Why William Shatner is Not Currently in the Star Trek XI Movie
William Shatner was recently lamenting on TV the fact that he wasn’t invited to be part of the next Star Trek movie. Worstpreviews has some great insight into this issue.
Apparently since Shatner’s character, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, was killed in Star Trek VII: Generations. Co-writer Roberto Orci indicated that they have not figured out to get around this issue without getting fans upset, but that a Shatner cameo is possible. The current Writers Guild of America strike also prevents changes to the script until after the strike is over.
If you watched Generations, you might agree that it’s hard to be 100% sure that Kirk actually died. At any rate, we’re talking science fiction here, with multiple universes and multiple plot devices. It SHOULDN’T BE that hard to have Kirk appear as far as a script goes. Especially since Leonard Nimoy plays an older Spock against Zachary Quinto as a younger Spock. This movie predates the original TV series in terms of timeline. So why not have Shatner play Kirk’s father or grandfather.
Current cast include Leonard Nimoy, Winona Ryder, Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Chris Pine as Kirk. Release date is Dec 25th, 2008, though a proper movie name has yet to be chosen. A fan mockup clip is below, entitled Star XI – The Wrath of Kirk. Also check out the parody clip Star Trek: Frasier further below.
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On January 8th 2008, 5 Tidbits About the Upcoming Star Trek Movie | Movie Crunch wrote:
[...] Shatner is not currently slated to appear, but the possibility is there. Except any script changes have to wait until the WGA writers’ [...]
On February 6th 2008, William Shatner Has Close Call With Death | Movie Crunch wrote:
[...] will appear in Horrorween, a comedy horror, this year. While he’s not currently part of the new Star Trek XI movie, there is a possibility for his Captain James T. Kirk character to be [...]