William Shatner Is Not Planning to Reprise His Role as Captain Kirk Despite Reports

William Shatner is not planning to return to screens as Captain James T. Kirk, despite reports that the 93-year-old actor was looking to reprise the iconic role, a source exclusively tells Closer.

William portrayed Captain Kirk on Star Trek from 1966 to 1969, and his character was later killed off in the 1994 film Star Trek: Generations.

Rumors of the TV star’s return to filming were sparked when the Canadian actor hinted in May that he might come back to the franchise under specific conditions.

“It’s an intriguing idea,” the Boston Legal star told the Canada Press on May 6. “It’s almost impossible. But if it was a great role and so well-written and if there were a reason to be there not just to make a cameo appearance, but if there were a genuine reason for the character appearing, I might consider it.”

William also floated the concept that perhaps Kirk’s body and brain were cryogenically preserved, leaving open the possibility of a future revival.

“‘We’ve got Captain Kirk’s brain frozen here,’” he continued. “There’s a scenario. ‘Let’s see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper [in his hair]. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!’”

The actor joked he could play a younger version of his character, noting that the company he’s collaborating with specializes in technology that “takes years off your face, so that in a film you can look 10, 20, 30, 50 years younger than you are.”

The Miss Congeniality star has remained vocal in the Star Trek community over the years. Recently, he criticized Adam Nimoy, the television director and son of his late former costar Leonard Nimoy, for making sensational claims about their relationship in his book, The Most Human: Reconciling With My Father, Leonard Nimoy.

The director claimed Leonard, who played Spock in the franchise for almost 50 years, had a strained relationship with his costar.

“Years later, when he was sober and being interviewed by no less than Bill Shatner, Dad admitted his habitual drinking began in the 1960s to cope with the pressures of making Star Trek,” Adam wrote in his book, according to the New York Post. “What he didn’t say during that segment — and later confided in me — was that his drinking was the result of long hours on the set, the difficult producers, and his problems with Bill Shatner.”

In response, William slammed Adam and told the outlet that Leonard’s son “wasn’t around” and “too young to know” his relationship with the Atlantis star, who died at 83 in 2015.

“I don’t know what he said in his book, but my relationship with Leonard was one of joy. To be able to share something with another human being with the full knowledge that what you’re saying is sacrosanct and personal,” he said on June 4. “So we talked about divorce and death and children and life.”

William said Leonard was the brother he “never had,” adding, “We were able to share knowing that what we were sharing was between us and only between us.”

“He was my dearest friend,” he told the publication. “And I never had a friend like him. I never had a relationship with any male guy like the relationship I had with Leonard. I loved him, and I believe he loved me. We were brothers.”