nothing more than really bad fan fiction that would never happen outside of a comic book issue. I’m sure you love the idea, but its about as realistic as happening as a Star Wars crossover movie.
You guys need to get out of your denial and move on already. This is just sad.
Please don’t.
I really don’t understand the blind, obsequious devotion to fans have to William shatner. He was never more than decent in Star Trek, and often downright terrible. Let his Kirk be in the past.
Besides, what he really means is “I’ll do it if I’m the star.” Would his ego accept a cameo? It hasn’t so far.
He needs to accept that Star Trek is no longer about him.
I totally get your point about the blind devotion some fans have, but to say that he was “…never more than decent in Star Trek, and often downright terrible.” is overplaying your argument. Shatner was fantastic in season 1, and still quite good in season 2. Even in season 3, when the show’s writing dropped and the production was extremely rushed, he pulled out some good performances. In most of the movies he was quite good – except for STV, but that’s a whole other story.
Is Shatner the best actor ever? No, of course not. Is he as bad an actor as some say? No, of course not. Everyone always points out some of his performances in the third season, but I don’t imagine very many people being able to pull some of that material off without some cheese factor.
The “bad actor” thing is a stupid argument. He’s an award winning actor.
Good material + good directing = good performance. Look at his work in the films. Almost universally great. Even in Generations, there were moments of silliness, but he chewed up and spit out Stewart who is a TREMENDOUS actor, in the scenes they shared.
He was motivated to give a good performance in generations even with bad writing. And he knows his character. The best scene might have been a small one. The slight grin he flashes as the turbo lift doors close. His death scene too, was great and his suggestion to add “oh my…” as he stared off into the abyss was excellent.
Movie sucked, but the man can act.
Watch Boston Legal. Yeah he was over the top at times. But some of those emotional scenes…he was mesmerizing. Him and Spader on the balcony at the end was always the best part.
Thanks for standing up for Shatner in Original Trek and Movies! Shatner is the reason we still have Star Trek! So thank you Shatner!
Shatner and STAR TREK are synonymous. Have been for 50 years, and 50 years from now the only Trek that will still matter is the original with Shatner.
@James Cawley — and that is exactly why this is a problem. STAR TREK is much bigger than William Shatner. Time to cut him out of it. 50 years from now, nobody will care about Shatner. There will be a new generation of fans, who will likely know who William Shatner is, but he’ll just be another part of the canon.
Yep, most of us will be dead Jim
Thats true. Thats why Ford, Hamill and Fisher were excluded from Star Wars. Oh wait…lol Come on. Its not about “ugh lets shoe horn him in”. Its creating a story that has the incredibly unique and rare opportunity to feature the ORIGINAL actor and HUGE star of a 50+ year old franchise.
They wanted Sean Connery for the 4th Indy film but he was retired. They didnt say “well in 50 years who the fack is Sean Connery”. Thats silly.
Plus, business being what it is, the single largest PR came after Shatner being in Orci’s story was leaked to the media. Its really a no brainer.
Can we use Shatner in a meaningful way? No, fine. But if yes, why wouldnt we? And here’s a hint, if the answer is no, hire a new writer because OF COURSE there are ways to use him.
Well said. It’s a no brainer to bring Shatner in to play Kirk.
Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher’s return to Star Wars was a big deal and brought tons of positive PR to a series that really needed it after the SW prequels that were generally hated by the public…Shatner’s return would do the same for ST. Remember when it was leaked that Shatner was returning as Kirk for Orci’s Star Trek 3? The story was met with universal excitement by the mainstream media.
If it was a ‘no-brainer’ they would’ve done it literally decades ago now.
And the actors being brought back for the SW films is apples and oranges. For starters those films are actually a continuation of their story. The SW films has always been about the Skywalker family.
The issue with Shatner is the TOS stories have basically died since TUC and there hasn’t been anything since. Yes they have found ways to put other TOS actors in other Star Trek spin offs like TNG, VOY and the reboot films but thats the difference: they were only there to supplement other stories, none of it was directly about them and hasn’t been since TUC.
And considering Orci idea was torpedoed and he was basically kicked off the entire project kind of tells you just how much Paramount is dying to put Shatner back in another film….they aren’t.
Hear, hear. Everything else just rode his coattails.
James Cawley, you’re deluded man. Star Trek is now 51 years old. TOS last film was literally 26 years ago and they killed Kirk off a few years after that. There has been tons of Star Trek since which most of us have been enjoying. TOS was great for its day but the franchise moved on. If that was the case TNG would’ve been cancelled in its second season and that would’ve been it.
