Why Star Trek's New Shows Completely Ignore Kirk (& How To Fix It)

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Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) seems to have no legacy in Star Trek: Discovery's distant future and there are unfortunate reasons why the original Captain of the Starship Enterprise has been ignored by CBS All-Access' Star Trek series. While Kirk has been name-dropped on Star Trek: Lower Decks, it's Spock (Leonard Nimoy) who has united the franchise's past with Star Trek: Discovery's 32nd century. Spock's work trying to bring about the unification of the Vulcans and Romulans ultimately succeeded and he has been venerated now that both races share the Vulcan homeworld, which has been renamed Ni'Var, centuries after Spock's death.

To the original generation of Trekkers, Kirk and Spock are Star Trek. Captain Kirk was the undisputed central hero of the franchise from the mid-1960s until the beginning of the 1990s when Star Trek: The Next Generation - and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) - began to supplant Kirk and The Original Series' popularity. TNG and its spinoffs, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, genuflected to Kirk and his legend's influence. DS9 season 5's "Trials and Tribble-ations" even revealed Kirk was one of Captain Benjamin Sisko's (Avery Brooks) heroes and the two Captains met in a historic moment in the 23rd century (although Kirk was unaware who "Lieutenant Benjamin Sisko" really was). From TOS' numerous First Contacts with alien beings during the Enterprise's five-year mission, to saving the Earth twice from V'Ger and the whale probe, to Kirk being instrumental in the Klingons becoming allies of the United Federation of Planets, Kirk's achievements are perhaps the most important of the 23rd century.

But in Star Trek: Discovery's 32nd century, the legend of Captain James T. Kirk seems to have faded into history and he has no greater legacy to speak of. This problem can be traced to how Star Trek opted to kill Kirk off in 1994's Star Trek Generations. In order to launch TNG into feature films, Paramount felt a crossover with Kirk was vital to drum up fan interest but their mandate included Kirk dying at the end of the film. Of course, there was no way to predict Star Trek's 21st-century revival on CBS All-Access but Paramount's decision to kill Kirk ultimately displayed a grievous lack of foresight. Not only was Kirk's death underwhelming and not fitting of his legend, but his demise also left behind no threads to pick up. After all, Kirk was single, had no children to carry on his name, and he had already been assumed dead for 70 years when he was lost in the Nexus at the end of the 23rd century. Unlike Spock, who lived into the 24th century and laid the foundation for the Vulcan/Romulan reunification that Star Trek: Discovery was able to bring to a conclusion, Kirk didn't have a greater work he left behind for succeeding generations to complete. Instead, Kirk's story stopped cold in Star Trek Generations - but it doesn't have to stay that way.

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While William Shatner feels that "Kirk's story is pretty well played out at this point", the legendary actor has expressed interest in some kind of revival of Captain Kirk as long as it was "written properly and it wasn’t a cameo or gratuitous", although Shatner shot down starring in his own spinoff like Patrick Stewart's Star Trek: Picard. But as of now, Kirk has been unfairly and unfortunately left behind as CBS's Star Trek series blaze the franchise's future. Even the J.J. Abrams-produced movies about the alternate timeline's Kirk (Chris Pine) seem to be mothballed. Meanwhile, Star Trek: Picard is getting a second season (with Jean-Luc's android body giving the Admiral a new lease on life) while Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) will return, albeit in animated form, in Star Trek: Prodigy. Although there may be little chance of Avery Brooks playing Sisko again, DS9's Captain ended his series as a literal god.

Of course, this is Star Trek and there are always possibilities for Kirk; Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Picard could easily find a way to bring Kirk back in a holodeck, through time travel, or even via archival footage as Discovery did with Nimoy's Spock. In fact, Kirk, voiced by William Shatner, appearing in Star Trek: Lower Decks is a viable means to revive the legendary Captain in the 24th century. However, while this would be fun, it wouldn't address the greater issue of Kirk's legacy in the future.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds could actually begin the solution to the problem of Kirk's legacy. It's possible that, like Ethan Peck's Spock, a younger Kirk played by a different actor could appear in Strange New Worlds, and the prequel series could plant the seeds for a macro story that weaves through TOS and can be paid off a thousand years later on Star Trek: Discovery just like what happened with Spock. Whatever the future holds, Trekkers ardently hope that Star Trek finds a way to update Kirk's legacy and recontextualizes Captain Kirk's greater importance, not just to Star Trek's past but to its future as well.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on CBS All-Access and Fridays internationally on Netflix.