As it currently stands, the relationship between Shatner and Paramount is hardly warm enough to indicate an O.G. Kirk revival is in the cards. Like many fans, the actor feels the studio has done Kirk dirty by leaving him out of their recent promotional material. One of the most glaring examples was Paramount’s front page banner for Star Trek Day 2023, which featured the faces of many iconic figures including Benjamin Sisko, Jonathan Archer, Nyota Uhura, Jean-Luc Picard, and Seven of Nine, among a handful of others. Notably absent was the captain who helmed Enterprise through most of “Star Trek: The Original Series.
When fans pointed out the obvious snub on X (formerly Twitter), Shatner replied, “It’s not the first time it’s been going on for years. It makes no difference to me that a group who think they are “enlightened” (or whatever they think they are) obviously feels threatened by the Kirk character. It’s a character from a 1960’s TV show- get over it.😉🤣” Not-so-subtly implying that Kirk’s snub is due to the “Original Series” captain’s lack of political correctness amid culturally sensitive times, Shatner added in another post, “It doesn’t bother me in the least. A bunch of self righteous strangers thinking they are sending a message by erasing the past? Who is going to forget?”
While the shirt-ripping space playboy that piloted Enterprise in the late 1960s may not be what Paramount execs want to plaster on promo materials, many fans feel Kirk should get another shot. Others point to Paul Wesley’s appearance as the younger Kirk on “Strange New Worlds” — and his warm reception from fans — as an example of Trek at its best and a reminder that there’s still room for the beloved Starfleet figure in the franchise’s modern storytelling.
