We have apparently seen the last of the original Captain James T. Kirk, as William Shatner has confirmed he will never play the iconicStar Trekrole again. Given the recent success of the CBS All Access showStar Trek: Picard, which serves as a sequel series toThe Next Generation, some Trekkies might be hoping for Shatner to reprise the role of Kirk for an all-new sequel series of his own. Asked directly by a fan if a solo Kirk series was in the cards for Shatner, theStar Trekfan favorite responded by shutting the idea down immediately.
“No. I think Kirk’s story is pretty well played out at this point,“William Shatnerbluntly says about the concept of aStar Trek: Kirksequel series. Stressing that cameo appearances elsewhere are also a no go, Shatner also feels he simply has nothing else to contribute to the role in a follow-up tweet. The actor adds: “What was any different about my statement on Kirk that I haven’t said before? I don’t do cameos… Kirk’s story is well told out of any other captain’s story. Kirk died inGenerations. What is really left? Adventures in the ribbon?”
You really can’t argue with Shatner’s reasoning. After a television series, an animated spin-off, several feature films, and even aNext Generationcrossover movie, there’s just very little new ground left forWilliam Shatner’s Captain Kirkto explore. As Shatner mentions in his tweets, the character is also very clearly killed off in a very dramatic scene inStar Trek Generation, essentially passing the torch to Patrick Stewart’s Jean Luc Picard as the new leading man of theStar Trekuniverse. Of course, that storyline can always be retconned for the sake of a new show, but why ruin what’s become such a memorable ending for the character’s story arc?
We may not see anymore of the original Captain Kirkwith Shatner in the role, but the character has already found a new life by way of JJ Abrams' rebootedStar Trekmovie series. By taking the story back to the start, the movies replace Shatner with Chris Pine as the new James T. Kirk. Noah Hawley has since signed on to develop the next big screenStar Trekmovie, but it remains unclear if it will bring back Pine and the rest of the Abrams cast or if it will reboot the franchise once again with new actors and characters.
Of course,Trekkies would also be happyto see Shatner appear in any sci-fi series, even if he’s not playing Kirk any longer. The Seth MacFarlane-led comedy seriesThe Orvilleseems like a perfect series to feature a Shatner cameo, and it wouldn’t even require bringing Kirk back from the dead. In any case, Shatner will always have the attention of his fans with any new movie or television work he chooses to take on, whether it’s related to theStar Trekfranchise or not. This news comes to us fromWilliam Shatner on Twitter.
