William Shatner Envisions Captain Kirk Running Wild in Quentin Tarantino’s Star Trek

Quentin Tarantino’s 9th feature film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is finally in theaters, but the Internet is already abuzz over the director’s potential follow-up project: an Rated-R Star Trek film he’s dubbed “Pulp Fiction in space.” Fans of Star Trek appear to be divided over the idea, but the opinion that matters most belongs to William Shatner, the actor who originated the role of Captain Kirk back in 1966. According to TrekMovie.com, Shatner learned of the Tarantino film for the first time during a People Now segment. When it comes to Kirk, here’s what he assumes his character would be up to in a Tarantino film:

“Running wild. He’d be running wild, and I am having difficulty running wild now,” he answered.

When it comes to whether or not he’d reprise his role in Tarantino’s version, he seemed open to it, but worries it could get dangerous:

“Oh goodness yes. [Running wild] through the fields of hay, running, running, and then having a heart attack and falling down,” he joked.

While it’s unclear if Tarantino will try to get any actors from the original series, the director did recently reveal that he prefers Star Trek to Star Wars solely because of Shatner’s performance.

“I’m a big fan of the show Star Trek. I really like it a lot, but my portal into that show is William Shatner,” he explained. “I love William Shatner on Star Trek. I love his performance as James T. Kirk. That is my connection. That is my umbilical cord. It’s why I like Star Trek more than Star Wars, because William Shatner’s not in Star Wars. I think it’s one of the greatest performances in the history of episodic television, of a series lead, and rightly so, because very few series leads have ever gotten the opportunity to play all the different wild, crazy things. ‘The Enemy Within’ alone.”

During his People Now interview, Shatner also revealed what he believes Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, would think of an R-Rated version:

“R-rated? Things going on that Roddenberry… First of all, you have to harness the energy of Gene Roddenberry revolving in his grave. If you could harness that, you could use that as the power for the whole film,” he explained.

Would you like to see Shatner play Kirk in a Tarantino film? Tell us in the comments!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is currently playing in theaters.