Once again it’s time to talk about William Shatner and the future of Star Trek movies. For today’s edition, the focus is on the possibility of seeing two Kirks on screen together.
Shatner fine with no team-ups with Chris Pine as Kirks
In between trolling Mark Hamill and weighing in on culturally sensitive topics, William Shatner is known to answer fan questions on Twitter. Last night one fan asked if there was ever going to be a team-up with Star Trek’s two Kirks: Shatner and Chris Pine. Bill replied simply, “Probably not but I’m fine with that.”
Probably not but I’m fine with that. https://t.co/SgeIpEqYMy
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) August 17, 2020
Shatner’s assessment of the likelihood of seeing Chris Pine’s Kirk alongside his own is probably pretty accurate. A decade ago there was a lot of buzz about him joining Leonard Nimoy in reprising his role in one of the Kelvin movies produced by J.J. Abrams—much of that buzz was generated by Shatner himself. But in later years, he has become much more sanguine about ever returning to the role that made him recognized around the world. Of course, Shatner’s views on the subject are nuanced. In March he said “Kirk’s story is pretty well played out,” although in June Bill said he would “love” to return to the role.
William Shatner’s last Star Trek film had him teaming up with another captain, Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard
On the Paramount side of things, it currently looks like the leading project to get Trek back on the big screen would see Chris Pine team up with a different Kirk: James’ father, George Kirk, played by Chris Hemsworth, reprising the role from the 2009 Star Trek movie. If there was any project that might have seen Shatner and Pine team up it would be the one pitched by Quentin Tarantino, and avowed Shatner superfan, who has also said he likes the new Star Trek cast, although he isn’t very clear on how the whole two timelines work. As recently as last summer, Shatner said he would like to be part of the Tarantino Trek movie.
Shatner’s comment on being fine without appearing with Chris Pine in a Star Trek movie should not be seen as a slight to the younger actor. Last month during a GalaxyCon Live event when asked who he would want to play him in a notional biopic of his life he suggested Pine, saying he is “a good-looking, talented guy.” In his 2018 interview with TrekMovie.com, Shatner said of Pine: “He is so good and such a leading man.” The pair also appeared together in William Shatner’s 2011 Star Trek documentary The Captains.
William Shatner with Chris Pine in a publicity still for the 2011 documentary The Captains
Shatner Kirk with Shatner Kirk
As fans know, we have seen two James T. Kirks together multiple times, but always when BOTH were played by Shatner, starting with TOS’ season 1 episode “The Enemy Within,” when Kirk was split into two sides of himself. Two episodes later, android Kirk faced human Kirk in “What Are Little Girls Made Of,” and in season 3, he battled with Garth-as-Kirk in “Whom Gods Destroy.” And in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the final movie featuring the entire TOS cast, he came face-to-face with himself again when the Chameloid Martia took his form to confuse their Klingon prison guards. Bottom line: The man knows how to do scenes with multiple Kirks.
“Whom Gods Destroy”
Keep up with all the Star Trek movie news here at TrekMovie.com.
As much of a fan of Shatner’s Kirk as I am, the time has passed for this, if it every should have happened at all. Heck, no one even seems sure if Pine wants to come back.
I don’t think any Star Trek movie can happen. At least not in the moment we are in.
I feel precisely the same way Danpaine.
Well put.
I’m kind of at a point where I recognize these stories are basically to drive viewership to the site. There aren’t any projects in the work. Paramount doesn’t seem to be in any hurry at all to get one going.. While an actor (usually) won’t burn bridges, Pine seems to understand his stint as Kirk is over. Shatner is ancient. The ship has sailed on the big screen, sorry to say.
With Viacom stock hovering comfortably in the 20’s for the last six months it will be interesting to see which projects if any get underway.
@Phil I wish there was an upvote button.
While I don’t agree that Shatner’s age is an issue, I think you’re correct about this sIte drumming this up as an issue every few months.
From everything I’ve read, his jokes aside, Shatner was never serious about returning as Kirk (and never really expected/wanted to).
His age is an issue in the sense of potentially running out of time given his age. On the timescale until another Star Trek film comes out he could easily become too unwell or pass sadly.
