William Shatner and George Takei, the last two surviving main cast members from the original Star Trek series, have maintained a famously strained relationship for over six decades, marked by public insults, a wedding snub, and a spaceflight joke.
The original series ran for 76 episodes from 1966 to 1969, with Shatner playing Captain James T. Kirk and Takei playing Lt. Hikaru Sulu. Following the death of Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov, the pair are now the only surviving members of the original main cast, but the loss of their castmates has not thawed relations.
Early Grievances and Public Roasts
Takei has long accused Shatner of being self-centred and unwilling to share the spotlight. In his 1994 autobiography To the Stars, he described his frustrations with his co-star, later explaining that Shatner was not a team player.
"The rest of the cast all understand what makes a scene work - it's everybody contributing to it," Takei said. "But Bill is a wonderful actor, and he knows it, and he likes to have the camera on him all the time."
In 2006, Takei was among the guests invited to roast Shatner at a Comedy Central special. He declared: "So, despite our tensions, I'm honoured you invited me to be here tonight. I can finally say what I've waited 40 years to say. F**k you and the horse you rode in on!"
He also joked about Shatner's mispronunciation of his surname: "My name is George Takei, not Takai, like you've insisted on pronouncing for the last 40 years!"
Wedding Snub and Space Jokes
The feud became particularly public in 2008 when Takei married his husband Brad Altman. Shatner complained that he had not been invited to the wedding, a claim Takei insisted was untrue, saying an invitation had been sent and Shatner could have contacted him if there was a problem.
In 2021, Shatner, then aged 90, travelled into space aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket. Takei joked that the actor was being used as a guinea pig to study the effects of space travel on an elderly person.
The following year, Shatner accused Takei of repeatedly trying to damage his reputation. "George has never stopped blackening my name," he told The Times. "These people are bitter and embittered. I have run out of patience with them. Why give credence to people consumed by envy and hate?"
No Reconciliation in Sight
Takei was equally dismissive in a 2022 interview with The Guardian. "There was one prima donna," he said, referring to Shatner. "He was self-involved. He enjoyed being the centre of attention. He wanted everyone to kowtow to him."
He also claimed none of the original cast had got along with Shatner, though the other actors had formed lasting friendships.
Speaking to Esquire in October 2026, Shatner insisted he did not consider their relationship a feud at all. "It's not a feud. I don't know him," he said, adding that he had not seen Takei in 20 years.
With Koenig now gone, Shatner and Takei remain the final surviving members of the original main cast, their relationship a long way from the hopeful future imagined aboard the Enterprise.
