William Shatner Slams "Star Trek" Co-Stars: "They Are the Problem, Not Me"

 The original Star Trek series debuted 56 years ago, but some tension from the set is still being rehashed today. In a new interview with USA Today, William Shatner talked about his Star Trek costars and the fact that some of them found him to be difficult to work with, including one recently deceased cast member. The 91yearold actor, who has a new book of personal essays coming out, deflected blame for the situation, saying, I think they are the problem, not me.

Over the years, some Star Trek co-stars have expressed that they found Shatner to be self-centered. James Doohan, who played Scotty, said of the actor in 1998 I like Captain Kirk but I sure do not like Bill. He's so insecure that all he can think about is himself.

Speaking to the Television Academy in 2019 Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov, said that Shatner was fun on the original series but added, To be sure, every shot was set up so that he'd be in the foreground. He just automatically blocked it that way, and as I said before, the directors just went along with it. Koenig added, But he was civil. Never got the sense that he wanted to be any of the supporting actors' pal. He enjoyed hanging out with Leonard Nimoy and De Forest Kelley.