William Shatner hasn’t earned a penny from the reruns of the original “Star Trek.”
“Nobody knew about reruns,” he revealed in a new interview with The Telegraph. “The concept of syndication only came in after ‘Star Trek’ was canceled when someone from the unions said: ‘Wait a minute, you’re replaying all those films, those shows.’”
“There was a big strike. But in the end, the unions secured residual fees shortly after ‘Star Trek’ finished, so I didn’t benefit.”
Shatner portrayed Capt. James T. Kirk in the original “Star Trek” TV series from 1966 to 1969 and reprised the role in various films. Despite the massive fan base and continued success of the original show through reruns, Shatner hasn’t earned a dime in residuals.
Shatner has been outspoken about the issue before, explaining to a fan online why he never received residuals from the hit series.
“Anything before 1973 (that includes Star Trek Original Series) doesn’t pay a cent in Royalties,” he wrote on X in 2020. “So please don’t think you own me or I owe you something for watching. It doesn’t work like that.”
While “Star Trek” has remained immensely popular throughout the years, Shatner himself isn’t a die-hard fan. The now 94-year-old actor revealed he’s actually only seen a “few” episodes of his work and has “never seen” any of the spinoffs.
“I’m gonna tell you something that nobody knows. I’ve never seen another ‘Star Trek’ and I’ve seen as few ‘Star Treks’ of the show I was on, I’ve seen as few as possible,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I don’t like to look at myself, and I’ve never seen any other. I love it, I think it’s great. I just don’t, you know, I don’t watch television, per se.”
“I’m watching documentaries, I’m watching the news, I’m watching sports, I’m watching things that were, documentaries that were made, but I don’t watch television for some reason,” he added. “I’ve been urged to watch certain shows by my family, ‘You’ll love this,’ and I just never get around to it.”
Shatner once said he’d consider reprising his role as Capt. Kirk, but don’t hold your breath.
“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,” he told The Canadian Press in May 2024.