My god, I have to shake my head that people still can’t seem to move on from the 60s show. The franchise is so much bigger than that now. It sprawls multiple casts, takes place in different centuries and now even universes. Thats what make Trek great that it has taken this concept and gone big with it. There is something for everyone now. Of course Shatner will always be a very important part of it, I am not taking that away from him but the franchise has grown beyond him once TNG became bigger than that show and created an entire new fanbase which is still very active today.
Star Trek is still with us not because of Shatner, but because of its ideals and rich story telling.
Its like saying Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man is the only thing that mattered in the MCU. Sure he’s important and still very much part of the franchise but the franchise is much bigger than any character no matter how big he is. That franchise will be going another 20 years when RDJ has long left the role. Stop minimizing story telling and the hundreds of hours and decades of work from the producer, actors, writers and directors down to one actor or element.
Yes, agree
Imagine thinking this! hahahaha Shatner WAS Star Trek. Period. They would have continued without Nimoy. They would not have continued without Shatner.
I think it is more Kirk is/was Star Trek. I just don’t want them to force something out with Shatner to appease whoever. They would really need to knock it out of the park for it to work on any level
They re-cast the captain of the Enterprise when Jeffrey Hunter decided he didn’t want to do it anymore, and that worked beautifully. I agree that Shatner was a great Kirk, but I think he was far more replaceable than Nimoy was … and Bob Justman and Herb Solow agree with me. :-)
Thats insane. Any comparison between Hunter and Shatner is laughable since no one saw Hunter as Pike before the role was recast.
Do you think they would have made TMP without Shatner? I dont.
That may have been true 50+ years ago when nobody knew who William Shatner or Jeffery Hunter were.
You are exactly right, TUP. He WAS Star Trek, but is no longer.
James Cawley (if that is the real James Cawley) is wrong, too. Star Trek will live on long past Shatner and in the public consciousness will continue to be wel known for more than Shatner.
Again, this pathetic blind devotion to The Shat and TOS makes me want to puke. It’s this sad mentality that makes me dislike TOS, rather than the show itself, which while good, was never really great. Maybe because I grew up after it.
so while I enjoy and respect TOS for being the originator I simply don’t hold it up as some holy perfect blessing of a TV show.
Star Trek has already lived past Shatner since 1987. I don’t even get what that guy is talking about. Its been going for over 20 years now since they killed the character and has since produced 4 shows and 7 more films he had nothing to do with.
Of course he’s a huge part of it and always will be but these franchises are always bigger than one actor. In 50 years Star Wars will still be going long after the original cast of those movies are dead and buried. If your franchise relied on one group of actors or characters to stay relevant its not much of a franchise.
Tiger2,
Re: If your franchise relied on one group of actors or characters to stay relevant its not much of a franchise.
He says while bringing up the STAR WARS franchise where they chose to bring back the original cast decades later to help make it relevant for its new Disney owner.
And they are slowly killing off all the old characters. That was my point man, they WON’T be relevant in just a few years time. I mean even Mark Hamill has said over and over again the story is not about him anymore. He is there to pass the baton basically. And Star Wars a decade from now will have completely moved on as its clearly doing. They are already making a new trilogy that will move away from all the Skywalker family stuff as they should if they want that franchise to feel relevant and to actually grow. Thats my problem with the new SW films now, its the same old same old like the OT just wrapped in a different package. But a Han Solo prequel? Yawn. Its SW they should be thinking MUCH bigger.
Fortunately for Star Trek they moved on from TOS decades ago. Yes they rebooted it but as Discovery shows they are still relying on new characters to keep the franchise relevant and new and not just reboot it with the same characters over and over again.
Look I LOVE all the old characters. I would love to see a reboot of DS9 personally. But I know thats not going to happen and I feel instead of constantly reliving the past its best to think about new horizons of the future. I mean thats how we got DS9 in the first place, right?
Nobody cares about Star Trek unless it has Kirk, Spock or Picard involved in it. There was a reason when they brought ST back to the big screen it was with the TOS characters because they as a group are easily the most iconic crew.
The average person on the street doesn’t even know Star Trek Discovery is on the air and would be hard pressed to remember Voyage, Enterprise or DS9
Yes and Beyond bombed.
And why do people say these ridiculous things? If no one ‘cared’ the most of the shows would’ve been cancelled. People seem to forget to this day TOS had the shortest run out of all the shows. Most of them were actually very successful and even Enterprise made it a season longer.
And you would also to be ‘hard pressed’ to find an average person on the street who can tell you anything more about TOS outside of what’s been said in the last 50 years about it. Knowing about it doesn’t mean its more popular, its simply been a part of popular culture longer being the first.
