William Shatner became a pop cultural icon for playing Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series. The actor reprised his role in The Animated Series and the six original films with the TOS cast. He became forever associated with the franchise by appearing in several behind-the-scenes documentaries and even directing some.
While it is currently one of the most popular sci-fi franchises, Star Trek reportedly was not as big when it began airing and risked cancellation many times. However, its cult fan-following resulted in re-runs and syndication long after the first three seasons ended. Shatner mentioned that he received no royalties for these reruns until after 1973.
William Shatner claimed that Star Trek did not pay them royalties for reruns
Many WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have occurred over the years with residuals and royalties being the main point of concern. Even 2023’s strikes mostly fought for royalties for writers and actors from streaming. Way back when TV began taking over the movies, actors sought royalties for film re-runs, and slowly even TV show actors began to get paid.
However, when William Shatner and the Star Trek cast began working, it was not a norm for actors to be paid royalties for re-runs. While the sci-fi show was initially canceled after three seasons, it developed a new lease of life during re-runs, leading to a revival of the franchise through original films starring Shatner and the rest of the cast.
Networks playing TV actors for re-runs of shows reportedly became a norm after Star Trek ended its three-season run and hence, the cast of the show missed out on a significant chunk of money. Nobody expected the series to have a long shelf life. Shatner mentioned that he received no royalties before 1973 while feuding online with a fan.
Actor James Doohan, who played Montgomery Scott in the original series also expressed his issues with not receiving royalties as he never really got significant work after Star Trek due to being typecast (via H&I).
William Shatner claimed that Star Trek was never considered to last long by the network
Star Trek is one of the biggest franchises in the world, with the original films alone earning more than $2.2 billion in revenue at the box office (via The Numbers). However, the series was expensive to produce at the time and its small yet loyal cult following was not enough to make it sustain, and hence the original series was canceled after three seasons.
With the release of Star Wars and the resurgence of sci-fi IPs, Star Trek got a new lease of life and the cast returned to star in six original films. However, William Shatner mentioned that the network and production was always on the brink of shutting down after each film and they were never confident that it would last. He said (via THR),
Every movie we made subsequently, even Star Trek I, they burned the sets. There was no reason to store them because there was never going to be another movie.
They could not have been more wrong as the Star Trek franchise continues to be one of the highest-grossing franchises and has new shows being produced every year.
Star Trek is streaming on Paramount+.
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