Mr. Shatner would want to be the star (deservedly) of the show. He most likely would be playing a supporting role and decline the part.
Or accept a supporting role as he did last time just for not knowing better?
I’m not so sure about that. He’s taken lots of supporting roles in other movies (Miss Congeniality, etc.) and TV shows (Psych, etc.). As long as he gets paid what he thinks he deserves and that the role isn’t beneath him (i.e., not “Chef” on Enterprise), I don’t see why he wouldn’t participate.
If you read the history of the making of Trek films, Shatner was VERY involved in making sure he was “the first guy in the room” as Harve Bennett puts it. Yes, he’s accepted other roles but when it comes to Trek and Kirk? I think he wants to be the star of the show. I know of some conventions where he’s not happy if he’s not the top draw.
And yet more than any other director or producer went out of his way to be certain that Scotty, Uhura, Chekov and Sulu had their own moments in The Final Frontier.
Those moments are negotiated into the supporting casts contracts. Shatner has referred to them as the 7 dwarves. Yes, the cast HAS said he was exceptional to work with, as a director.
I suspect if the money’s right, Shatner will take a smaller role. After all, he did play Coachman Nick in Hallmark Channel’s 2015 Christmas movie Just in Time for Christmas, which also featured Star Trek III: The Search for Spock costar Christopher Lloyd.
I’m “okay” with him not appearing on ST again too.
I’m okay with Shatner staying away from Star Trek for the time being.
Why? What’s your issue with Shatner?
I love that shot of him momentarily sitting on the ENT-B chair. Kinda always wished we got a little more B action in Generations.
Agreed. I think that entire opening scene when he gets ‘killed’ by the ribbon was very well done.
Agreed, I enjoy the opening more so than the overall TNG-era portion of the film (though I’m very pro-Generations). I’m also partial to that 2290’s design of Trek.
Agreed, you can practically hear him thinking “should I intervene or shouldn’t I” and that there is that inevitable sense of his time passing in the captains chair. That was wonderful scene and I would have been absolutely fine if Kirk’s story ended there. But alas, they had to go and kill him again in that egregious way, kind of making fun of the situation also by having him die by being crushed under a bridge.
He keeps forgetting Kirk is dead. Even JJ understood that problem.
Different timeline, different possibilities and, well, we are talking about Star Trek so anything is possible.
Kirk is not dead in a different timeline.
Nah.I saw that movie 7 times, KIRK IS TOAST! or better yet, WHEAT TOAST WITH LOTS OF BUTTER ON TOP!
Well there is one option – NEXUS. Remember that Guinan was there even when she was on the ship? Some part of her was still in NEXUS and because Nexus is not one time phenomenon they could still somehow get in and once they would be in, they could go anywhere and anytime as Guinan said. So they could just go to the Ent B and save Kirk or go to Veridian and eliminate Soran and save Kirk or they could go to the moment in NEXUS when Picard was asking him to help him stop Soran and just told Picard to not be stupid and return to Ent D and put Soran in jail while he was still on the ship and again Kirk would be saved :-D
So, you’d have Shat Kirk standing near the bridge, figuring he’d done his bit for god and country, he phasers Picard, and him and Sauren take their missile and head off across the galaxy blackmailing worlds for women and treasure, in exchange for not imploding their stars?
JJ understood it, or Orci and Kurtzman did?
I suspect if you asked the screenwriters, they would confirm that they were wanting to keep it real. And I respect them for it. However the decision to (let Nimoy in and) keep Shatner out was, I’m sure, just as much a marketing one. And I say that because I would have made the same call.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Marketing had nothing to do with including Nimoy. It was a big gamble that Alex and I based the pitch on his involvement.
Hi Bob Will we ever get to read your original story for what became STB?
He was answering a question a fan submitted, he didn’t forget that Kirk is dead.
Geesh
This is sci-fi. Zap him with some ressurcto-ray, build him a old robot body, and away you go.
He’s dead in the original timeline. Who knows what his future is in the Kelvin timeline?
Head dishwasher at a Creole café in NOLA?
Ah, the simple life. I wouldn’t mind that myself. I could find something in the French
Quarter and impress with my French-Canadian charm.
