At 93-years-old, Williams Shatner remains a remarkably robust presence within Hollywood — so much so that he’d even consider a return to the franchise that made him a star.
In a new interview with the Canadian Press, Shatner called returning to Star Trek an “intriguing idea,” though he admitted that it would be challenging. Still, under the right circumstances Shatner said he would be willing to consider it.
“It’s almost impossible. But if was a great role and so well-written and if there were a reason to be there not just to make a cameo appearance, but if there were a genuine reason for the character appearing, I might consider it,” Shatner said.
Shatner was promoting his new documentary, You Can Call me Bill, which has been described as a “preemptive eulogy of sorts.” It looks back on his work over the years with Star Trek and other projects, as well as his journey into space in 2021.
Shatner, who is a spokesperson for Otoy, a company specializing in de-aging technology, suggested he could play a digitally de-aged version of Captain Kirk, pointing out that the tech “takes years off of your face, so that in a film you can look 10, 20, 30, 50 years younger than you are.” Last year, Otoy posted a Star Trek short film called 765874 – Regeneration that showed some its technology in action.
It’s been 30 years since Shatner last appeared in a live-action Star Trek feature, though his voice and image has appeared in several works since, including video games. Shatner was reportedly upset when he was snubbed in favor of his friend and co-star Leonard Nimoy for J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot, saying, “How could you not put one of the founding figures into a movie that was being resurrected? That doesn’t make sense to me!”
He’s been rumored to be making a cameo appearance in several movies since, including 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, but those appearances never materialized. Abrams publicly doubted that Shatner would ever appear in another Star Trek, saying that he had yet to “hear a pitch that didn’t sound too contorted and contrived.”
While a version of the character played by Paul Wesley has appeared in Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds, Captain Kirk is long dead in the official timeline, having been killed by a bridge falling on him in Star Trek: Generations. Shatner has a solution, though.
“A company that wants to freeze my body and my brain for the future might be a way of going about it,” he says in a recent call from Los Angeles. “‘We’ve got Captain Kirk’s brain frozen here.’ There’s a scenario. ‘Let’s see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!’”
You Can Call Me Bill is available now on Apple TV and Prime Video. You can read our own interview with Shatner, where he muses on life, death, and his career in Star Trek, right here.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
