Star Trek's William Shatner, 95, exposes reality of his 'near-death' cancer battle

Star Trek really did live long and prosper as nearly 1,000 episodes spanning 13 series over six decades would most certainly attest. After its US debut on September 8, 1966, the sci-fi show received mixed reviews from the critics. But they were largely in agreement about the talents of its cast members, who would soon become household names and over the years spawn generations of cosplay and conventions worldwide. And ahead of its 60th birthday, the original series’ main man William Shatner believes he knows why it has stood the test of time. He tells the Mirror: “What’s the secret to Star Trek? It’s pure TV magic. If anybody had the real answer to that, they’d write another show that would last 60 years. “It was well written, and many of the episodes were really extraordinary. But the fact that it was so positive about the future made people fall in love with it. There were several science-fiction writers who were themselves scientists, who delved into scientific possibilities and made them fictional realities. And so people got a glimpse of what might happen in the future. “The show portrayed an existence 400 years from now that was positive in that we’re not going to kill ourselves in the next few years in global warming, or at this point, AI, which wasn’t thought of back then. Mankind still existed. “It’s a message we need now in 2026 too. Maybe more than ever. So all those things, plus the excellence of the acting...” He laughs. But he’s right. Taking the helm of the USS Enterprise, William’s character Captain James T Kirk was joined by a cast praised for its diversity. Viewers met Mr Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy; Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, played by George Takei; and Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, among others. William has his favourite, although if the broadcasters had got their way, the Enterprise’s half human-half Vulcan science officer would have had an entirely different look. The 95-year-old Canadian says: “Spock was really interesting. And what Leonard did with it was so beautiful. The NBC wanted to change the character completely, take off the ears, make him less exotic. And management fought that, and we won. As a result, there was this marvellously colourful character in Star Trek.” After three seasons of the original Star Trek, William went on to appear in Boston Legal, for which he won an Emmy and a Golden Globe. He has also been in Hollywood films Miss Congeniality and Over the Hedge, as well as US TV drama The Practice, for which he won another Emmy. But it is for his portrayal of Kirk, whom he also played in six spin-off films, that he remains most remembered. He was a daring and loyal leader who pushed his crew to boldly go where no man had gone before. William says: “Am I like the character? No, I’m just walking around, blundering into things. Kirk is essentially a Greek hero, given a journey and trying to get something done and fighting a good fight. I’m not like that at all. Captain Kirk was really a traditional hero. We’re just ordinary people.” Star Trek has been a pioneer of on-screen diversity and inclusion since the beginning, which for British fans came in 1969. The original had a multiracial crew, including Lt Uhura and Lt Sulu. This representation, fans say, gave hope to minority viewers during the Civil Rights Movement. William says: “Star Trek was very good at showing ‘the other’ in a way that lots of things on TV didn’t at the time. It was really forward thinking. It was also shown at the time of the Cold War, mirroring real-world tensions and advocating for diplomacy. I think that writers who are sensitive and talented reflect the times. The people who are writing today’s fiction have to be affected by the chaotic state of the world right now, and would reflect that in their writings, even unconsciously.” The Star Trek franchise is available in more than 190 countries worldwide. But unlike his millions of fans, William has not watched most of it. He says: “I haven’t seen all the episodes that I did, and I’ve never seen another version of Star Trek. Don’t ask me why, because I really don’t know why I haven’t looked. I’m really good friends with some of the guys in The Next Generation, and I’ve never seen an episode. It’s a little peculiar. Perhaps it’s a little bit sacred to me.” Also sacred to William, was his kinship with Spock actor Leonard, who died in 2015 aged 83. William misses his shipmate. He says: “The personal thing for me is my friendship with Leonard Nimoy. That was a lovely thing in my life. He was the brother I never had, and we had a remarkable friendship for several years. Years after the show was cancelled, we would go out to these Comic-Cons together and spend the day or certainly several hours, entertaining the audience and making each other laugh. He was a lovely friend of mine. That stands out a great deal.” In a case of life imitating art, in 2023 William became the oldest person to travel into space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin shuttle, aged 90. William says: “I had read what others had said about it – how vulnerable and small the Earth is – and I had that feeling. I could see the beginning of the circumference of the Earth and knew that all I had to do is follow the outline of my finger, and I would draw a sphere maybe three feet in diameter. That’s how small our planet is compared to what we know about other heavenly bodies. “What I wasn’t prepared for was the fact that, because I’ve been an ecologist for so many years and aware of what we were doing in destroying the planet, I was very moved. It was beautiful. We’re not taking planet-warming seriously enough. It’s incredibly prevalent this week as well, isn’t it, with the natural disasters that are going on in the world.” The actor has been married four times, reunited with his ex-wife Elizabeth in 2024, and has three children from his first marriage. He splits his time between his home in LA and a horse farm in Kentucky. In July this year, William revealed he had been battling cancer. But after nearly two years free of the disease, he says: “I’m very well. I’m great. Totally recovered. “Having learned the lessons of a near-death experience, I’m doing a podcast with my daughter Melanie called No Time Like Now, which is based on our mutual recovery. She had breast cancer Stage 4. We were already very close, but it’s brought me closer to my daughter, and given me a sense of awareness of the magic of life.”