Leonard Nimoy’s son speaks on father’s “unfortunate” feud with William Shatner

Leonard Nimoy’s son has spoken about his father’s feud with Star Trek co-star William Shatner, calling it “unfortunate”.

The pair famously played the roles of Spock and James T. Kirk on the show’s original series, though were subject to rumours of tension away from cameras.

Speaking to Page Six about the reasons for his late father’s feud with Shatner, Adam Nimoy said: “I know why,” though didn’t go further into the reasons as he wants to “let sleeping dogs lie”.

“It’s unfortunate, it’s sad, but it is what it is,” he further reflected. “There’s nothing we could do about it, nothing I could’ve done about it.

“I love Bill [Shatner], but I can say and will say they had a very challenging relationship themselves, although there was a period of time where they were really beautifully together.”

Elaborating on this period, Nimoy recalled: “He announced to my sister and I that his best friend was Bill Shatner during this period of love between them. Julie and I were scratching our heads like… you’ve knocked heads with Bill, all your professional life.

“And now they had some reconciliation and it was beautiful, but it just didn’t. They just couldn’t sustain it. And that’s unfortunate.”

Nimoy passed away in 2015 at the age of 83, with Shatner among those paying tribute at the time. However, he received criticism for choosing to attend a prior charity commitment over Nimoy’s funeral.

Reacting to the backlash at the time, Shatner explained to StarTrek.com: “Leonard died and, faced with that choice, I didn’t think anybody would notice one way or the other, quite frankly.

“When I was in Florida, I thought I’d better say something on Twitter. So I said, ‘I’m honouring the dead, but I’m celebrating the living by doing a good deed.’ I didn’t think that anybody would notice.”

In other news, last year Shatner said he doesn’t “have long to live” as he opened up about making documentary You Can Call Me Bill.

“I’ve turned down a lot of offers to do documentaries before. But I don’t have long to live,“ he said to Variety. “Whether I keel over as I’m speaking to you or 10 years from now, my time is limited, so that’s very much a factor.

“I’ve got grandchildren. This documentary is a way of reaching out after I die. The sad thing is that the older a person gets the wiser they become and then they die with all that knowledge.”