William Shatner

Fans are excited that CBS All Access’ second foray into Trek-dom is a series starring Patrick Stewart, reprising his legendary role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’.  But what about the O.G. Enterprise chief, James T. Kirk, immortalized by William Shatner?  While CBS TV Studios president David Stapf recently teased, “I would say, never say never,” Shatner himself squashed any such musings.

Speaking to the Toronto Star, Shatner stated:

“Right now I’m happy doing what I’m doing. I’ve been offered many series over the years. But I haven’t done them because of the commitment of time. And at this stage of my life that’s more valuable than anything else.”

Though he may have no desire to return to serial TV, in January, Shatner said that he would appear in Quentin Tarantino’s planned ‘Star Trek’ movie.  Shatner’s last regular television role was on the sitcom ‘$#*! My Dad Says’, which aired on CBS for one season in 2010-11.  Last year, he appeared on CTV and Netflix’s miniseries ‘The Indian Detective’, which starred Russell Peters.  For the most part, in recent years, Shatner has stuck to guest appearances and voice-over work, including lending his voice to Harvey Dent in the animated movie ‘Batman vs. Two-Face’ opposite the late Adam West in his final performance.

Shawn Piller, who wrote episodes of ‘TNG’ and ‘Voyager’, and featured Shatner in episodes of his series ‘Haven’ said:

“I would love to do something with Shatner.  It would be great to get another Star Trek series going (and) would work with Shatner any day of the week.  He still rides horses. He does ten pages of dialogue a day and puts everyone else to shame. He’s a director himself and directed one of the big Star Trek movies.

 

“And on top of that he sings. He’s an animal. I want to be as with it as he is when I’m that age.”

Indeed, Shatner’s latest project is a Christmas recording, ‘Shatner Claus: The Christmas Album‘, which he recorded despite being Jewish.  That release will be available on CD and vinyl in October.

Would you like to see Shatner return for another round as Kirk?