14 DAY TRIAL // Well, this is disappointing: despite rumors that William Shatner, the actor who played Captain James T. Kirk in the original “Star Trek” television series, would make a cameo in the upcoming third installment in the feature film franchise, he hasn’t even been approached for the part yet.
Word of this comes straight from Shatner on his Twitter feed, so chances are he’s a more reliable source than the unnamed insider who claimed to have knowledge of said cameo. Of course, Shatner could lie because he’d be bound by contract not to say anything, but that’s not really likely at this point.
Shatner believes he’s being used to build hype for the new film
Shatner was initially said to make a cameo in the first “Star Trek” film from the rebooted franchise, which came out in 2009 and brought Leonard Nimoy back as Spock. Nimoy co-starred with Shatner on the original series, so it was only to be expected to try and bring the latter back too.
Sadly, plans for the cameo fell through when Shatner tried to make his role bigger than director / writer J.J. Abrams and the studio wanted. He always had quite a reputation of an egomaniac, and in this case, it worked in his disfavor, to the disappointment of fans.
The more recent report claimed that, with Abrams out of the picture because of his commitment to direct the new “Star Wars,” Shatner could be moved to agree to a cameo, which would bring his Kirk and Nemoy’s Spock back together for the first time on the big screen in over a decade.
So far, so good: the rumor made sense, even though it wasn’t traced to a specific source. It also seemed likely to happen, because everyone imagined Shatner would be happy to reprise the part that made him such a star, while also making a lot of money.
He might be happy to be back, but so far, no one has asked him to, Shatner tweeted some hours ago. “Let's talk ST. I don't know anything about the current gossip. Nobody has contacted me. Right now it's just rhetoric to cause hype,” he writes. That’s some serious shade right there, suggesting the studio put the rumor out to build hype for the new movie at his expense.
A Shatner and Nemoy reunion would be just what every Trekkie out there could ever ask for
Clearly, Shatner still harbors some bad feelings over the new “Star Trek” and even if he’s asked to do the cameo, he might turn it down because of that. This is a man who called Abrams a greedy “pig” for agreeing to direct 2 big franchises, for hoarding them and thus wasting his talent and, most importantly, ruining the films.
William Shatner, though adorable in so many ways, which explains his popularity with fans, going beyond the fact he played Kirk on the TV series, is the least gracious celebrity around. Word has it he’s not too nice either, especially when it comes to the amount of screentime he gets or his character’s importance in a story.
All rumors aside, Shatner should agree to do the cameo. Implicitly, the studio and new director Roberto Orci should ask him back. There would be no better treat for Trekkies worldwide than getting to see the original Kirk and Spock together again – and this might even move them to forget about some of the faults in the new, rebooted franchise.
Let's talk ST. I don't know anything about the current gossip. Nobody has contacted me. Right now it's just rhetoric to cause hype.
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) September 23, 2014
I pinned the Star Trek tweet to the top of my profile.
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) September 24, 2014