Millions of people care plenty about Star Trek outside of TOS. We’ve had decades now to prove that. I grew up on TOS seen every episode dozens of times, but no its not the end all and be all of Trek for me. Hasn’t been for decades now and while I don’t love everything about Discovery so far its actually a good show that going its own way which again is a positive for Star Trek.
Seriously he was and is Star Trek! He was awesome and is beloved by Star Trek fans everywhere! Roddenberry wrote some amazing episodes! From the series we got the iPhones, cat scans, air hypodermics, MRI’s, iPads, you name it! All before their time! The Kirk, Spock, McCoy combination was genius and has not been duplicated! The one liners were great. Without Kirk, the show would not have been reborn! The movies, new Trek shows , Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine all loved because we fell in love with the original and the idea of Space Travel! We still await our own Enterprise in our own time!
So SanFranDisco you are so wrong about Shatner, a great actor, can portray any emotion, the show, awesome even after fifty years!
Please yes.
The other thing to keep in mind is, while we make a big deal out of a rather simple tweet reply, Shatner was asked this a few weeks ago when the QT news broke. His reply was something like “what does it matter as long as its JJ running the show. Its not going to happen”.
Most of us would love to see Shatner return in even the smallest role. But God Bless Bill for wanting to do it if it excites him. He carried the franchise on his back for decades. Even if you dislike him or dont see how he could return, he deserves respect for his role in the franchise
I agree with the fact he “deserves” it for what he has done. The role would have to be small and I’m not sure he would do that.
Yes but small and minor are two different things. Nimoy’s role in 2009 was relatively small but a critical part of the film. And Im sure Shatner would have been happy with THAT role.
He’s also said conflicting things about the “cameo”. He said no to the cameo and then said he would have done it. So who knows.
I think he wants to be treated with respect. And have a role that isnt comedic…a role that matters to the film. Its not that Kirk has to fight the bad guy and have sex with the female star…but something in keeping with James T Kirk, even a 60-85 year old James Kirk.
People will say the film cant be ABOUT Kirk. And then will say Shatner wont do it if its a small cameo. Im sort of on Shatner’s side there. There should be a point to Kirk being there. And if there is, then it WOULD be important to the film.
Leia was hardly in the Last jedi. Even Mark Mark Hamill, Luke wasnt running around like 25 year old Luke. But his role was important even though it was secondary to the leads.
A role like that…make it so.
If he refuses to be humble enough to accept a small cameo, why do you think he’s so deserving? If he really cared about making his fans happy, he’d have done the proposed appearances on Enterprise, and ST09.
If he was so humble he wouldn’t have blocked Jason Isaacs on twitter simply for saying Kirk would be too young in disovery’s time to be played by Shatner….
LOL thats why he blocked Isaacs? Talk about being a baby about it. Especially when Isaacs is right. But looks like he came to his senses.
Producers from Rick Berman to Manny Coto to JJ Abrams tried to give him that respect and he declined.
He is not deserving of any more attempts to bring him back.
He has proven time and time again that he has little respect for Star Trek, and only cares about his ego. He only loves Star Trek because he thinks it’s all about him.
To me, Trek was always more embodied by Nimoy’s Spock, and Nimoy himself always had far more respect for the franchise than Shatner.
SanFranDisco,
Rick Berman? Respect?! Manny Coto said Berman took Shatner’s Mirror Universe idea and insisted Shatner instead play Chef the character Berman eventually shoehorned into the much maligned final episode of ENTERPRISE.
Make it happen Paramount, just make it happen!
I posted my story pitch back when Mark L. Smith was first announced. Maybe they stole it? Story of my life.
I recall Bryan Fuller teasing a Shatner return for Discovery. I wonder if he had a spore drive Nexus connection in mind for that. Anyway it would be interesting to see what Tarantino can do if he includes William Shatner.
Shatner spewing Tarantino dialogue would be like watching a 2 hour car crash.
Shatner is a great actor. If he actually had something worthy to say and solid direction, he could deliver beautiful dialogue.
Agreed. The Shat is underrated. However…Tarantino’s dialogue is horrid. Delivered Shatnerian-style would be like nails through my ears.
Knowing Tarantino, Bill would show up with Henry Winkler, George Foreman, and Terry Bradshaw because they would all get pulled into a time vortex while shark-jumping on a Hawaiian vacation. They end up on the Enterprise in the 23rd century where the film suddenly turns into ‘A Piece of the Action’ heist movie with machine guns and machetes, the point of which is to get revenge on an old samurai Klingon who coined the phrase/proverb “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” F-bombs everywhere because no one pays attention to you unless you swear every other word. Blood and mayhem ensue, Spock screams ‘Khaaaaannnnn!’ for no apparent reason, and tribbles are suddenly flesh-eating piranahs.
