Chris Pine thinks it would be cool to play Captain Kirk throughout his career

Actors don’t often get to play the same character throughout their career, but Chris Pine is hoping to do just that with Captain Kirk.

Chris Pine was just twenty-seven years old when he was first cast to play Captain Kirk in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek. He reprised the role in Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond and is expected to do so once again. While speaking with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Chris Pine said it would be “super cool” to play Kirk for years to come.

It’s super cool. I love the idea. It’s very rare to get a chance to play one character over the entire essentially course of your career. If I had the chance to do that, I think it would be so cool. So, so cool. So hopefully we get to do it.

Although a fourth Star Trek movie has already been announced, Chris Pine says the cast doesn’t know all that much about it. “I think reporters think that we know more than we’re saying,” Pine said. “And when I say that I honestly—none of us know anything. I haven’t seen a script. All I heard was that they said we’re making a film. I am so stoked for that idea and possibility as we all are, but it’s so premature to say anything because there’s no date, no nothing. But I’m pretty positive we’d all come back. I don’t see why not.” The movie was slated to be directed by WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman, but he dropped out to helm the Fantastic Four movie for Marvel Studios.

William Shatner played the role of Captain Kirk throughout the three seasons of The Original Series as well as seven Star Trek movies. In total, Shatner’s tenure as Kirk spanned nearly thirty years. Over that time, we got to see the character grow from a young captain to a much older man dealing with the end of his career, yet still wanting to make a difference. Given how tough it’s been to put another movie together with J.J. Abrams cast, I’m not about to hold my breath that Chris Pine would return many more times, but it would be interesting to see.

Would you like to see Chris Pine play Captain Kirk for years to come?