“It Was Suggested Not to Do It”. William Shatner Didn't Give Up and Decided in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to Do Something He Was Advised Against
William Shatner had a vision for his character that he wanted to embody in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, though not everyone was convinced. Nevertheless, the actor set his sights on it.
After the success of the Star Trek TV series, it was decided to expand the story into films. Accordingly, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was first made, however, despite its financial success, it was considered a failure. But Star Trek and the story of Captain Kirk and his crew were not abandoned. It was decided to create another movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
William Shatner, who played James T. Kirk, came with a suggestion to the film’s creators. He wanted Kirk to be more sensitive this time, and therefore more human. He wanted to show him from a completely different side after the time jump, revealing that the captain is facing a mid-life crisis. Not everyone was convinced by his vision of humanizing Kirk, however, the actor managed to stake his claim.
Shatner told the story in 1982 during an interview with Bobbie Wygant. During that conversation, the artist confessed that the film dealt with themes of “youth, and old age, and death, and love”.
It was suggested not to do it at one point. By some people that had my best interests at heart. [But] my feeling has always been that the more human you can make a character, the more vulnerable, the more identifiable, the better it is. So we saw all means possible to do that.
Shatner did what he wanted to do, and that proved to be a good decision, with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan becoming the beginning of a trilogy that ended with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The second film is regarded as one of the best in the series, which only proves that Shatner may have had a good feeling about how to lead the main character.