Yes, that sounds exactly like Tarantino.
If there’s any truth to the time travel rumors they could fit him in nicely. Not gonna count on it, but it would be great to see him as Kirk again.
Tarantino presents… GENERATIONS UNCHAINED
Bring it, while there is time. He is the Icon of the franchise. Make it happen.
As long as he drops like 60 pounds. I don’t like FAT KIRK.
Man he’s in his 80s! He’s not going to lose much weight at this point. He’s actually pretty thin for your average 80 something. ;)
Are William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy the only actors in film/TV history to portray the same character during 6 different decades…? (Yes, in Shatner’s case I’m counting the DirecTV and Oscars appearances mentioned here.) Can anyone think of anybody else who’s done this?
All I can think of is James Arness (and maybe other cast) as Matt Dillion (Kitty and Doc?) on TV during the 50’s until 1975, then in TV movies during the 80’s and 90s — but that’s only five decades.
While it seems unlikely Paramount would ever do it, wouldn’t everyone be thrilled if Generations was just declared not canon, leaving open any new fate for Kirk to be written instead of the awful one in that movie, and such easy potential to bring him back. The other movies are not even dependent on Generations that it has a critical place in the series. Just say something else happened to Enterprise D, since I don’t think the specifics were ever mentioned anywhere else. I always prefer to think of Kirk and the others as they were left in The Undiscovered Country, and forget Generations ever happened. Guessing Paramount would never do such a thing and risk hurting “profits” for sales of Generations on dvd. Bring Kirk & Picard together for a real mission and not cooking and riding horses !
maybe Neil Blompkamp should direct it
He shoulda been in the first movie doing the scene I wrote for him. wasted opportunity.
Well, Bob, Shatner is on record that he never even heard about said scene until much later. Why couldn’t you get it to him in a timely fashion? It’s hard for him to make a decision if he didn’t even know about the opportunity.
And/or as a central focus in your version of ST3 (like having Ford in TFA). not a fan of Beyond. at all (wasted opportunity for the 50th)
so why wasn’t he?
you got voted down by JJ and Alex?
He was never offered?
Wanted a larger role?
Shatner is on record saying he wouldn’t have done it anyway after he heard it. He believed that the movie should’ve been focused more around him instead of a cameo. And thats fine but with that attitude he was never going to be in the film.
Had William Shatner guest appeared on Enterprise, I imagine it would’ve gone seven seasons finishing in 2006/7 after celebrating the 40th. Watching “The Captains” documentary, Scott Bakula and Bill got on very well.
Beating that dead horse again?
Heres what I think mega fans, casual fans, general movie goers want to see in a new Trek movie… ‘Generations’ but done right (i.e Yesterdays Enterprise The Movie) – so proper time travel/alt universe stuff involving multiple crews/Enterprises (JJcrew/TNG) battling the Klingons or the Borg in a desperate effort to repair timelines etc. with ShatKirk a focal point in it all somehow.
Everyone is just waiting for THAT movie (which should’ve been done for the 50th ann)
Anyway it sounds like Tarantino is going to do something like that
Don’t confuse your personal wishes with what “everyone is just waiting for”. It’s not.
I will confuse my personal wishes with whatever the hell I please
I would like to see William Shatner do Trek again. But it would need to be imaginative and try and write in how very slightly overblown the Great Bill is these days. If it was me I would write him in as a Mirror universe Kirk who has ended up very much like Trump, busy with travel bans on Klingons. “Prime Universe? Great Universe. Great People!” and so on. Given the amount of TORTUREAAAAAAHHHHH! snap, crunch, HUUUrghhh! going on in Discovery I thought Tarantino had already taken over. “Discovery lands in a snowy wasteland. One by one the snowbound characters murder each other.” Kevin Spacey can be in it too please. “How woould you like to suffer? Agony booth? Or worse? I lie down on top of you in an affectionate manner?”
KILL BILL?
BILL KILLS.
At this point, what I would want to do is have a small, but significant part for Shatner. Essentially, I would like to do some sort of story in the prime universe that spans the entire Trek universe we know. It’s a movie. Make it a kitchen sink epic story. A love letter to all Star Trek fans, but an original story that doesn’t require intense continuity knowledge.
Play up the sci fi aspect and the human condition rather than the history.
Absolutely involve either time travel or the nexus. Or both. Maybe get the Guardian involved finally.
In the end though, Shatner gets a big moment. The consequences of the story somehow prevent Kirk’s death in Generations.
