At 91 years old, William Shatner says he's still on a 'search for the thrill'

TORONTO — William Shatner is boldly working through his bucket list.

At 91 years old, the “Star Trek” alum holds a lifetime of claims to fame, but he says that hasn’t slowed his constant “search for the thrill.”

“My life seems to be full of all kinds of new experiences,” the Canadian actor said in an interview ahead of his appearance Toronto’s Fan Expo Canada this week.

Certainly, having the Captain Kirk moniker under his belt opened a few doors for the Hollywood adventurer.

Last year, he plunged into the depths of the ocean to swim with Tiger sharks for a documentary before rocketing to space aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin flight. Both journeys offered him a different world perspective and magnified his view of the need for action on climate change.

"We're beginning to feel the effects of global warming and there's still people who say, 'Well, it's not going to happen,'" he said in a video call from his Los Angeles home.

"Well, it's going to happen. And that strident message needs to be out there all the time. Every time I have a chance to talk about it, I talk about it."

Shatner's role as a real-life spaceman captured the attention of the world last October when Bezos recruited the fictional leader of Starship Enterprise as one of the real-life crew members on his Blue Origin trip.

The flight lasted just over 10 minutes, but as cameras rolled in the West Texas desert, Shatner emerged from the vessel clearly shaken and for a moment seeming to struggle for words.

“I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don’t want to lose it,” he told Bezos as he regained his composure.

He described the feeling he had as the blackness of space encroached upon the ship, telling Bezos he thought: “'Whoa, that’s death.′ That’s what I saw.”

Shatner taps into those memories in his new book, titled “Boldly Go,” due in stores this October. The series of essays reflect on the “interconnectivity of all things” and humankind’s “fragile bond with nature," along with other concepts he's encountered and pondered in recent years.

Some say you can “tune into the vibration of the universe,” Shatner explained. He finds the idea compelling, but admits it's a theory he “doesn’t subscribe to completely.”

Nonetheless, he takes the concept for a spin on the pages of the book, hoping it'll present new answers or provoke further musing that could lead to another project.

"I'm sowing that field with new ideas and thoughts all the time," he said.

"It's just, watering it is a little difficult."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 23, 2022.

David Friend, The Canadian Press