2009’s Star Trek successfully rebooted the dormant sci-if series and ushered in the action-oriented modern age of the franchise that continues to this day. Director J.J. Abrams’ time-traveling, reality-splicing retooling of Star Trek: The Original Series established the alternate “Kelvin” timeline into Trek's already-messy universe, but nonetheless, it received praise from fans and critics for its explosive effects and its pitch-perfect casting, as well as its references to the Star Trek of old, encapsulated in the form of Leonard Nimoy. The original Spock's role in the film served as a bridge between old and new, but the filmmakers planned to go a step further by including the original Captain Kirk, William Shatner.
Early versions of the script incorporated “Kirk Prime” - the elder version of Kirk - who was to appear alongside Nimoy’s Spock Prime. Both cameos got planned as early as 2007, and each actor had meetings with the film’s production team to discuss their potential involvement. However, while Nimoy was offered a starring role in the movie, numerous troubles beset Shatner’s inclusion, leading to Kirk Prime getting cut before production began. According to reports, Shatner was allegedly “furious” about the omission, and he even publicly lambasted the small cameo role that the filmmakers were going to offer him.
Shatner had always wanted a large role in a Star Trek reboot, but screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci scripted only one scene for Kirk Prime, in which the former Enterprise captain makes a fleeting appearance as a hologram. Made available to read online in 2009, courtesy of TrekMovie, the scene set Kirk Prime’s appearance for the end of the movie, just after Nimoy’s Spock meets his younger self (played by Zachery Quinto). After telling the young Vulcan to “do what feels right," the elder Spock leaves him with a small holo-emitter. Young Spock switches on the device to reveal a pre-recorded message from none other than Shatner’s Kirk.
Described in the script as “brash, wry and confident”, Kirk begins by wishing Spock Prime a happy birthday and congratulates him on his newly appointed ambassadorship. He then proceeds into a lengthy monologue delivered in voice-over narration, as we see a montage of Chris Pine's young Kirk receiving his captaincy. Kirk describes the young talent at Starfleet and how, long ago, he and Spock were amongst them. Finally, he nicely surmises his and Spock’s friendship with an appropriate reference from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Kirk recalls Spock’s line that commanding a starship is Kirk’s “first, best destiny” and tops it by saying that it is Spock’s destiny to always be by his side. Quinto's Spock admiringly looks on at the hologram and is described as being “lost in feelings that flood through him."
In the context of the movie, the sequence would serve as the ultimate proof for Spock that his rocky relationship with Kirk is destined to become a great friendship, but it got cut from the shooting script for various reasons. Firstly, there was a desire to adhere to prime canon; in Star Trek: Generations, Kirk was shown to die at the age of 60, so incorporating a 78-year-old Shatner into the film would have been visibly problematic. Secondly, Shatner had always been strict about never appearing in cameo parts. Abrams detailed that this factor ultimately killed his chances of appearing, telling AMC that "the bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn’t want to do a cameo." He also went on to say, "We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly." So, Abrams never even offered Shatner a part in the production.
Shatner emphasized his disappointment throughout Star Trek's production in 2007, saying to Associated Press that his absence would mean "bad business" for the film and its box office numbers would reflect so. He was ultimately wrong, and he was not needed back as Kirk in either of Star Trek's sequels, although rumors circulated again in 2014 that he would appear in Star Trek Beyond.
In 2017, at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention, Shatner finally addressed the Kirk Prime scene after a fan broke it down for him. He said it was "the stupidest scene" he had ever heard of and even labeled Nimoy's part in the movie as "gratuitous." Longtime fans may still wish that Shatner make a long-overdue reappearance in the franchise, but the actor himself has made it abundantly clear that unless there is a substantial role for him, they may have already seen the last of the original Kirk.