You Can Watch Walter Koenig Talk About Star Trek In His Own Podcast
John Orquiola is a TV Editor, Senior Writer, and Interviewer with a special focus on Star Trek. John has over 5,000 published articles at SR, and he has interviewed the biggest names in Star Trek on the red carpet and VIP events, among other beloved shows, movies, and franchises.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
Walter Koenig left behind a legacy of reviewing his own classic episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series that fans can watch on YouTube. Beloved as Pavel Chekov, a role he played canonically from 1967 to 1994, Koenig passed away at 90 years old on October 25, 2026. Luminaries from the Star Trek community and beyond, including William Shatner, shared their heartfelt tributes to Walter.
Walter Koenig didn't join Star Trek: The Original Series until the second season, but Ensign Pavel Chekov completed the crew of the Starship Enterprise, and he was part of the Big Seven main characters ever since. In the Star Trek movies, Mr. Chekov graduated from being the Starship Enterprise's navigator. Chekov became a Commander and took on other roles, including Chief of Security. Koenig was also a talented writer who penned an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series.
Koenig is a lifelong science fiction fan, including, of course, Star Trek, the franchise that made him world famous. In recent years, a new industry has arisen of Star Trek actors creating podcasts to discuss their shows: Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang started The Delta Flyers, while Enterprise's Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating launched The D-Con Chamber.
Walter Koenig got a piece of this podcast action two years ago.
Walter Koenig Reviewed Star Trek: The Original Series On The 7th Rule Podcast
In 2024, Walter Koenig joined The 7th Rule podcast to review his episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. Koenig joined hosts Ryan T. Husk, whom Walter befriended on the set of the fan film, Star Trek: Renegades, and Cirroc Lofton, who played Jake Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Part of the hook of Walter on The 7th Rule was that Lofton was watching TOS for the first time while Koenig hadn't seen his episodes in decades.
Walter Koenig appeared in 22 episodes of The 7th Rule. Walter, Cirroc, and Ryan began what became a two-year mission by reviewing Star Trek's original, rejected 1965 pilot, "The Cage." The trio then skipped past season 1 to review Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, since that's when Koenig joined as Ensign Chekov.
Even in his late 80s when the podcasts were recorded, Walter Koenig was whip-smart and full of wry humor. Walter's recollection of names, dates, facts, and minutiae about actors he worked with, and anecdotes from filming Star Trek decades ago, was astounding. Further, despite his longtime public feud with William Shatner, Walter effusively praised Bill's acting and prowess as Star Trek's leading man.
The 7th Rule's format saw Koenig, Lofton, and Husk reviewing a classic Star Trek episode together for the first half of each podcast. Walter then stuck around for the Free For All, where a group of fans, The 7th Rule's Patreon backers, joined to share their thoughts on each episode. Walter interacted in the Free For All, and sometimes disagreements became lively.
Walter Koenig Reviewed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan On The 7th Rule Podcast
Along with 22 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, Walter Koenig reviewed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on The 7th Rule. Directed by Nicholas Meyer, and famous for the death of Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Star Trek II gave Koenig his best dramatic moments playing Pavel Chekov, who was tortured by the supervillain Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban).
Koenig told tremendous stories about Star Trek II on The 7th Rule since that film holds a special place in his heart and is still considered the best Star Trek movie of all. Interestingly, back in 1982, Walter pointed out the continuity error of Khan recognizing Chekov despite the Russian ensign joining the show the season after Khan's lone appearance.
Walter's final role in Star Trek was voicing Pavel's son, President Anton Chekov, in the series finale of Star Trek: Picard. Koenig discussed what it was like to be asked to join one of the Paramount+ Star Trek series on The 7th Rule:
The 7th Rule's plan was to review all 26 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series season 2 and then move onto season 3, but Walter's failing health prevented him from recording new episodes in summer 2026. Koenig's last 7th Rule appearance was a review of episode 22, "Patterns of Force."
Still, Walter Koenig will always be the only original series actor who extensively podcasted about his classic 1960s Star Trek episodes, and his appearances on The 7th Rule are a gift to fans that will live on YouTube for generations to come.
Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan are streaming on Paramount+
- Release Date
- 1966 - 1969-00-00
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Gene Roddenberry
- Directors
- Marc Daniels, Joseph Pevney, Ralph Senensky, Vincent McEveety, Herb Wallerstein, Jud Taylor, Marvin J. Chomsky, David Alexander, Gerd Oswald, Herschel Daugherty, James Goldstone, Robert Butler, Anton Leader, Gene Nelson, Harvey Hart, Herbert Kenwith, James Komack, John Erman, John Newland, Joseph Sargent, Lawrence Dobkin, Leo Penn, Michael O'Herlihy, Murray Golden
- Writers
- D.C. Fontana, Jerome Bixby, Arthur Heinemann, David Gerrold, Jerry Sohl, Oliver Crawford, Robert Bloch, David P. Harmon, Don Ingalls, Paul Schneider, Shimon Wincelberg, Steven W. Carabatsos, Theodore Sturgeon, Jean Lisette Aroeste, Art Wallace, Adrian Spies, Barry Trivers, Don Mankiewicz, Edward J. Lakso, Fredric Brown, George Clayton Johnson, George F. Slavin, Gilbert Ralston, Harlan Ellison
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.