If you think about it, there has been no mention of Kirk’s death in any of the post-Generations stories. Picard shoved some rocks on him, and that was that.
So if the fight with Soran ended with Kirk being alive after all, nothing in post-Generations Star Trek contradicts that.
Kirk could have lived his life, contributed to society, and done it all and it wouldn’t have interfered with anything we saw after Generations.
Once established, Shatner can appear at his current age with no problem. We don’t need to see how Kirk returns–we just need an explanation of what happened.
That is the thing I never got about Generations. A legendary Captain came back from the dead and Picard did not say anything? He didn’t reach out to Spock, McCoy, or Scotty who were all alive in the 24th Century. It was odd. A legend comes back and you don’t inform Starfleet? You leave his dead body under some rocks.That pissed me off as a fan. Ron Moore is smarter than that. Soran was a waste of a good actor. I mean that movie should have been a two part episode of the television series. What a waste.
should he have hauled Kirks body back to the Ent D then immediately contacted Spock Bones and Scotty to tell them their friend has been found alive but then was killed
Yeah that is so true. I didn’t understand why Picard wouldn’t bring him back to Earth to actually be buried on, well, Earth instead of some strange planet they just heard about a day ago and Kirk had no attachment to. The whole thing was weird. And then yes Picard never informed anyone about it. Of course I imagine later he did tell people naturally but why wasn’t any of this in the film?
Thats why so many hate the film now, because of how it treated Kirk which is funny because that seems to be why so many hate TLJ and the perception over how Luke was treated. Fans, especially sci fi fans, are fickle. They want these characters mixing it up with everyone else and given a real purpose. Other wise just don’t bother.
The Nexus is the biggest plot hole in Star Trek History. It is the dumbest concept ever. A thread of temporal energy that you can walk in and out of. You literally could say that it was his “echo” that left the Nexus and died and he stayed in it. You could also use it the next time it comes around to go back in there and get him. He died falling of a bridge people. A. Bridge. Come ON. After all these years, they need to wipe that movie out of continuity. It had moments but it sucked. The way they ended Kirk was so lame and just plain stupid. Shatner deserves better than that. He is not 50 years old anymore. They need to hurry up. I wish he could have appeared on screen with Nimoy one more time. They should use Discovery or create original content to deal with it. Star Trek gets in its on way sometimes. You have a treasure chest of novels and shows to get ideas from. I don’t understand. It is not brain surgery. The man wants another shot at closure for his legendary character. Rick Berman should be ashamed of himself that he let that Generations script see the light of day. What a waste.
I would have had Kirk come back in Beyond with no explanation. I would have had him tap Zachary Quinto on the shoulder and say, ‘I am looking for my friend’. and end scene. No explanation needed. It is science fiction. People come back from the dead all the time on Soap Operas. You mean to tell me that Science Fiction folks can’t figure this thing out? Nonsense. It is annoying that two characters that had such a deep friendship, did not find their way back to each other in the end. Beyond was okay but it should have been a love letter to the fans. It should have found a way to incorporate all aspects of Trek history in some way.
the original death scene for kirk was way worse.
This is a little off topic I think, but I have a question. William Shatner mentioned at one of the conventions last summer that he was going to play Kirk in one of those Star Trek Virtual Reality games. This was going to be his Kirk “movie” Anybody heard anything about that lately? It got talked about here and nothing has been mentioned about it since. I was curious about how this would come about. Would this game/movie be about Kirk before he was killed or would it be a resurrection style story? Would it feature old cast members(use old audio from Nimoy, Kelly, Doohan etc) or would it feature actors that Shatner has never worked with before? Perhaps Shatner and Patrick Stewart or John De Lancie as Q could appear. I am curious about this project.
Shatner is going to be 87 in March, and the reality check on a QT Trek project, if it’s made at all, is probably three years before principal photography. That’s a long time for a leading man who’ll be hitting ninety. All this article says is, if asked, would he be interested. Hell, I’d be interested, if asked. Nobody’s gonna ask, that’s the problem.
ageist
That’s not true. The film will likely shoot way before that three year window you give
That would be truly amazing if they had a way to bring back The Shat for one last adventure as Kirk. If it involves time travel, maybe they can even find a way to subtly retcon the terrible end of Generations and give the fans of gift of Kirk back to the Prime universe. As much as Tarantino loves bringing back classic actors in his movies, if he can’t find a way…no one will.
if you listen to that interview with QT that pretty much set this whole thing off he says something about it being Shatner who was his entry point into Trek.. so he’s obviously going to get him in this somehow and Shats will say yes even if its a cameo as its Tarantino
Uh, no, none of that is obvious lol. Stop sounding like desperate fanboys.