Summary
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was released in 1984 and marked the beginning of a new chapter in the Star Trek franchise. The film follows the crew of the USS Enterprise as they search for the missing Spock, who was left stranded on a planet after the events of the previous film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- The film featured the return of many beloved characters from the original series, including Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Scotty (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), and Sulu (George Takei). Walter Koenig also reprised his role as Chekov, while Robin Curtis took over the role of Lt. Saavik from Kirstie Alley.
- In addition to the returning cast members, the film introduced a new character, David Marcus (Merritt Butrick), the son of Admiral James T. Kirk and the fiancé of Lt. Saavik. The film also featured the return of Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard), Spock’s father, and the villainous Klingon leader, Kruge
40 years after Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and the movie’s cast have made an indelible impact not just on the Star Trek franchise, but on wider culture. The third of six movies to continue the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the original starship Enterprise picks up where Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan left off. With Spock (Leonard Nimoy) physically dead, Kirk and the crew risk their lives and careers to resurrect their old friend.
Across stage and screen, through political activism and progressive work with NASA, the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series‘ third movie have left a lasting impression on the world. Sadly, many of the cast of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock have passed away in the decades that followed the movie’s release. However, each of them has left an enduring legacy, not just with this criminally underrated Star Trek movie, but also with their wider work in film, television, music and beyond.
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11 William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk
Shatner’s still working in his 90s.
William Shatner gets one of his most iconic Kirk moments in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, as he damns the “Klingon bastards” that killed his son David Marcus (Merritt Butrick). Shatner went on to appear in four more Star Trek movies, before Captain Kirk was killed off in 1994’s Star Trek Generations. As well as starring in the Star Trek movies, Shatner directed his own franchise entry, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which he co-wrote with Harve Bennett.
Beyond the Star Trek universe, William Shatner got a late period renaissance via the iconic Denny Crane role in David E. Kelley’s legal comedy Boston Legal. Shatner’s music career also got a late period reappraisal thanks to his collaboration with Ben Folds on Has Been, an album of covers and new material. Incredibly, in 2021, William Shatner was part of the crew of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space shuttle, becoming the oldest living person to travel into space. Shatner recently reflected on his career and experiences in the 2023 documentary movie, You Can Call Me Bill.
One of William Shatner’s
Boston Legal
co-stars was
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
‘s Rene Auberjonois, who played Paul Lewiston.
10 Leonard Nimoy as Spock
Search for Spock began Nimoy’s directorial career.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was Leonard Nimoy’s directorial debut, and he went on to direct several other movies, including Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The best loved of Leonard Nimoy’s directorial efforts is Three Men and a Baby, starring Ted Danson, Tom Selleck, and Steve Guttenberg, which continues to be screened on TV to this day. As well as appearing in the three subsequent Star Trek: The Original Series movies, Nimoy reprised the role of Spock for both Star Trek: The Next Generation and the J.J. Abrams movies in the late 2000s.
Leonard Nimoy and J.J. Abrams first worked together on the sci-fi mystery series Fringe, which Abrams co-created with Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci. Leonard Nimoy sadly passed away in 2015, and was the subject of a moving retrospective documentary, For the Love of Spock in 2016. As well as his iconic Spock performance, Leonard Nimoy leaves behind one of the all-time great guest performances on The Simpsons, as himself in the episode, “Marge vs. The Monorail”.
Leonard Nimoy’s William Bell in
Fringe
was the former research partner of Dr. Walter Bishop, played by
John Noble, who would go on to play the Diviner in
Star Trek: Prodigy
.
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9 DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy
DeForest Kelley passed the torch from TOS to TNG.
Besides the three subsequent Star Trek movies, DeForest Kelley only has a handful of credits to his name in the years after The Search for Spock‘s release. In the years between Star TrekIV and V, Kelley recorded Bones McCoy’s cameo in the Star Trek: TNG pilot to pass the torch. DeForest Kelley then made two more appearances as Dr. McCoy in the final TOS movies, and recorded voice work for The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars and two Star Trek videogames before he sadly passed away from stomach cancer in 1997.
8 James Doohan as Scotty
Doohan had a sense of humor about his Star Trek role.
James Doohan played Scotty in four more Star Trek movies after Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and also appeared in the TNG episode “Relics”. Outside of the Star Trek universe, James Doohan clearly had a sense of humor about his place in the iconic sci-fi franchise. In The Ben Stiller Show, Doohan played himself, sending up his vaulted status by fans like Ben Stiller, while he made a brief cameo as a drunken actor in the TV movie Knight Rider 2000. Strangely, Doohan’s sense of humor appeared to abandon him in later life, as he declined to appear in Futurama‘s Star Trek pastiche, believing it was disrespectful.
Weirdest of all, however, Doohan played the role of Chief O’Brien, the namesake of one of his Star Trek successors, in the Paul Brothers’ movie, Double Trouble. James Doohan passed away in 2005, survived by his wife and seven children, including his son Christopher Doohan. Chris made two cameos in Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness, for which he received a credit as a transporter room officer. Chris Doohan also followed in his father’s footsteps by playing Scotty in the fan-made web series Star Trek Continues.
