William Shatner Thinks There Is Still An Interesting Story To Tell With Him As Kirk In Star Trek

Since his last time in a feature film as Captain James T. Kirk in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations, there has been much speculation about if William Shatner will ever return to his iconic role. And of course the actor himself has been the source of much of that speculation, especially after it was announced J.J. Abrams was rebooting the franchise a decade ago, but the return never materialized.

Kirk died under a bridge in Star Trek: Generations

Now, in a new interview from NYCC with IGN, the 86 year-old actor was asked if he still sees a path to the captain’s chair for himself and he responded by drawing a comparison to his Better Late Than Never co-star and former football player Terry Bradshaw:

“Are there stories to tell about an aging guy?” said the once and future Kirk. “[Bradshaw] was a great athlete. An awkward kid of 15, 16, who matured and then was a quarterback that was third quarterback, then he became the second quarterback. He grew into this great quarterback, one of the great quarterbacks, that he became. Now, he’s older, his knees hurt, his back hurts. … So here’s this aging athlete, who isn’t [what] he was in his twenties and thirties. Still carries himself grandly and has a sense of humor and all, but he’s not the athlete he was. What would Captain Kirk be like 50 years later, with the sagacity of mind, and yet the body doesn’t do what he wants it to do? I mean, it’s an interesting story.”

Shatner draws inspiration from his Better Late Than Never costar Terry Bradshaw

Could Star Trek do a ‘Logan’ with Kirk?

What Shatner is proposing is not entirely unlike the final film in Fox’s X-Men Wolverine spin-off trilogy, Logan, released earlier this year. That film dealt with the now more aged Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Professor X (Patrick Stewart) as they both pondered their mortality. The R-rated film was well-regarded by critics and a box-office success.

Patrick Stewart in Logan

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