William Shatner Confirms Pitch To Reprise Kirk

At a panel at Fan Expo Vancouver on Friday, February 21, William Shatner indicated he may have another chance to return to the role of James T. Kirk at the young age of 93.

"I have been asked to come back as Kirk so many times. If Kirk is going to come back, it has to mean something. It has to be the show. But I was so impressed by this writer, so I said let's talk after I'm done in Vancouver. So I'm awaiting a pitch to make it the show, it should come on Monday or Tuesday."

Shatner, via the use of body doubles and CGI, participated in "returning" to the role for non-canon Unification short that received critical acclaim but last true canon appearance was in Star Trek: Generations. The short proves it possible to have him return in a way that will not physically tax the actor, so the idea isn't out of the realm of possibility.

As for whether this will actually happen? To be blunt - no. I suspect this is a writer putting together a treatment, meeting with Shatner for verbal agreement to participate and then hoping to sell this idea to Star Trek head Alex Kurtzman. 

Shatner wants his role to be important and significant and not a simple cameo. Nothing wrong with that but the current trajectory of Star Trek TV suggests nothing like that is in the works and with the Paramount/SkyDance merge not completing until summer 2025 (assuming Trump administration doesn't block it), I doubt the franchise has the budge for another TV series or even a direct to video short.

Also Kurtzman really hates having to deal with Star Trek canon and seems to want to actively avoid it as much as possible so anything with Kirk wouldn't actually create problems depending on story but don't see Kurtzman even wanting to find out one way or the other.