In 1994, William Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk met his end during Star Trek: Generations, the first film to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation on the big screen. Since that movie’s release, Shatner has floated a few different ideas to bring back Kirk. He even co-wrote a series of non-canon Star Trek novels in which Kirk was resurrected. Now, at 93-years old, Shatner has one last pitch to resurrect Kirk by using de-aging technology to make himself appear three decades younger.
“It’s an intriguing idea,” said Shatner while speaking to the Canadian press. “It’s almost impossible. But if [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.”
Shatner’s suggestion that Kirk’s body and brain have been preserved was actually confirmed during Star Trek: Picard Season 3. But even by Star Trek standards, Shatner’s idea for Kirk’s return is still pretty wild.
“We’ve got Captain Kirk’s brain frozen here,” said Shatner. “There’s a scenario. ‘Let’s see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper [in his hair]. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!'”
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny convincingly de-aged Harrison Ford for the extended opening of the film. But the prohibitive cost of that process was one of the reasons why Dial of Destiny failed to break even at the box office. Even if Shatner’s idea were to go forward, it may run into similar cost issues.
