William Shatnermight be best ed for playing Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek franchise, but he has appeared in plenty of other great movies too. The Canadian-born performer got his start in the 1950s and quickly made a name for himself playing smaller roles in TV shows. Though Shatner starred in a few films in the early years of his career, it was TV where he would truly blossom into the household name he is today. He would turn in stunning performances on shows like The Twilight Zone, before landing the gig that would define his career. o6b6x

William Shatner has publicly itted he was upset by a franchise decision made in 2009, but Star Trek 4 can finally put the actor's concerns to rest. Although not officially confirmed, Star Trek 4 is largely believed to be happening, although it is still stuck in production hell. The ending of 2016's Star Trek Beyond was never intended to be the conclusion of the Kelvin Timeline series, but the huge delay since the third installment makes it seem as though the series is done. Hopefully, Chris Pine's Captain Kirk and the alternate version of the Enterprise crew return soon.

Even though William Shatner's iconic Star Trek character died in 1994's Star Trek Generations, there are several sci-fi tropes often used by the space opera that could allow the actor to reprise his seminal role. With Shatner in talks with Paramount to return as James T. Kirk, the possibility of his return to the franchise feels a little greater compared to recent years, although nothing has been confirmed just yet. The actor has declared that any comeback has to "mean something" rather than just being for the sake of taking place, but it also needs to make canonical sense.

Although I'm aware that writing William Shatner back into Star Trek for one more appearance would be risky for several reasons, I can't move past the feeling that I'm desperate to see James T. Kirk given one more onscreen story with the iconic character's original actor. So, the possibility of Shatner's return for a Paramount+ series makes me equally worried as it does excite me, and I don't quite know which emotion to roll with. If it does happen, I just hope everyone involved treads very lightly and doesn't damage Shatner's legacy as Kirk in Star Trek's Prime Timeline.

William Shatner directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek's most noble movie failure. Released June 9, 1989, Star Trek V marks its 35th anniversary in 2024. Shatner picked up the reins of the Star Trek movie franchise from Leonard Nimoy, who directed the successful Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and the blockbuster Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. From a budget of $33 million, Star Trek V enjoyed a $17 million opening weekend before negative reviews and bad word of mouth sank William Shatner's lone Star Trek movie, which tapped out with a worldwide gross of $70 million and nearly ended the Star Trek movie franchise.

Captain James T. Kirk (WIlliam Shatner) refused to share his innermost pain in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but what was he hiding from Sybok (Lawrence Luckinbill)? Directed by William Shatner from a story Shatner conceived, Star Trek V celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2024. While not considered among the finest Star Trek movies, Shatner's film harbors ambitions and concepts not fully realized due to myriad issues such as the film's budget, lackluster visual effects, and Shatner's own inexperience in directing feature films. But William Shatner certainly understood Kirk, and why the Captain of the Enterprise would never yield to Sybok.

William Shatner's Captain James T. Kirk replaced the original Captain of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Original Series, Captain Christopher Pike, who was played by Jeffrey Hunter. Hunter starred in the first Star Trek pilot that creator Gene Roddenberry wrote and produced for NBC studios, "The Cage". Star Trek's original pilot featured Captain Pike as a prisoner of the Talosians, highly intelligent aliens intent on keeping Pike on Talos IV as a mate for Vina (Susan Oliver), whom they'd rescued from a downed starship 18 years earlier. The Talosians would provide for Pike's every need and want through their impressive telepathic skill, but Pike would be trapped in the fantasy with Vina.

Anson Mount recalls recordingStar Trek: Strange New Worlds' opening monologue while William Shatner was actually in space. As the Captain of the Starship Enterprise in Strange New Worlds, Mount is the latest to voice over Star Trek's classic opening speech, "Space... the final frontier..." over the show's opening credits. As fate would have it, Mount recorded the monologue on October 13, 2021, the day William Shatner went into orbit aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin NS-18 space flight.

Scott Bakula explains the hook that got him to sign on to play Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise. Bakula headlined Enterprise ('Star Trek' wasn't added to the title until season 3) for four seasons on UPN. After Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005, Bakula continued his incredibly successful acting career, starring in Men of a Certain Age and NCIS: New Orleans. Bakula rarely discusses his experience as the Captain of the final Star Trek series of the Rick Berman era.

William Shatner’s T.J. Hooker show featured an actor from Star Trek. During the first few Star Trek movie sequels, William Shatner starred in his hit ABC and CBS series T.J. Hooker. This American police drama TV show featured Shatner in the starring role, a 15-year veteran police sergeant. Interestingly, Shatner's T.J. Hooker also starred a future Star Trek actor.