William Shatner may be the iconic James T. Kirk, but he's one of five actors to have played the role in the Star Trek franchise. As the original screen Enterprise captain, Kirk casts a long shadow in the popular imagination when it comes to Star Trek. Not only that, but in the Star Trek canon, the adventures of Kirk and Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series continue to define those of future Starfleet crews. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine memorably revisited Kirk's Enterprise to celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary in season 5, episode 6, "Trials and Tribble-ations" which saw the DS9 crew treat Kirk, Spock, and the crew with a great deal of reverence.
Most recently, an alternate universe version of Kirk recently featured in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 1 finale, "A Quality of Mercy" which will lead to Kirk's arrival in Strange New Worlds season 2. Kirk is one of the most iconic Star Trek characters, so it's hardly surprising that the franchise continues to resurrect him. With a new actor taking on the iconic Star Trek role, it's an ideal time to celebrate the five actors who have played James Tiberius Kirk in official Star Trek canon.
When Paramount Pictures relaunched the Star Trek movie franchise in 2009, they rebooted the Trek universe in order to recast the original Enterprise crew. This collection of Kirks will include both the prime Star Trek universe, and the Kelvin timeline. It won't feature the admirable fan attempts to capture Shatner's best-known role by the likes of Vic Mignogna or James Cawley. Nor will it feature Jim Carrey's overblown Kirk parody from In Living Color or Harry Shearer's pitch-perfect Kirk in The Simpsons' many Star Trek references. Here's all five actors who have played Captain Kirk in Star Trek TV shows and movies.
William Shatner Is The Original Captain Kirk
When the network originally passed on Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek pilot, and Jeffrey Hunter stepped down from the role of Christopher Pike, a new Enterprise captain was required. Rather than simply replacing Hunter with William Shatner as Pike, Roddenberry created a completely new character, James Kirk who would be the Enterprise captain for three seasons of TOS between 1966 and 1969. Star Trek's cancelation in 1969 was far from the end of Shatner's tenure as Kirk, however. When the show proved popular in syndication, the Enterprise crew were brought back, first for Star Trek: The Animated Series and then for six movies.
Shatner's relationship with his Star Trek co-stars was often complicated, but there's no denying that he was key to the show's success. Shatner's Kirk was a swaggering, macho hero whose unorthodox approach is somewhat at odds with the more by-the-book captains of 90s Star Trek. His performance as Kirk was clearly inspired by Roddenberry's description of Star Trek as "Wagon Train to the Stars". James Kirk is a space cowboy, cutting a swathe through the new frontier, learning as he goes. Shatner's unique combination of charisma and machismo was perfect for such a character, and he will always be the definitive James Kirk.
Sandra Smith Played Kirk While In Janice Lester's Body
The body swap comedy has become something of a Star Trek trope, most recently featuring in Strange New Worlds' Spock-centric episode, season 1, episode 5, "Spock Amok". However, TOS' final episode, "Turnabout Intruder" presented a much darker spin on the body swap story. One of Kirk's many former lovers, Janice Lester (Sandra Smith) is presented as a bitter female scientist whose career options were limited due to her being a woman. It's an odd plotline given Roddenberry's supposed vision of a utopian society where all mankind's contemporary issues have been solved, but Lester instigates an elaborate plot to finally achieve her dream of becoming a starship captain - using an alien device to instigate a body swap with Enterprise captain James Kirk.
Star Trek's final episode before cancelation might have been a well-meaning, but mishandled allegory for gender inequality but Sandra Smith's performance as both Jim and Janice deserves plaudits. While Shatner as Janice plays a more exaggerated version of Kirk rooted in Lester's hatred of him, Sandra Smith takes a different tack. The essence of Kirk is trapped inside Janice Lester's body, Sandra Smith perfectly captured this by nailing William Shatner's unique mannerisms and delivery in a precise and exacting performance.
Chris Pine Is Captain Kirk In The Kelvin Timeline Trek Movies
In 2009, 40 years after Star Trek was originally canceled, Kirk's Enterprise returned to the big screen. J.J. Abrams' Star Trek rebooted the universe, building upon the internal struggles on Romulus first portrayed in Star Trek: Nemesis, which killed the franchise. When the Romulan home world is destroyed, and the Federation fail to supply sufficient support, Spock follows embittered miner Nero (Eric Bana) into his own past. Nero triggers a chain of events that leads to the death of Kirk's father on the USS Kelvin and the creation of Star Trek's Kelvin timeline. This allowed the franchise to revisit the best-known iteration of the Enterprise crew for future movies, led by Chris Pine as a slightly different James T Kirk.
The death of Kirk's father considerably changed the future Enterprise captain's origin story. While Pine's Kirk still has that unorthodox approach to the Starfleet rulebook, it's rooted in a rebellious streak that he's had since he was a child who felt abandoned by his parents. Chris Pine was spot-on casting as Kirk, as he replicated the swagger and machismo of Shatner's portrayal while making the character his own. Pine's Kirk drills down into the Enterprise captain's more vulnerable side, emphasizing his need for a role model in the absence of his father, and his need for a more by-the-book Starfleet officer like Zachary Quinto's Spock to keep him in check.
Jimmy Bennett Played Young Kirk In Star Trek (2009)
Kirk's troubled childhood is depicted in an early scene where he steals an antique car and drives it off a cliff to the sound of the Beastie Boys. In the prime Star Trek timeline, Kirk was living off-world with his parents before he his teenage years, so the scenes of young Kirk's miserable Earth-based upbringing subtly shows the extent of the Kelvin timeline's changes to Star Trek canon. Jimmy Bennett definitely captures that devil may care attitude of the older Kirks, and his near-fatal recklessness is a neat callback to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, when Kirk states he always thought he'd die young.
Paul Wesley Is James T. Kirk In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Paul Wesley is the latest actor to take on the role of James T. Kirk in Star Trek. He memorably made his debut in Strange New Worlds season 1 finale, which provided an alternate version of the classic TOS episode, "Balance of Terror". Pike was shown this potential future as a means to convince him to accept his tragic Star Trek fate by handing the Enterprise over to Kirk. It's a different spin on the Abrams movies' Kirk and Pike relationship, with Pike now being cognizant of Kirk and Spock's importance to the future of the Federation.
It's unclear exactly how Kirk factors into Strange New Worlds season 2, but Paul Wesley has stated his intention not to do an imitation of Shatner and Pine's portrayals. This is a sensible approach, not least because he's playing a younger version of the future Enterprise captain. This unknown period in Kirk's life will provide Wesley with plenty of material to sink his teeth into as an actor, as the character develops into the Kirk that audiences know from the very early days of Star Trek.