Star Trek: The Real Reason William Shatner's Kirk Didn't Return From The Dead

In the fall of 1994, Trekkies gathered in movie theaters to watch "Star Trek Generations" and were promptly met with heartbreak. During the movie, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) comes across Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner), now a resident of a temporal Nexus energy ribbon, where he can relive treasured memories. After some hesitation, Kirk departs the energy ribbon and participates in taking down a diabolical El-Aurian doctor, Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell). While Kirk and Picard are successful in their mission, Kirk succumbs to his injuries. As he takes his final breaths, Kirk remarks upon either his last undertaking or more poignantly, his time on the USS Enterprise as a whole.

"It was fun," says Kirk.

Despite this impactful moment, William Shatner allegedly hoped for another go at playing Kirk in the 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact." In an interview for Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman's 2016 book, "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," Rick Berman, executive producer of the "Star Trek" franchise, stated Shatner suggested that Kirk could reappear following his demise. "Bill talked to me a lot about taking advantage of what happened in the last movie and reviving Captain Kirk, but we did kill him twice in 'Generations,' if you think about it, so we had to leave him dead for a little while," said Berman.

Berman explained that while he was not necessarily opposed to Shatner's suggestion, Paramount planned on only showcasing characters who had been not in the 1960s "Star Trek" series. "We wanted to do a film that was pretty much isolated to the 'Next Generation' characters," stated the producer.

The co-screenwriter of "Star Trek Generations" and its sequel "Star Trek: First Contact," Brannon Braga, shared similar remarks about William Shatner's desire to return as James Kirk in "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams." He stated that Shatner's suggestion had the potential of cheapening the character's death, something he wanted to avoid. "It would have been disastrous to kill Kirk in the first movie, and then bring him back in the second. It would have just been chintzy and would have taken away any kind of credibility we'd tried to establish," said the screenwriter.

Shatner, however, suggested he was aware Kirk — or at least his version of the character — would not reappear in his 1998 "Biography" episode. He stated that he was contacted by Paramount executives, who explained they would not cast the first series' stars in new projects following "Star Trek Generations" due to their age and high salaries. "They said, 'We're going to make movies with that [new] cast and we're not going to use you guys anymore. 'Cause, well, you guys are getting older, and top-heavy with salaries and we're going to make a transitional movie. And so you can come and die or not,'" recalled Shatner with a laugh. 

The actor stated he chose the latter and requested a significant sequence focused on his character's passing. "I decided to die. Pay was good. Tried to get a good scene in there, a dying scene," said Shatner.