Star Trek's 60th anniversary served as a time for fans to reflect on their love for Gene Roddenberry's beloved sci-fi saga. As that affection poured out from fans, two of the franchise's biggest icons -- William Shatner and George Takei -- were still engaged in a feud. And more recently, amid the milestone anniversary, Shatner spoke about his ongoing beef with his former scene partner.
Just recently, Shatner spoke to USA Today about the anniversary as well as his ongoing feuds with past cast members. Takei and Walter Koenig have both taken shots at the Captain Kirk actor over the years, citing his negative attitude on the set of the iconic TV show. However, Shatner has maintained that he never interacted with them and repeated this in the latest interview:
These two guys have spent 60 years denigrating me, and I don't know either one of them. I've never had a harsh word...But they started bad-mouthing me to audiences all the time. I've given up on those guys.
On the other hand, both Koenig and Takei have claimed that it was Shatner's arrogance and lack of compassion for lesser actors on the set that led to them going public against him. Admittedly, the feud has gotten petty in more recent years, with Takei roasting Shatner's space flight and the Shat-man trolling Takei on his birthday.
We've occasionally seen points in which the feud boiled over, such as when Takei alleged that Shatner and Nimoy had a quiet feud on the show. Shatner has fired back at Takei more than Koenig over the years, citing his former co-star's habit of bringing him up whenever he's promoting other projects.
It would've been great if, in the spirit of what Star Trek is about, these two put aside their differences and buried the hatchet. Of course, William Shatner has famously never watched Star Trek or kept up with the franchise, so his feuds and gripes with past actors are some of the things he can confidently speak on. Not that it hasn't stopped him before from commenting on Trek-related matters he didn't have full context on, but I digress.
Beyond some drama from the franchise's most high-profile actors, Star Trek's 60th anniversary came and went without much fanfare. Strange New Worlds Season 4 is currently releasing new episodes that are available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription. But, with the show set to end next season and Starfleet Academy ending after Season 2, there are many questions about the franchise's future as far as TV goes.
Fortunately, Paramount does have plans to bring Star Trek back to theaters, with a new movie written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. There's optimism on the studio's part that project will thrust the franchise back into the mainstream, and hopefully, it'll keep this franchise chugging for another sixty years.
As for whether there's hope for William Shatner and George Takei to make amends at some point, that seems unlikely. But, hey, more surprising things have happened. While fans ponder that though, they can celebrate Star Trek by streaming the series over on Paramount+. While Takei and Shatner may not get along, they're still very entertaining to watch in The Original Series.
