The main cast of Star Trek: The Original Series remains some of the most iconic in the Star Trek franchise, but how old was every main character in their first and last appearance? TOS first aired in 1966, and although it was famously canceled in 1969 after only three seasons, the show gained a cult following in syndication that paved the way for every other Star Trek series and movie that came after. Today, TOS is still thought of as one of the greatest sci-fi shows of all time, and the franchise it created is still going strong.
TOS's popularity was due in large part to its main cast of characters, who viewers fell in love with while watching the show. Even people who are not fans of Star Trek will still often recognize the names of the show's characters, such as Captain Kirk, Spock, or Doctor McCoy. The TOS characters continue to loom large in the Star Trek canon, and because they have become so popular a lot of information has been revealed about them over the years, including - in most cases - their birthdates and ages.
For the most popular characters like Captain James T. Kirk, exact dates of birth (and death) are widely known among Star Trek fans. Even for secondary players like Sulu or Chekov, dates of birth have been provided for them to allow fans a sense of where they fit into the timeline. This means that the ages of the TOS crew are fairly well documented, and easy to track over the course of their multiple appearances throughout the franchise.
James T. Kirk
Played by William Shatner, James T. Kirk's biographical details are perhaps the most well-known of any TOS character. Kirk was born on March 22nd in the year 2233, which made him 32 years old at the beginning of TOS as the first season was set in 2265. TOS covered from 2265 to 2269 in the timeline, so by the final season, Kirk would have been 36. Shatner's version of Kirk made his final appearance in the film Star Trek: Generations, which mainly focused on the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation but included Kirk as a significant character. Generations were set in both 2293 and 2371 and it was also the movie where Kirk met his end, dying in the battle with the main villain after being rescued from the Nexus by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Because he had not aged during his time in the Nexus, Kirk was physically 60 years old when he died in 2371, but technically 138 years old if the intervening years are counted.
Spock
Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has an equally well-documented age. Spock was born on January 6th, 2230, and by the start of TOS was 35 years old, turning 39 by the end. The last time Leonard Nimoy's Spock appeared in the franchise's Prime Timeline was in the TNG episodes "Unification, Parts 1 and 2", which were set in the year 2368. Spock was 138 years old by this time, his Vulcan heritage allowing him a much longer lifespan than most humans. However, the rebooted Star Trek films that began in 2009 included Nimoy as part of their main cast, making them TOS Spock's actual final appearance in the franchise. In the films, Spock was accidentally sucked in a black hole that transported him from 2387 in the Prime Timeline to the year 2258 in the Kelvin Timeline. Spock was 157 when he ended up in the Kelvin Timeline and lived another four years there before passing away at the age of 161. His death in canon was the result of Leonard Nimoy's passing in 2015.
Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Rounding out the iconic TOS trio, Doctor "Bones" McCoy, played by DeForest Kelley, had a slightly more straightforward timeline in the series. According to canon, McCoy was born in 2227, making him 38 at the start of TOS and 42 by the end of it. This also made him the second oldest character in the main cast. Kelley's last appearance came in the TNG pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" where he made a cameo as a way of passing the torch on to the next Star Trek show. "Encounter at Farpoint" was set in 2364, making McCoy 137 years old and demonstrating that humans had developed ways to live much longer in the 24th century. McCoy's death was never shown on screen, but Kelley died in 1999, making further appearances by his version of McCoy impossible in later Star Trek projects.
Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
Played by James Doohan, The Original Series' Scotty was born in 2222, making him 43 at the start of TOS and 47 by the end. Doohan's last appearance as Scotty was the TNG episode "Relics", which was set in the year 2369. Thus revealed that in 2294, Scotty had been aboard a ship that crashed on the surface of a Dyson Sphere. In an attempt to save himself, he rigged the ship's transporter to store his patterns in the buffer and survived for another 75 years in transporter limbo until he was found and rescued by the USS Enterprise-D. In 2294, Scotty was 72 years old and appeared the same age when he was rescued from the transporter buffer, although technically he was 147 years old with the additional 75 years. Like McCoy, Scotty's death was never shown in canon, but James Doohan died in 2005 and never made another appearance in the franchise after his episode of TNG.
Nyota Uhura
Uhura was played by Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek: The Original Series and is one of two main characters whose date of birth was never established onscreen. However, thanks to the Star Trek Encyclopedia and the Star Trek Chronology - both of which were written by franchise graphic designer and Trek expert Michael Okuda - Uhura's birthdate has been established. According to Chronology, Uhura was born in 2239. This made her 26 at the beginning of TOS and 30 by the end of it. Nichols' last appearance as Uhura was in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the final film to focus on the TOS cast. Uhura was 54 years old in The Undiscovered Country, which was set in 2293.
Hikaru Sulu
Sulu, played by George Takei, was another character without an unestablished birthdate before Star Trek Chronology. According to the chronology, he was born in 2237. This would have made him 28 and 32 at the beginning and end of TOS respectively. Although Sulu appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback", his last appearance in the timeline was in The Undiscovered Country at the age of 56. Despite Voyager being much farther along in the timeline, Sulu's appearance was part of a recollection of the events of The Undiscovered Country, and anything he did after the events of the film has never been depicted in canon.
Pavel Chekov
The youngest member of the main crew, Chekov, played by Walter Koenig, was born in 2245. The character was not added to the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series until season 2, so his first appearance was in 2266 when he was 21. By the end of TOS, Chekov would have been 24, and his last appearance came with Star Trek: Generations in 2293 at the age of 48. Like a number of other characters, the rest of Chekov's life including any instance of his death has never been depicted onscreen.