William Shatner would return to Star Trek, but there’s a catch

William Shatner would be open to returning to Star Trek as Captain Kirk — but if he did come back, it would be in the most unexpected way.

It might have been three decades since Shatner was last on screen as Captain Kirk, the original Star Trek Captain, but the actor is still ready and willing to return to the role… though not in the way you’d assume.

His last appearance in the franchise was in 1994’s Star Trek Generations. In fact, his final turn as Kirk involved the character’s death after being mortally wounded. As such, it was pretty clear that we wouldn’t be seeing Shatner in the captain’s chair again.

Even when the Kelvin Timeline came to fruition, the only Star Trek cameo we got was Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy once again. Now, Shatner has confirmed that he would be up for making his Star Trek return. If the right storyline calls for it, that is.

“It’s an intriguing idea,” he said (via The Canadian Press). “It’s almost impossible but it was a great role and so well-written and if there were a reason to be there not just to make a cameo appearance, but if there were a genuine reason for the character appearing, I might consider it.”

One would assume that Shatner’s return could involve an older version of Kirk, perhaps one that survived his “death” all those years ago. But no — you see, Shatner is a spokesperson for Otoy, a company that innovates technology which can “take years off your face, so that in a film you can look 10, 20, 30, 50 years younger than you are.”

In short, Shatner could potentially return to Star Trek as a de-aged Kirk. It’s not the first time this would have happened. Marvel frequently utilizes de-aging technology, and just last year, Harrison Ford got the flashback treatment in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

As for a more specific plot idea, Shatner envisioned: “A company that wants to freeze my body and my brain for the future might be a way of going about it. We’ve got Captain Kirk’s brain frozen here.’ There’s a scenario. ‘Let’s see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!”

For more, find out everything there is to know about Star Trek 4 and Star Trek Discovery.