‘The Big Bang Theory’ gig rejected by William Shatner — why?

While “The Big Bang Theory” has scored plenty of guests from the “Star Trek” universe in between LeVar Burton, Wil Wheaton, and Brent Spiner, to name a few, they’ve been missing out on Captain Kirk … though it’s not for a lack of effort. We’ve now learned that William Shatner was approached for a guest spot on the CBS sitcom in the past, but there was something about the role that didn’t quite feel right.

Specifically, here is what Shatner had to say on the subject in a new interview with Digital Spy:

I’ve had several conversations with the creators, and what they wanted me to do, didn’t seem to be exactly right, so I said ‘find something that’s better.’ They may have taken umbrage at that, I’m not sure … They wanted me to play myself a little obliquely, and they said it would work out, but I needed more assurance on that.”

After reading this, we don’t necessarily have a ton of confidence that we are going to see this gig come together at some point in the near future. After all, what is the motivation for that for either party? The CBS show doesn’t necessarily need Bill to get good ratings (even if they are at present versus some recent years), and at the same time Shatner certainly doesn’t need to appear on “The Big Bang Theory,” either. After all, he’s got convention appearances, other TV offers, and his new gig on “Better Late Than Never,” which was recently renewed for a second season over at NBC.

Now that we’ve said all of this, of course it’d be lovely to see Shatner again … but really only if he wants to come on board.

For some more news on “The Big Bang Theory,” be sure to head over here to read our most-recent episode review! Also, sign up over here to get some other TV news on everything we cover at CarterMatt, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)