Star Trek: William Shatner Keen To Play An Old Captain Kirk

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Though it’s been 22 years since he last officially appeared as Captain James T Kirk - and in that final performance, his Kirk was killed off - William Shatner says he’d still love to return to his signature role one more time.
Early rumours (and/or wishful thinking from fans) suggested Shatner might somehow make an appearance in the upcoming ‘Star Trek Beyond’ - much as his late friend Leonard Nimoy, the original Mr Spock, had done in JJ Abrams’ 2009 ‘Star Trek’ reboot and its sequel ‘Star Trek Into Darkness.’
This has proved not to be the case - and, as the 84-year old actor tells The Hollywood Reporter, there are numerous practical reasons why they couldn’t make it work.
“How would they handle it, in science-fiction terms? I’m older, I’m heavier, I’m — all the problems of age. So what did Captain Kirk do? Die and age? Doesn’t sound science-fictiony enough. Or maybe you make him really old. I don’t know. It seems to have beggared Abrams’ imagination.”
Shatner’s Kirk met his end alongside Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard whilst battling an evil Malcolm McDowell in 1994′s ‘Star Trek: Generations,’ the movie which saw the big screen torch passed to the crew of ‘Star Trek: the Next Generation’ after six films starring the original series cast.

Even so, this didn’t stop Shatner (himself a science fiction writer, as well as actor and director) dreaming up his own alternate timeline for an old Kirk, which he explored through a series of six ‘Star Trek’ novels.
And should the current creative team behind the ‘Star Trek’ series come up with a way of bringing Kirk Prime back alongside Chris Pine’s younger, alternate timeline incarnation, then Shatner’s all for it.
“I would play an old Captain Kirk, absolutely… You would have [to have] an interesting character, not a cameo, like ‘Here I am, aren’t I interesting?’ It’s the ongoing world, it’s the world within science-fiction. Yes, you age within the universe. Time goes on, but time bends, as well. There’s so many things you could do.”

Shatner has already shared the screen with Pine in ‘The Captains,’ a documentary looking into the professional and personal experiences of the six principle actors to have served as Captain in the big and small screen incarnations of ‘Star Trek.’