Been doing the Ancestory thing of late – come to find there are a lot of relatives in Quebec and Louisiana. And here I am, the SoCal native, who can’t speak Spanish….
You do know we speak French up here right?
Oui…
Of course not, he can angle to be on Strange New Worlds now. ;)
They had an idea for him to show up on Enterprise. He passed.
Got a citation for that?
It’s common knowledge and has been mentioned in many interviews with Enterprise’s writers. It’s easy to confirm if you look it up.
This has definitely come up before. Shatner had some idea where wanted to play the mirror Kirk. The showrunners had a different idea that went something like this: due to the temporal cold war, Kirk is erased from history before a pivotal event. The NX-01’s chef, an often mentioned but never seen character, looks exactly like Kirk, so the crew use him as a replacement for the important meeting/event. Needless to say, Shatner was not wild about the pitch and quickly passed.
Don’t forget Shatner played dual roles in the Western “White Commanche” as well. So he was quite the pro at it. I think he and Van Damme must be the actors who most often acted along with themselves and Eddie Murphy of course.
Is “White Commanche” on Netflix?
Apparently not, I checked.
Amazon P rime lists White Commance as a DVD, says that it is unavailable. I also couldn’t find it on Criterion or Hulu.
It was fun searching for White Commanche. Sorry that I couldn’t find it.
I remember seeing a not so good quality version up on youtube, maybe you can check there if you are really curious about it.
Slow news day.
QUENTIN TARANTINO PRESENTS…
STAR TREK LEGACY
starring
WILLIAM
SHATNER
God, I hope note. That’s an extremely weak title.
well they cant use just ‘Star Trek’ again and QTs story is most likely to do with TOS and its legacy. and Tron used it so why not?
If the rumour is true that QT simply wanted to remake “A Piece of the Action”, because it has gangsters, then yeah, bitterly disappointed. I’m choosing not to believe it though. Everything I’ve heard down the years, is that he is a superfan and knows Star Trek intimately – albeit probably just TOS & some TNG.
I think the reporting may have gotten that wrong. All of the reports say it was about the 1930s. A Piece of the Action was about 1920s gangsters.
agreed its more likely to be City on the Edge as thats what QT was talking about remaking as a film along with Yesterdays Enterprise on that podcast he did a few years ago.. so in my mind itd be a blend of those 2 eps with the JJ cast, Shatner (and maybe Stewart and some of TNG)
Wasn’t boborci’s original idea for Trek 3 to include Shatner and Nimoy in the story that Paramount called “too Trekkie” and then reworked for Clarkson’s Trek 4 with Hemsworth instead of Shatner?
One of these days Orci will need to offer up a few more details, when the NDA expires.
You won’t believe this, but I have moved around a bit and I actually don’t have a copy of the script that we wrote. It’s been years now.
can you give any more info on your ST3? e.g. was it to be called ‘Beyond?’ was CMarcus in it? would Shatner have been CG de-aged? would he have had a cool outfit/uniform?
I’d imagine that at somepoint in the future, when Mr. Orci’s storage locker ends up on a celebrity reboot of Storage Wars, we might know those answers. Until then, the man seems to have moved on.
All coming back to me. Marcus was in it. It was not called Beyond. Shatner would’ve been slightly augmented. Bryan Cranston would’ve been the villain. Spoke to him about it, and he seemed open, but we never got farther than that, altough we had great designs for him and his look.
@Bob, such a shame! That should’ve been the go-to movie to make for the next one, with some tweaks to the script to accommodate where Beyond and offscreen events left the state of play – Enterprise A, Chekov accepts a transfer and perhaps Carol Marcus coming back to fill his vacant place among the command crew.
really interesting Bob.thanks for responding. was a big fan of alice eve as Carol and was looking forward to her in ST3.and wouldve been so cool to see Shatner for the 50th anniversary movie (im guessing Generations era Shatner). and Cranston as the villain wouldve been awesome casting (think hed have also made a great Matt Decker)
I think Bryan Cranston – who still should seriously consider a role in Star Trek if he’s asked – was intended to play a Vulcan wasn’t he? One among a few races competing to obtain a time-travel device. His intention to try and undo his planet’s destruction. Probably from a faction who reject surpressing their emotions like Sybok.
