Star Trek Legend William Shatner Admits Kirk’s Death Was Inevitable

Live Long and… What I Might Have Learned Along The Way.

That’s not the updated Star Trek motto but the title of William Shatner’s frank bestseller, in which he recounts everything from the iconic sci-fi franchise to feeling unwelcome at Leonard Nimoy’s funeral – despite the two screen legends spending close to 50 years together as co-stars and friends.

He also looked back on the colossal misfire that was Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the 1989 sequel that almost brought a swift end to the entire series. But Star Trek lives on, and so too does William Shatner’s legacy as Captain James T. Kirk.

Alas, Shatner’s stalwart met a swift end during Generations, and while it proved to be a sad twist of fate for his Trek hero, the actor’s latest novel confirms that Kirk’s death was inevitable.

Well, I didn’t think I had any choice in the matter. Paramount had decided that the ceiling that they could reach in our box office had been reached and they thought that by putting in the Next Generation cast, that they would reach a higher box office. That decision had been made. It was either I was going to appear and die, or they were going to say he died. So, I chose the more practical of the two.

Asked if Captain James T. Kirk’s death was unavoidable, Shatner revealed the following:

That was their theory. It didn’t work out that way, but that is the way it was.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that the industry legend is finished with Star Trek; despite claims to the contrary, William Shatner recently went on record to say that he’d one day like to reprise the role of Kirk – so long as the character’s revival was “meaningful.” Whether anything comes from that or not remains to be seen, but fans can at least take comfort in the fact that the actor isn’t ruling it out entirely.