William Shatner Reveals Why Kirk Died in Star Trek: Generations
"So the Producer said, ‘We’re going to kill Kirk because we think that The Next Generation will make more money at the box office,’ and I said ‘Why? Why do you want to kill the Captain?’” “[They said] ‘Ah, the box office, expenses, the budget, and the box office.’ And they said, ‘Do you want to be a part of it?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I’ll be a part of it.'”
However, in reality, Shatner felt he had little say regarding the decision.
“Well, I didn’t think I had any choice in the matter,” he continued. “Paramount had decided that the ceiling that they could reach in our box office had been reached and they thought that by putting in The Next Generation cast, that they would reach a higher box office. That decision had been made. It was either I was going to appear and die, or they were going to say he died. So, I chose the more practical of the two. That was their theory. It didn’t work out that way, but that is the way it was.”
Luckily for fans, Shatner has considered reprising his famous role for a cameo the current series Star Trek: Discovery if the writers can come up with a way to explain Kirk’s resurrection, so the legendary Enterprise may prove you can’t keep a good captain down for long.
We living long and prospering.
