Star Trek: Shatner Thinks Nimoy 'Cooked Up' Spock's Death

"I believe it was all planned."

By Matt Davidson

The death of Spock in the 1982 movie Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is considered by many to be one of the most emotional and gripping sequences in the entire history of the long-running franchise—we placed it as our all-time favorite moment from the movies—but William Shatner has come to take a slightly different view of long-time friend Leonard Nimoy's motivations behind the death.

In an interview with USA Today to celebrate Fantom Films' theatrical re-airing of The Wrath of Khan on September 10 and 13—just in time for the movie's 35th anniversary—Shatner reveals that he thinks Nimoy and producer Harve Bennett planned the whole story, from Spock's death to his eventual resurrection, with the end goal being that as part of his return to the character, Nimoy could demand a directing deal for the sequel.

"I believe it was all planned—I now believe [Nimoy] and Harve cooked this up," Shatner said.

There's no hard feelings from Shatner, though—aside from him saying he would've "liked to be in on it." He said, "Leonard was so marvelous at working the territory that he got a directing job out of it." Shatner himself, of course, would later go on to direct 1989's Star Trek: The Final Frontier.

Nicholas Meyer, who directed The Wrath of Khan, maintains that as far as he's concerned, the plan was always that Spock's death would be final, saying he believes the only reason Nimoy came back to do The Wrath of Khan at all was the prospect of a "terrific death scene," and that his return was a genuine response to fan reaction to the movie.

The death of Spock.

Ultimately, according to Meyer, there was no solid plan to bring Spock back, but "Star Trek is about hope," so they left open the prospect of a return.

If you're interested in hearing more from Shatner, check out our big interview with him from last month, and then find out what he had to say about Gene Roddenberry's involvement in the original series.

Matt Davidson is a freelance writer for IGN. Regardless of motive, Spock's death will always make him cry. Follow him on Twitter!

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