Posted in: Opinion, Star Trek, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: James T. Kirk, star trek, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: The Original Series, william shatner

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Picard Opened Door for Shatner Return

How Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (with some help from Star Trek: Picard) has some options available to them for a William Shatner return.

When it comes to saluting Star Trek: The Original Series in the Paramount+ streaming era, we saw two familiar faces (sort of) in George Takei reprising his character as Hikaru Sulu in the animated series Lower Decks and Walter Koenig playing his TOS character Pavel Chekov's son, Anton Chekov in the series finale of Picard. Yes, technically, they're both vocal cameos, and the surviving TOS actors are quite advanced in age. Still, with the Strange New Worlds premiere imminent, it opens the door for another cameo… William Shatner.

How Koenig's Return in Star Trek: Picard Can Inspire Shatner's for Strange New Worlds

How, do you ask? Well, let's get some background here. Shatner last physically played his signature character James T. Kirk in the 1994 crossover film Generations, which saw him die gallantly saving the galaxy one more time with Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard on Veridian III. In the third and final season of the Paramount+ series, it's discovered that Section 31 had a vested interest in Kirk, keeping his body in stasis in their top-secret Daystrom Station facility. We didn't get a physical body because that would be too cost prohibitive for the show's budget, but we had to do with stats.

There's the obvious possibility of bringing Shatner's Kirk back that way. The most likely and practical way would be to introduce him as the prime universe's George Kirk. We never physically met him in the prime version, as Chris Hemsworth played him in the 2009 J.J. Abrams soft reboot of Star Trek that introduced the Kelvin timeline universe. We don't know much about Prime George Kirk when it comes to a detailed backstory & hard personal facts other than he lived long enough to see his son, James, become captain of the Enterprise, which is currently under the command of Anson Mount's Christopher Pike.

Since we've already introduced to the new young James T. Kirk in Paul Wesley on Strange New Worlds, Shatner can impart his wisdom as George, who also served in Starfleet. If Koenig can play his own son, then Shatner can play his own father. While we're on the subject, here's OTOY and The Roddenberry Archive's interview below with the actor talking about his legacy as James T. Kirk, his exit on Generations, and why a contemporary return was teased but never materialized. Not only does this exceed the meaningless cameo that Shatner doesn't want, but it's also a chance to create a series-defining moment for SNW and a major step toward the leader James T. Kirk will be.

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