In 1994, nearly 30 years after William Shatner debuted as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek: The Original Series, his onscreen journey with the character came to an end. The movie Star Trek: Generations saw Kirk dying while helping Jean-Luc Picard prevent Soran killing millions in an attempt to reach the Nexus. Over three decades later, it’s been announced that Shatner’s Kirk will return in a way that, while not happening in an upcoming Star Trek show, did legit surprise me as a fan.
IDW Publishing has announced a comic book series launching in September called Star Trek: The Last Starship, which is being written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, and illustrated by artist Adrián Bonilla. Per THR, the series will see Kirk being resurrected post-Generations, but not immediately afterward, i.e. the time when Deep Space Nine and Voyager were running. Instead, The Last Starship will take place in centuries later in The Burn era, which the characters in Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 learned about when they traveled to the 32nd century.
For those who haven’t seen Discovery (which can be rectified with a Paramount+ subscription if you choose), The Burn was a disaster that saw most of the galaxy’s dilithium being rendered inert, resulting in the detonation of every warp core and killing trillions. This in turn destroyed the peace that the United Federation of Planets had maintained for centuries and nearly destroyed the interstellar union. It was only during the latter half of Discovery’s run, which took place more than a century after The Burn, that the Federation finally started to recover.
Star Trek: The Last Starship will see James T. Kirk resurrected during The Burn under mysterious circumstances. From there, he’ll lead a new ship and crew in an effort to “uphold Starfleet’s mission of unity across the cosmos” in this devastating time. It was also clarified that that The Last Starship is aimed to be accessible for all readers, and that Kirk will be surrounded by brand-new characters.
It should be noted that this isn’t the first time Kirk has been resurrected in written Star Trek material. William Shatner previously wrote a series of novels, informally known as the Shatnerverse, that saw the Borg and Romulans bringing him back to life and sent him to assassinate Jean-Luc Picard, though he was eventually retunred to normal. So while the news of another Kirk resurrection tale didn’t take me by surprise, the fact that it’s set during The Burn did. That said, this actually connects nicely with Star Trek: Picard Season 3 revealing that Kirk’s body had been transferred to the Daystrom Institute.
I’ve enjoyed Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing previous Star Trek comics, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they explain James T. Kirk’s resurrection in this continuity and fleshing out The Burn era in Star Trek: The Last Starship. Meanwhile, you can see Paul Wesley continue to play the pre-Original Series Kirk when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 premieres on the 2025 TV schedule next month.
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