Star Trek icon William Shatner says he's seen as little of Star Trek "as possible"
By Dan Selcke
At 93 years old, William Shatner is far beyond caring about saying something during an interview that might surprise of shock people. He's been a celebrity since the late 1960s, when he played the iconic Captain Kirk in Star Trek. That show only lasted three seasons, but the crew of the USS Enterprise returned in a series of movies that ran for decades; Shatner himself even directed the fifth Star Trek movie, The Final Frontier, which came out in 1989. There's no bigger Star Trek expert than him, one would assume.
But actually, as he revealed to Entertainment Tonight, he's seen as little of Star Trek as he can over the years. “I’m gonna tell you something that nobody knows. I’ve never seen another ‘Star Trek’ and I’ve seen as few ‘Star Treks’ of the show I was on, I’ve seen as few as possible,” Shatner said. “I don’t like to look at myself, and I’ve never seen any other. I love it, I think it’s great. I just don’t, you know, I don’t watch television, per se.”
So basically, Shatner is saying that not only has he seen very few episodes of the original Star Trek series where he played Kirk, but he's never watched any of the many Star Trek spinoff series to come out in the decades since. And there have been a lot of those, including The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Enterprise, Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds and more. I assume he watched the Star Trek movie he directed, but I'm not 100% certain of anything.
It may be less an aversion to Star Trek and more a disinterest in TV generally that keeps Shatner away from the thing he's most publickly associated with. “I’m watching documentaries, I’m watching the news, I’m watching sports, I’m watching things that were, documentaries that were made, but I don’t watch television for some reason,” he added. “I’ve been urged to watch certain shows by my family, ‘You’ll love this,’ and I just never get around to it.”
“I’m watching documentaries, I’m watching the news, I’m watching sports, I’m watching...documentaries that were made, but I don’t watch television for some reason,” he said. “I’ve been urged to watch certain shows by my family, ‘You’ll love this,’ and I just never get around to it.”
Fair enough. Even at his age, Shatner is still working. Last year he was in a documentary about his life called You Can Call Me Bill, and let's forget that he went into outer space on a Blue Origin shuttle back in 2021, when he was a spry 90 years old.
Shatner has even said he's open to playing Captain Kirk again if the opportunity was right. ust don't expect him to watch whatever he films.
dark. Next. The George R.R. Martin interview: On fandom, writing, and his work beyond Westeros (Exclusive). The George R.R. Martin interview: On fandom, writing, and his work beyond Westeros (Exclusive)
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.