William Shatner is 94 years old now, and apparently all those years zipping around the Star Trek universe at warp speed had an anti-aging effect on the actor best known as Capt. James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.
How else to explain how active Shatner remains in his 10th decade on his home planet? In recent months, Shatner’s started work on his 12th non-fiction book, “William Shatner and You!” for which he’s interviewing fans about how he’s impacted their lives.
Shatner and astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson debuted a live show called “The Universe is Absurd” and are now collaborating on an audiobook. Most recently, he’s holding a charity auction for his annual Hollywood Charity Horse Show, which raises funds to support children’s and veterans’ charities.
Now Shatner comes to Anaheim on Friday, Nov. 14, for a live show in which he’ll host a screening of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” and then talk with and take questions from the audience.
“We’ll screen this shined-up, polished version of “The Wrath of Khan,” which could be the best, or one of the best, ‘Star Trek’ films,” Shatner says on a recent call from his home in Los Angeles. “It’s refurbished in its sound and color and everything.
“Then it ends and I come on stage,” he continues. “So the audience, for their ticket, gets a beautiful film and then gets me afterwards doing the best I can to amuse and amaze you, taking questions from the audience and talking about the film or anything else.
“It’s a fun time. It’s a really lovely evening in the theater, both film and live.”
In an interview edited for length and clarity, Shatner discussed the themes of “Khan,” his admiration for actor Ricardo Montalban and where he thinks the future of space travel is headed.
Q: “The Wrath of Khan” is a great movie. Khan’s a fun nemesis, and then its got some good emotions at the end.
A: I hate to hear it’s got some good emotions at the end. I mean, it’s a lovely film of human interaction and tragedy and fun. It’s a lovely film that touches is humanity is the way I’d rather put it, as opposed to you get a lot at the end.
Q: Oh, I was referring to some of the plot elements at the end, not that the rest of the movie isn’t great. What memories stand out from making it?
A: Ricardo Montalban was wonderful in the film. I don’t know the name of what he was suffering from, but it was an affliction that got worse and worse and finally caused his death. I can’t think of anything more nightmarish than the nightmare of getting old. And that’s irrevocable. Nothing you can do about that.
But those diseases that come upon human beings that are fatal and work very quickly, so you’re aware of what’s going to happen. And then you begin to ponder death.
In fact, I’m doing a podcast with my daughter, who had stage 4 cancer and is cancer-free now. I had stage 4 cancer as a melanoma and I’m cancer-free. So the podcast will be “No Time To Die.” Dying means the final insult, doesn’t it? And there’s no way around that.
But Ricardo had a debilitating disease, and it was extraordinary to see the way he dealt with it. He was in a wheelchair by the time he made the film. We know certain actors who are suffering from those diseases that will eventually kill you. They’re facing this final tragedy, and I don’t know how they do it.
That’s what Ricardo was facing as I knew him. It became a really close acquaintanceship with him. And part of that emotion and that sadness, I think hovers in scenes that he’s in.
Q: “The Wrath of Khan” was the first production not to involve (“Star Trek” creator] Gene Roddenberry.
A: You’re correct. They moved him upstairs, and people who were wonderful filmmakers started making the films. It was a joy to work with them. I did direct the fifth film [“Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”], which got a great attention and was an enormous experience for me.
Being part of the “Star Trek” world for the years that I did the series and then the years I did the films was an enormous moment in my life. My “Star Trek” career has been life-altering.
Q: When fans come to “The Wrath of Khan” shows or any other live events you do, are there common things they want to know about?
A: They might refer to specific things in the film, or they might ask me about life or what I’m doing, or what I’m not doing. Or they might talk about philosophy, like I suggested right now they might talk about living or dying. There’s no limit on what the questions can be.
If the question is something that is familiar about how were the scenes with Ricard Montalban, what was your relationship with Leonard Nimoy, I would answer that, of course.
But more interestingly, for me anyway, they might ask about my life and about what I’ve read. Where I’m going and what I think. It’s a kick for me to turn those questions around and ask the person, what do you think? Having a dialogue with that person standing in the audience with a microphone in their hands becomes an intimate, revealing conversation for both of us.
So the moment I’m on stage talking to an audience and getting questions and answers I don’t just say, “Oh, on that date I did … . I try to turn the conversation into a meaningful moment between two people.
Q: How often are you surprised by something that people ask you?
A: Well, you know, I have in my past done more than one interview shows that were pretty successful. I found in those interviews like you’re doing that everybody, some more voluble than others, have a secret that they’re willing to expose if they’re given the chance.
So if that secret thing – that inner story that they might not reveal any time, or is aching to get out if you touch the right button – if that comes out, it’s of enormous interest to me and to the audience listening to that person’s story. So I try and reach that a lot.
Q: Outside of the fictional things that you’ve done, I know you’ve had an interest in actual space as well.
A: I did a question and answer on stage with Neil deGrasse Tyson [in Seattle in June], and I had to bone up on scientific things. Of course, he’s a master, but I at least had to know what to ask. We recently did an audiobook, about 10 hours, based on those very things, questions and answers about science. [“The Backyard Tapes,” recorded in Shatner’s backyard, will be released in March 2026.]
Q: A few years ago, you went to space on a Blue Origin rocket. What’s your view of the real world’s future for space exploration?
A: Well, there’s no limit on where you can go. Voyager is beyond our solar system, the original little mechanical thing. Every so often, they’re able to bring it back [online] and it sends out a signal from way out in space. It’s traveling very quickly. I don’t believe it has a direction.
Although there was some indication that it came alive and started sending signals. And it changed course and there was some talk that it had fallen under the guidance of something. Then that was disputed, but it’s a romantic idea to think about.
So mankind can go into space – but where and how long, and what’s the voyage going to be and how long will it take? We went to war with Germany and Japan 85 years ago. We’ve long forgotten World War II. World War II is no longer in our conscience, and it’s only 75 or 85 years ago.
What will human beings on a thousand-year voyage be like? Year 100, someone’s got to say, “Where are we going exactly? What are we doing?” They’ve long since forgotten the reason for the voyage.”
Q: What’s a more likely choice?
A: Voyaging out into space has got its limitations and going to Mars, all the hazardous things that can happen, I’m not an aficionado. Going to the moon, putting a base on the moon and doing on the work on the moon is very viable. I don’t think there’s any question of that in the very near future.
William Shatner Live On Stage
What: Screening of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” followed by Q-and-A with William Shatner.
When: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 14
Where: The Grove of Anaheim, 2200 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim
How much: $64.70 to $237.90
For more: See Williamshatnertour.com or Groveofanaheim.com/events