William Shatner’s much-publicized trip into space was a PR coup for Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space tourism company. It made the 90-year-old Star Trek icon — who boldly went where few have gone before — the oldest person to ever leave the planet. He described the rare experience in glowing terms:
“I hope I never recover from this. I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary, extraordinary. It’s so much larger than me and life. It hasn’t got anything to do with the little green men and the blue orb. It has to do with the enormity and the quickness and the suddenness of life and death. To see the blue color whip by you, and now you’re staring into blackness … everybody in the world needs to do this. Everybody in the world needs to see this.”
And we’ll all soon be able to, thanks to the upcoming Amazon Prime Video special Shatner in Space, which will give viewers insight into the preparation, voyage, and aftermath of the voyage. Shatner unveiled the one-hour show during his appearance at CCXP Worlds on Sunday, saying:
“My time in space was the most profound experience I could have ever imagined. This special documenting my journey gives a dramatic view of that experience, and my hope is that it inspires the world to see we must go to space to save Earth.”
Clearly, the impressively spry Shatner still has some juice in the tank. After 70 years in front of the camera, he’s still a busy working actor, with multiple films and TV shows in various stages of production. But he’ll never be able to leave Star Trek completely behind and there are still rumors of him returning as Kirk.
Interviewers often press Shatner on whether he’d do it and the answer has traditionally been a flat “no.” Shatner also famously turned down a cameo in the J.J. Abrams films on the basis that it felt like gratuitous nostalgia rather than necessary storytelling. But in a recent interview with Inverse, it sounds like the door is still just about open:
“If they wrote an interesting role and they could explain the 55-year difference I might consider it, but at the moment, I’m really busy and Star Trek is in my past.”
If William Shatner can be convinced to take a trip to space, I’m sure some aspiring Star Trek writer can pen a suitable swansong for Kirk.
Shatner in Space will air on Amazon Prime starting on Dec. 15.
