One thing about William Shatner is that he's never afraid to offer his opinion. After rumors surfaced this year about him returning to Star Trek, a fan asked why his character was ever killed off in the first place. Shatner wasted no time responding to a critic of his decision to participate in Generations despite knowing how James T. Kirk died, and was pretty sassy about it.
Shatner is still active on X and will occasionally interact with fans who ask him various things about Star Trek. Unfortunately, one fan made the mistake of asking why the Kirk actor "agreed" to let his character be killed off in Generations, and Shatner pointed out there was little other choice for him to say otherwise:
🙄 I don’t own my character and there were 2 choices: do the movie and be killed off or don’t do the movie and still be killed off. What would have been your choice?
I do wonder what Star Trek: Generations would be like had William Shatner walked and Captain Kirk was killed off-screen. Perhaps there would be more time for Data to make jokes, which was my personal highlight of the movie when I saw it for the first time.
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In all seriousness, though, without Kirk's death, I'm not sure there'd be much of a reason to make this movie at all. It's more or less the most notable thing about Generations, which is why CinemaBlend has it ranked the lowest on its list of best Star Trek movies.
William Shatner wasn't going to turn down an opportunity to play James T. Kirk, and it's not like he's really jumped at any chance to play the character in a live-action series or movie since then. I would wager that at the time, he was more or less ok with being written off, as his complaints mainly stem from the execution of how the death happened and not Kirk's actual death.
I can see where he's coming from. To see someone who is viewed as one of Star Trek's best characters die from a fall after a bridge collapse was pretty disappointing. It's certainly not a death any Klingon would call "honorable," so why should fans feel any differently?
William Shatner is announcing appearances at events once again after fans learned earlier this year that he was rushed to the hospital. The 94-year-old told his followers not to worry, however. All he did was "overindulge" in some beverages, and there was no cause for alarm.
Watch Star Trek: Generations right now with your Paramount+ subscription. I'm eager to watch new Trek in 2026, and hoping that Starfleet Academy and Strange New Worlds Season 4 live up to the hype!