James Doohan stipulated that some of his ashes should be shot into space, a request which was eventually granted when the Falcon 9 rocket was launched as part of the second COTS Demo Flight in 2012.
7 Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
Nichols made a huge impact on the future of space travel.
Uhura has a minor, but integral role in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and continued to be an integral member of the Enterprise crew in subsequent movies. In tandem with her work on the Star Trek movies, Nichelle Nichols worked with NASA to increase the diversity of the space program. Among the astronauts that Nichols recruited were the first African American woman in space, and future Star Trek: The Next Generation guest star Mae Jemison. A 2019 documentary, Women in Motion, celebrated Nichols’ impact on the space program. Nichelle Nichols sadly passed away in 2022.
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6 George Takei as Sulu
Takei continues to make a positive impact as an activist.
Following Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, George Takei continued to play Hikaru Sulu in subsequent movies, and appeared as Sulu in Star Trek: Voyager to celebrate the franchise’s 30th anniversary. As well as memorable guest appearances in The Simpsons, Party Down, and The Big Bang Theory, George Takei also had a recurring role as Kaito Nakamura in Heroes. The father of sci-fi nerd and time-travelling superhero Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), Takei’s character appeared in all four seasons of Heroes alongside past and future Star Trek stars, Nichelle Nichols and Zachary Quinto.
The licence plate of Kaito Nakamura’s limousine was NCC-1701, in reference to the starship Enterprise.
Outside Star Trek and his TV work, George Takei made a positive impact as an artist and activist. After years of charity work with LGBT organizations, Takei publicly came out in 2005, and he and his partner Brad Altman were the first couple in West Hollywood to apply for a same-sex marriage certificate in 2008. Takei has also sought to highlight the historic horrors of the Japanese-American internment camps via the 2012 Broadway musical Allegiance and a graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy. Discussing Allegiance in 2012, Takei said he saw the musical as his legacy project.
5 Walter Koenig as Chekov
Chekov swapped the starship Enterprise for Babylon 5
Walter Koenig’s Chekov had a lot to do in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, from manning Spock’s science station to keeping Uhura’s hailing frequencies open. After Search for Spock, Koenig continued to appear in the movies until his final cameo in Star Trek Generations. Koenig’s best known role outside Star Trek was Alfred Bester in Babylon 5, a character he played in 12 episodes between 1994 and 1998. More recently, Walter Koenig joined The Seventh Rule podcast to review his Star Trek: The Original Series episodes with hosts Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T Husk.
4 Robin Curtis as Lt. Saavik
Curtis was almost Worf’s girlfriend on TNG
Robin Curtis briefly reprised her role as Lt. Saavik in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, but the character was never seen again. Years later, Robin Curtis was offered the role of Ambassador K’Ehleyr, the former lover of Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but was unavailable. TNG finally secured Curtis to play the villainous Vulcan Tallera in the season 7 two-parter, “Gambit”. Curtis had a number of small movie roles and guest spots on TV, including in Babylon 5, before retiring from screen acting in 1999.
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Why Kirstie Alley Didn’t Return As Saavik For Star Trek III
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3 Christopher Lloyd as Kruge
Lloyd and Shatner teamed up in 2021.
A year after Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Christopher Lloyd played the biggest role of his career as Doc Brown in Back to the Future. Lloyd has continued to do great work in genre movies over the years, from Uncle Fester in The Addams Family movies to Commissioner Helgait in The Mandalorian. Hilariously, having played bitter enemies in Star Trek 3, Christopher Lloyd and William Shatner played best friends in the 2021 comedy movie Senior Moment, with Jean Smart, with whom Lloyd has also appeared in Hacks.
2 Merritt Butrick as David Marcus
TNG was one of Butrick’s final roles.
Tragically, Merritt Butrick died five years after the release of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, from toxoplasmosis, complicated by AIDS. The actor is memorialized with two squares on the 1,300,000 square foot NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, both of which reference his role as David Marcus in The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock. In the years before his death, Merritt Butrick made a guest appearance as T’Jon in a stealth Wrath of Khan reunion in the TNG episode “Symbiosis”. Merritt Butrick’s last acting role was a critically acclaimed performance as a male sex worker in the play Kingfish at the Los Angeles Theater Center.
1 Mark Lenard as Ambassador Sarek
Sarek lived on into the TNG era.
Mark Lenard was a prolific character actor on stage and screen throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and was beginning to slow down by the late 80s. After the end of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Lenard appeared in the subsequent three movies, and also made two appearances as an older Sarek in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Lenard also toured a production of The Boys in Autumn with Walter Koenig in 1993, the year that he performed his final TV appearance, as Horace Sloan in The Heat of the Night. Lenard passed away three years later, in 1996.