It doesn't matter how many shows Star Trek churns out in the decades to come, the franchise will seemingly always find its way back to William Shatner. He is the face of the original series after all, and even when he's doing other stuff that is completely unrelated, questions still surface about his thoughts on his time on the show or its future. This includes general questions such as being asked about "the best thing" he ever filmed and more.
In fact, in the latest instance of that, William Shatner was promoting his blues album when Forbes asked him about his run on Star Trek. When asked about his favorite thing about filming the show, the actor gave an interesting response that was half joke and half serious recollection.
Facetiously, I would say the girls, but I'm not going to say that [laughs]. It was the variety of things that they asked me to do, the double [Jim] Kirks, the good and the bad one, all of the strange things that in a straight drama you wouldn't consider. I had to be imaginative. It's the same way I have to be imaginative to make my songs work the way I interpret them.
It would be cool to be a part of a drama where completely nonsensical things happen and that's supposed to be normal, so I can understand William Shatner's reasoning. It's not like the folks on NCIS or Law & Order SVU get to play evil versions of themselves for an episode, and if they do it's usually be because the show had a drastic dip in quality not because the episodes required intense imagination, like the sci-fi series did. Premises like this led to Star Trek's success and turned it into the massive franchise it is today.
In fact, it's a franchise that is so big that it's allowed its legacy star to release a blues album, despite the fact that he'll admit to not being the best singer. William Shatner's The Blues album is a compilation of covers of popular songs, some of which he verbally recites the lyrics for while musicians play the song. It's not quite what he was doing on Star Trek, but it's seemingly what he wants to do at the moment.
One thing that William Shatner is not interested in at the moment is returning to play Captain Kirk. While the actor has toyed with the idea of making a cameo as another character, he doesn't think he's going to get back in the saddle to play the beloved character again as Patrick Stewart recently did. For now, it seems like Shatner is content making music and occasionally giving his thoughts on the Star Trek franchise. Doesn't sound like a bad way to spend your time.
Classic episodes of Star Trek can be binged on CBS All Access, which has become the streaming service to have when it comes to the franchise. Continue to stick with CinemaBlend for more on what's happening with Star Trek, and for the latest news happening in television and movies.
