The feud among these co-stars doesn’t seem to be reaching a conclusion—even though almost 60 years have passed since it began. In various interviews, William Shatner and his Star Trek castmates have commented on their tense relationship, which began way back when the iconic sci-fi series premiered in the 1960s.
Now, in a new conversation with The Times of London, Shatner has once again aired his feelings about his fellow actors, going as far as to say their dislike and criticism of him is “like a sickness.”
Read on to see what else the 91-year-old actor said in his latest interview and to learn more about the falling out between Shatner and the rest of the Star Trek cast over the years.
READ THIS NEXT: William Shatner & This Star Trek Co-Star Have Been Feuding For 50 Years.
One of the main issues Shatner’s cast members have brought up is his ego on the Star Trek set. In 2019, Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov, told the Television Academy, “To be sure, every shot was set up so that he’d be in the foreground. He just automatically blocked it that way, and as I said before, the directors just went along with it.” He added, “But he was civil. Never got the sense that he wanted to be any of the supporting actors’ pal. He enjoyed hanging out with Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.”
In 1999, James Doohan, who played Scotty, voiced something similar. He said, via Boston.com, “I like Captain Kirk, but I sure don’t like Bill. He’s so insecure that all he can think about is himself.”
During an interview with USA Today in October, Shatner was asked about co-star Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Nyota Uhura, telling Shatner before her death earlier this year that some co-stars found him difficult. He responded that it was a “total shock” to hear.
In his new interview with The Times of London (via Deadline), Shatner said that he believes his co-stars have spoken ill of him in order to get attention from the public and the press.
“Sixty years after some incident, they are still on that track. Don’t you think that’s a little weird?” he said. “It’s like a sickness. I began to understand that they were doing it for publicity.”
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More intense than with any of his other Star Trek co-stars, Shatner has had a long-running and very public feud with George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu on the show. Their exchanges have included Shatner claiming Takei didn’t invite him to his 2008 wedding, which other Star Trek stars attended, while Takei claims that he did invite the actor.
More recently, they got into a public scuffle when Takei called Shatner a “guinea pig” for being a passenger on Jeff Bezos’ space flight at 90 years old. “[H]e’s not the fittest specimen of 90 years old, so he’ll be a specimen that’s unfit!” Takei told Page Six.
Speaking to The Times of London interview, Shatner again called out Takei specifically. “George [Takei] has never stopped blackening my name,” the actor said. “These people are bitter and embittered. I have run out of patience with them. Why give credence to people consumed by envy and hate?”
The Boston Legal star commented on Takei’s space flight jab to USA Today.
“Why would George Takei put that in public?” Shatner said. “After I came down from space—had this experience, talked about global warming—he would say, ‘Oh, they probably used him because he was the oldest guy that would go up.’ He was so mean-spirited. Again, there is no reason. And I don’t give a cup of tea what his opinion is. But that’s a guy who’s not well.”