William Shatner’s Captain Kirk Star Trek Return Status Gets Official Response From Star

Published Sep 26, 2026, 11:30 AM EDT

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Iconic actor William Shatner has released a definitive statement about his potential to return as Star Trek's Captain James T. Kirk.

Since Shatner first brought the character to life in 1966's original series, James Kirk has remained one of the most beloved Star Trek captains. For that reason, there is always immense excitement whenever there is news that the actor could return to the role that made him a legend. Now, he has spoken out to directly address his potential Star Trek future.

On September 25, Shatner posted an image of text on his X account that he noted was intended to stop any rumors. In it, he wrote about how much he adores Star Trek and Captain Kirk after professing his commitment to only bring the character back under the right circumstances. He also detailed what it would take to make him consider portraying the original Star Trek captain again. Check out what Shatner wrote below:

"In order to put a stop to the rumor mill before it starts producing even more fiction than Star Trek ever did, let me say this:

If someone came up with a meaningful way to bring Captain Kirk back to life, and gave him something genuinely interesting to do that added to the beauty and spirit of Star Trek, I would be delighted to consider it.

But that has never come up.

I love Star Trek just as much as all of you folks do. Kirk has been an extraordinary part of my life, and I would never want to bring him back simply for the sake of bringing him back.

So, until someone comes knocking with an idea worthy of Kirk... I wait. For them. Or for eternity.

— Bill Shatner"

Shatner's post came months after Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' co-creator and co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers revealed that they'd tried to get Shatner to portray Captain Kirk on that show. During an interview with Trek Movie, he explained that when he and his co-creator and co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman prepped each season of their show, they tried again to get Shatner to make a cameo appearance.

"It’s been his great gift to try to get Shatner on the show, and we have tried every season. We came very close that season. We had a wonderful discussion with him. We were trying to make something that was something he could be a part of, that’s something we could actually show on screen."

Myers went on to describe one of the pitches they offered to Shatner that they hoped would get him to embody his famous role again.

"What we were trying to do was an animated episode with him. We wanted to do like a very serious one. We had a whole plan to do it around him and to redo ‘City on the Edge of Forever’ and kind of do a retelling, not a retelling, like a part two kind of thing."

Since Strange New Worlds' fifth season has already been filmed, and it will be the series' last, the team behind the show ultimately was unsuccessful in their goal. During the Trek Movie interview, Myers reflected on those failed efforts.

"We wanted to try to get him involved. And we had a long discussion with him about it. And sometimes these things work out, sometimes they don’t. We wanted to find something that would have pulled him in and made him interested. Sometimes it’s hard to find something on the same page as the people you want to work with."

It would have been exciting if Shatner had agreed to portray Captain Kirk alongside the cast of Strange New Worlds in some capacity. As such, the revelation that the show's creative team tried so hard to get that to happen and couldn't make it work is disappointing. Still, the fact that the actor has just professed an openness to the right future Star Trek project is good news.

To date, the last time William Shatner portrayed Captain Kirk in an official movie or TV show was during 1994's epic crossover film Star Trek Generations. While there are criticisms of that movie, it would seem fitting if that ultimately remains his last major appearance as the character, with his last mainstream effort as Captain Kirk focusing on passing the torch to Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard. That's only if audiences ignore the handful of non-movie and TV appearances he has made as the character after that, including lending his voice to video games like Star Trek: Tactical Assault.