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William Shatner Calls Return To Star Trek "Intriguing Idea," Suggests
Digital De-Aging To Play Kirk Again
(HTM) Source
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The star of the original _Star Trek_ series (and several Star Trek
movies) turned 93 in March, and William Shatner still sees the
possibility of returning to the role of James T. Kirk.
## Kirk still intrigues Shatner
William Shatner is promoting his new documentary _You Can Call Me
Bill_ , which has recently been released on Video on Demand. While out
promoting, of course he's been asked questions about Trek, including
one he has been getting for decades: Would you play Kirk again? In a
new interview with Canadian Press, Shatner said:
> "It's an intriguing idea… It's almost impossible but it was a great
> role and so well-written and if there were a reason to be there not
> just to make a cameo appearance, but if there were a genuine reason
> for the character appearing, I might consider it."
William Shatner as Kirk in _Star Trek Generations_
Shatner last played Kirk 30 years ago in the 1994 film _Star Trek
Generations_ , which featured the death of Kirk. The actor has an idea
of for way to bring him back as Kirk. From the _Canadian Press_
interview:
> He suggests he could play a younger version of the Starship
> Enterprise captain as he's recently signed on to be the spokesperson
> for OTOY, a company specializing in technology that "takes years off
> of your face, so that in a film you can look 10, 20, 30, 50 years
> younger than you are."
Earlier this year Shatner said he was open to the idea of an AI-
generated performance of him as a younger Kirk, but only after he had
passed away (and after his family was paid, naturally). But in this
case, Shatner is suggesting using technology for his own performance.
De-aging has become more common in films today. Perhaps the most
extensive use of this was for last year's _Indiana Jones and the Dial
of Destiny_ , which shaved around four decades off of Harrison Ford.
Star Trek has used digital de-aging before, most extensively in _Star
Trek: Picard_ which used it to de-age Brent Spiner as Data, as well as
Patrick Stewart as Picard and Jonathan Frakes as Riker.
De-aged Patrick Stewart as Picard and Jonathan Frakes as Riker in
"Seventeen Seconds"
Going to the expense of bringing back William Shatner as James T. Kirk
and digitally de-aging him would require a specific reason. The
franchise has already recast the role twice with younger actors, Chris
Pine for the last three feature films and Paul Wesley on the _Strange
New Worlds_ television series.
Of course, it's always hard to tell how serious Shatner is with these
comments. In the same interview, he joked about how Kirk could be
brought back after his body and brain were frozen:
> "'We've got Captain Kirk's brain frozen here.' There's a scenario.
> 'Let's see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt,
> a little pepper. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!'"
You can hear much more from Shatner, including his regrets about
Kirk's death scene in _Generations_ , in the new documentary _You Can
Call Me Bill_.
VIDEO
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