Shatner Almost Had Part In 'Star Trek XI'

TrekToday · September 8 2008, 11:02 PM

Over the past months, there has been much discussion as to whether William Shatner would be in 'Star Trek XI' or wouldn't be (or should be or shouldn't be,) but it turns out that Shatner's demands made it impossible for it to happen.

As reported by AMCTV.com, in the course of being interviewed about his newest series Fringe, J.J. Abrams discussed Shatner's anger at not having a role in next year's Star Trek XI. "It was very tricky," said Abrams. "We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn't quite feel right."

Complicating matters was Shatner himself, who sought a bigger role than was offered. "The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn't want to do a cameo," explained Abrams. "We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves."

In addition, there were concerns over canon and the desire to make the storytelling consistent. "The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling," said Abrams. "It's funny, a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that."

To read more, head to the article located here.

Augustus · September 8 2008, 11:21 PM

I think the last thing Trek needs is a movie with Shatner as the star again...

Dennis · September 8 2008, 11:28 PM

Augustus wrote:

I think the last thing Trek needs is a movie with Shatner as the star again...

Yep. And that's why he's not in the movie.

ChristopherPike · September 8 2008, 11:30 PM

History repeats itself. Negotiations broke down with Shatner for an Enterprise guest shot. Fortunately his no show resulted in arguably their best effort, the "In A Mirror, Darkly" episodes.

If anything it's sad Generations marked his last input into the series but if he won't compromise... what can you do? Some of the worst of Trek is directly attributable to appeasing an actor's ego, instead of what was for better for the story. With Nimoy's role so central, Shatner was never really a serious consideration. How could they ever give him an equal word count in the script. It can be something as petty as that in Hollywood...

Aragorn · September 8 2008, 11:43 PM

So is anyone still holding out hope that this is an elaborate ploy to hide Shatner's cameo in this movie? You know, sort of like how Two-Face is gonna be in the next Batman movie.

Procutus · September 9 2008, 12:50 AM

As much as I'm a fan of the Shats, I have to agree in the story being told here (as much as we know about it, anyway) there just isn't a realistic way to work 'Old Kirk' into the story. If Team Abrams is adhering to canon, which apparently they are, then they have no choice but to deal with the fact that Kirk is dead. If Generations hadn't happened, then I'd be all for it.

So no, I'm not holding out hope that this is all to keep a Shat cameo secret. This is Spock's story and I'm cool with that.

VOODOOXI · September 9 2008, 01:49 AM

Augustus wrote:

I think the last thing Trek needs is a movie with Shatner as the star again...

William Shatner has guts to suggest that he should be "the star" of the new Star Trek film.

As a die hard fan of Kirk and Shatner even I must admit that would be ridiculous at this late date and would surely doom the franchise. All I wanted was a 30 second scene that somehow showed Kirk survived that foolish death he was given.

Let's hope that the character is given the ending he deserves. It looks like Shatner made sure that he will never see him as Kirk again.

MeanJoePhaser · September 9 2008, 03:38 AM

They need a transporter accident to seperate cool Shatner from egomanical Shatner.

garamet · September 9 2008, 04:45 AM

TrekToday wrote:

Complicating matters was Shatner himself, who sought a bigger role than was offered.

The more things change, the more they remain the same...

cardinal biggles · September 9 2008, 06:06 AM

MeanJoePhaser wrote:

They need a transporter accident to seperate cool Shatner from egomanical Shatner.

But they can't survive without each other!

Turbo · September 9 2008, 12:39 PM

MeanJoePhaser wrote:

They need a transporter accident to seperate cool Shatner from egomanical Shatner.

My God.

Can you...

imagine...

the pauses?

brian · September 9 2008, 03:30 PM

J.J. Abrams wrote:

It's funny, a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon.

Interesting (and true) observation. Very good point.

Dead.

Starbreaker · September 9 2008, 03:58 PM

Shatner IS Star Trek.

I demand Star Trek XI: SHATNER!!!

ELURIA · September 9 2008, 07:19 PM

TrekToday wrote:

"Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that."

That's ok J.J., I didn't expect it from the writers of Transformers anyway.

Gaith · September 10 2008, 06:18 AM

This is my first time commenting on such an article, so forgive me if it's been over-done.

I love the Shat, and would love to see him make a brief cameo appearance, but...

He's just too fat.

I'm sorry, but medical technology of the future would not allow Kirk to turn into Denny Crane. Kirk wouldn't allow it. The ladies wouldn't go for it! TUC/Generations-era Kirk was large enough...