--- description: A movie franchise that's always balanced its exciting elements with backward-looking nostalgia may finally have gone over the edge. title: Why Star Trek Bringing William Shatner Back Is a Terrible Idea image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fd865214b2e2f74/69875f21cd68486e9b096e74/ap45232921868.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why _Star Trek_ Bringing William Shatner Back Is a Terrible Idea  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 7, 2014 3:31 PM CUT  William Shatner. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP) William Shatner. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP)Barry Brecheisen—Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP  by [Daniel D'Addario](/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 7, 2014 3:31 PM CUT William Shatner is only the latest entertainment personality (after [J. K. Rowling](http://time.com/3475776/j-k-rowling-harry-potter-riddle/ "undefined") and [David Lynch](http://time.com/3475258/twin-peaks-showtime-david-lynch/ "undefined"), recently) to create a not-that-hard-to-solve mystery in a “cryptic tweet.” His quickly-deleted tweet, “I’m baaaaccckk!!!,” [has been interpreted](http://time.com/3476947/william-shatner-star-trek-3/ "undefined") as a signal that he’ll be reprising his role as Captain James T. Kirk in a new _Star Trek_ film, not least because the actor has admitted to having been in touch with the film franchise’s executive producer J. J. Abrams. This news is less exciting than it is wince-inducing. A movie franchise that’s always balanced its exciting elements with backward-looking nostalgia may finally have gone over the edge. For the generation that’s currently buying the most movie tickets, the _Star Trek_ TV series on which Shatner appeared is less an actual cultural artifact than a vague idea. That’s as it should be. The _Star Trek_ that aired from 1966 to 1969 has its ardent fans still, but was not built to last 40 years, if only because fatigue sets in with characters and performers running through the same routines. That’s why successive _Star Trek_ projects, like TV series _The Next Generation_ and _Deep Space Nine_, kept the formula but revised the makeup of the starship (or space station), and why stars from George Takei to Leonard Nimoy have reinvented themselves in order to stay in the public eye. All things being equal, a story using the same characters and actors decades later has the strong possibility of staleness. Recycling a performer known for his woodenness and casual approach to emoting only makes that more likely. The first two _Star Trek_ films had, to varying degrees, a fresh approach to decades-old characters, recasting iconic roles with performers able to carry across the wit and irony missing from the earnest 1960s series. Kirk and Spock’s relationship, brought to life by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, had real bite and tension in 2009’s franchise reboot, something the sixties TV show couldn’t quite pull off — though the pair’s relationship did get more interesting in the feature films that followed after the series’ end, starting with 1979’s_Star Trek: The Motion Picture_. But even the modern reboot films have come right up to the line of retreading old ground at times, in reintroducing Nimoy as an aged version of Spock in the first installment and in reviving the iconic villain Khan (played now by Benedict Cumberbatch) in the second. The most overtly nostalgic aspects of the new _Star Trek_ films are the least successful, because no one, really, is nostalgic for the particulars of _Star Trek_. If William Shatner is to return to the _Star Trek_ franchise, it’d be of a piece with all the in-jokes that fell slightly flat in the first two installments, and proof that those behind the new films have been learning all the wrong lessons from success. _Star Trek_ works because it can be revised to speak to new generations, not because there’s hunger to retell old dynamics. The parts of the show that work are a sense of exploration. _Star Trek_ shows no boldness, though, when it goes where it’s already been. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3478200/star-trek-william-shatner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3478200/star-trek-william-shatner/"},"headline":"Why Star Trek Bringing William Shatner Back Is a Terrible Idea","datePublished":"2014-10-07T15:31:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:37:56.757Z","description":"Rumors swirl around Captain Kirk's return. 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