Out of every Star Trek actor, few are as honest with their opinion as William Shatner. The 94-year-old actor will get candid pretty much with anyone who is asking about pretty much anything, especially if it comes to his time on Star Trek. He’s gained his fair share of critics over the years because of this; now, he may have a few more after some harsh words for former co-stars who have spoken ill of him.
Before I get into these latest comments, it’s worth pointing out Shatner has famously feuded with TOS co-star George Takei over the past few decades about their time working together, and even had issues with Wil Wheaton after the actor shared a story about him being rude. Now, he’s seemingly taking shots at them, as well as others who criticized him, after a fan on X made a comment about how he was disliked on the set of the sci-fi series. In retort, Shatner wrote:
Ever wonder why it was just the part-time day players who were mad and all those stories came out years later during conventions to cover up the fact they were only on set a handful of days and had no real stories? 🤔And why in other series I did there were there no such stories? 🤷🏼👇🏻😉
In fairness to the alleged “part-time day players” I would wager that William Shatner doesn’t get nearly as many questions about being on Boston Legal or T.J. Hooker as much as he does Star Trek. As such, it would make sense there aren’t as many stories about his co-stars on those shows. Or, it’s also possible he acted differently on set after his time on the breakout sci-fi series.
While stars may have definitely shared unsavory stories about Shatner unprompted, I’d also argue there’s enough history of his on-set behavior on the show that it may lead to it coming up again and again. It’ll inevitably be asked about when these stars appear at conventions, and there are a lot of conventions with a Star Trek presence. I can’t say I’ve heard of a Boston Legal convention, though I can’t say those don’t exist either.
Whether that makes it right for these stars to continue to share these BTS stories when William Shatner has apologized is another question. As someone who has followed the actor for a while, I do think it’s worth mentioning that Shatner has riled up the fandom a few times in the past with some of his opinions about the franchise outside of his relationships with his co-stars, too.
One example would be when the star famously mentioned at San Diego Comic-Con that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would be “rolling in his grave” if he saw what the modern shows were like. The comments sent waves throughout the fandom, thinking it was a shot at the increasingly progressive nature of the program and its inclusivity. Shatner later clarified he was talking about sexual relationships between crew members, something Roddenberry was against.
Ultimately, though, there is no Star Trek without William Shatner, and he still has plenty of fans despite the criticisms against him. All this to say, he’s probably not too worried about what people are saying about him, but will speak up if he feels the need to do so.
William Shatner likely isn’t headed back to Star Trek anytime soon, but fans can catch his previous appearances with a Paramount Plus subscription. I know I’m past-due for a rewatch of TOS, which might be worth doing as we get closer to the end of Strange New Worlds.