Or hell, maybe just make him the alternate timeline version of Spock’s brother himself.
It’s an academic discussion at this point, but for as much as Bryan Cranston was hyped in Godzilla, killing him off that early in the movie was a substantial dissapointment.
Yeah, Godzilla is a guilty pleasure……
Thanks very much for the information. What species would Cranston’s villain have been? What was his motivation?
Specifically, let’s not get into too much detail, but thematically, he thought the Kelvin timeline was an abomination and he sought to recreate the universe he felt should exist. Or something:). I’m getting old.
Thanks for the information. And thanks for Star Trek 09 and Fringe.
Do the designs still exist? I know some ship designs got out. I remember you offered to email me a draft ages ago! Would love to learn the whole story :P
What about Kirk Prime, would he have been in uniform? Sent back to his own timeline?
I still want to see that movie made… Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel proved de-aging has come a long way, and might’ve proved successful enough for a Prime Kirk appearance.
I too don’t think the Kelvin timeline would be reset, but there’s epic drama in a villain who’ll stop at nothing to achieve exactly that. And more so in reopening old wounds surrounding all that Pine and Quinto versions of Kirk and Spock have lost. Dangling that juicy carrot of temptation in front of them…. “Look! Millions of Vulcans need not have died. Hey! Just do this, and you could’ve grown up knowing who your Father was.”
Yeah, that’s still the plot of the next movie from my point of view. I’d be rooting for Bryan Cranston to win, all the way… even knowing the script would concoct an even worse outcome to his actions, just to ram home why he has to lose.
That ship has sailed. It’s shaping up to be 7-10 years from Beyond until something hits the big screen. There just isn’t any picking up where Beyond left off….
Not an entirely unreasonable explaination, and the franchise is in the rear view mirror now.
If there’s truth to the rumor you’ve now a married man, congratulations.
Gracias!
It’s good to have you on this forum. Thanks for the information.
Despite the happy talk above, there is no project in the works that will get Pine and Shatner on the screen together. The only way you’ll see both of them as Kirk is if an Oscars broadcast puts them both in a Starfleet uniform for an award presentation…..
Time for a Shatner Short Trek.
Shatner can hold Trump’s hand. He always came across as narrisstic. Thank God it was Leonard Nimoy who made the original series what it was.
Because bill Shatner wrote a book called The Return I would love to see him played Kirk again in that film
The Shatnerverse series of books, largely written by the Reeves-Stevenses. Yeah, each of those feels like film pitches.
The Ashes of Eden is something that might’ve followed The Undiscovered Country and how I imagined the Enterprise A ended its days.
The Return has a Romulan-Borg centred idea using Kirk’s resurrection as a plot to kill Picard. It also has the launch of the Enterprise E never shown in First Contact.
Both would make decent animated movies, in the style DC are always making. Probably the best way to reverse Kirk’s Generations death is to pick a decent lifelike animated style – not cartoonish as Lower Decks, involve Bill Shatner, voice impersonators for deceased TOS characters and others on audio and at a distance.
If I’m being very honest, I wouldn’t be too shocked if we never saw Pine play Kirk again.
Maybe in a SNL parody? ;-)
Or an Oscar telecast….
Same here.
Pine won’t play Kirk again. He also doesn’t seem to care about the fan base at all, so it’s not like he has an affinity for the franchise. He likes his coworkers, sure. He likes money. Don’t think he cares about Star Trek or the character of Kirk, though.
I think the best way to bring Shatner back would be to put him in an animated Short Trek set during the TOS era.
I am also ok with this.
His Kirk ended his journey in 1991 perfectly. With the words second star to the right and straight on til morning. He shouldn’t have done generations and there is no need for him to be in JJ Trek.
Late to this discussion, but yes, my feelings exactly. Wasn’t it the studio that wanted him and Spock in Generations? Paramount made some silly (I’m being kind) choices with the franchise.
I don’t care if Pine is involved as long as there is something with Shatner. They could always de-age the character 25 years. It sucks Paramount never asked him to do something.