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Two years ago, it would have seemed unimaginable that William Shatner could do anything to eclipse the towering shadow cast by Star Trek’s Captain James T. Kirk.

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But then he went to outer space.

Not a bad conversation starter, even in a room full of dedicated Trekkies. In a moment that felt both slightly surreal and entirely appropriate, Shatner soared into the cosmos on October 13, 2021, aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket for an 11-minute jaunt to the far reaches of the space. At 90, the actor has become the oldest person to travel to space. It made headlines around the world.

Speaking of the historic journey shortly after, Shatner was almost euphoric about the profound experience. So it may come as a surprise to learn that he initially said no.

“This was the second stay for Blue Origin and I was like, ‘Ahh, I’m not going to get up second,'” Shatner said, in a phone interview with Postmedia. “So I declined when they said you would like to come up next. Then, after a little thought, I thought “Why wouldn’t I want the thrill of going into space, however uncomfortable that may be?” ”

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So Shatner went ahead, offering a tantalizing hook to the media: The man who played the galaxy-hopping Captain Kirk is boldly going where no man his age has gone before. But the actor says he was surprised it got so much attention.

“I just thought I was going to come and go innocently and nobody would notice,” he says. “I didn’t realize the event was going to be as popular as it turned out to be.”

On this particular day, Shatner says he doesn’t know if talking about his spaceflight will make it as one of the star attractions at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo this year. He also does not know what format his appearance will take. In 2011 Shatner first appeared on a stage at the Calgary Expo. It was a two-host overseen event that began with then-Mayor Naheed Nenshi styling the iconic actor. In 2016, he returned to the Calgary Expo stage alone in an appearance reminiscent of his entertaining one-man Broadway show Shatner’s World: We Just Live In It. Left to his own devices, the actor only mentioned Kirk or Star Trek at the very end, and that was only in a vague response to a fan’s question.

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“It depends on the mood and the mode,” Shatner says. “There is no current plan. I just start talking and try to entertain the audience for an hour.

Even with his recent real-life and otherworldly adventures, it’s safe to say that much of his fanbase would be happy if Shatner simply regale audiences with Star Trek stories for an hour. But that was never really his style. Although he played Captain James T. Kirk for three seasons in the original series and seven movies and directed a number of documentaries on the Star Trek phenomenon, including 2011’s The Captains and 2012’s Get a Life. ! – Shatner says he didn’t have much to do with the Star Trek universe after he last played Kirk in 1994’s Generations.

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In March, the New York Post published an article about how actor Paul Wesley, who was cast as Captain Kirk in the second season of the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series, found himself sitting next to the actor on a flight. in Los Angeles. Wesley took a photo and tweeted it. Shatner tweeted his own message to the new Kirk:Protect my ship and my crew, Captain! Congratulations!” When asked if he had any advice for the young actor, Shatner just laughed.

“No, just the advice you would give anyone: try to remember the words,” he says.

As for his own future, Shatner remains busy. He stars in an upcoming film called Keeper of the Cup, which is described by IMDb as a “noisy road comedy.” It is directed by fellow Canadian Jason Priestley and co-stars Dan Ackroyd. Shatner’s role has not been revealed, but the story revolves around three “maturity retarded” and frustrated Toronto Maple Leafs fans.

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He is in his third season of the documentary series The UnXplained for History, which he hosts and produces. It followed the similar Weird or What theme, which found the actor lending his humor and gravitas to telling stories stranger than fiction and true involving various mysteries.

He is also scheduled to perform at the Kennedy Center on April 29, which will allow him to perform original songs backed by an orchestra. The songs come from the same writing sessions that produced his 2021 album, Bill.

“These are songs that I helped write and that I’m going to perform on stage and in front of people for the first time,” he says. “For the Bill album, we wrote 25 songs and we used 13. So that leaves us with several songs too many. So we’re taking some of those songs and having an Earth Day party.

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In short, Shatner says “I don’t look back, I try to look forward.”

Still, he has a story about his early experiences at a fan convention. It was in the 1970s and dedicated to Star Trek. The format might not have been as well defined as it is now and it became a bit of a cautionary tale about not being prepared.

“It was a very weird experience being in front of 15,000 people and not knowing what you were going to say,” he says. “There’s a traditional actor’s nightmare where you’re naked in front of an audience and don’t know what to say. So I was there with my clothes on not knowing what the next words were going to come out of my mouth. was quite heartbreaking.

William Shatner will appear Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. and Friday, April 22 at 1 p.m. at the Calgary Expo.