William Shatner has been on a roll lately, challenging conservative figures on social media over their negative opinions on the current state of Star Trek. His latest target: Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and X (formerly Twitter).
It all stemmed from a tweet by Peter H. Diamandis, in which the XPRIZE Foundation chairman argued that Hollywood is too obsessed with “dystopian” futures and needs storytellers who can depict a more “abundant” vision of what’s to come.
Responding to Diamandis, Musk pointed out that earlier iterations of Star Trek offered a far more optimistic view of the future. And he’s not wrong. The franchise has long been known for its progressive storytelling and its vision of a humanity that moved past many real-world divisions. While Star Trek never portrayed a perfect future -- wars, political corruption, and moral failures still existed -- it framed progress as something worth striving for.
Modern Star Trek, however, often leans into a less utopian tone. Reflecting today’s fractured world, newer shows like Discovery and Strange New Worlds present a future that feels more fragile, with serialized trauma and higher-stakes threats. It’s a tone shaped by the anxiety of the present moment.
Channeling the logic of James T. Kirk from Star Trek: The Original Series, Shatner offered a philosophical response to Musk.
“That’s because their ancestors lived through these dystopian times and found the only way to survive was to hope for a positive future for the planet,” the legendary actor wrote, punctuating the message with a winking emoji.
Within Star Trek lore, humanity endured World War III and a post-atomic horror before eventually building the utopia seen in the series. Shatner’s point is subtle but sharp. You don’t get a hopeful future without first surviving a dark one.
The Canadian actor has long avoided overt American partisan politics, but he’s well known for his dry, witty, and occasionally confrontational social media presence. This wasn’t a mean-spirited jab at Musk so much as a reminder of context. Star Trek’s optimism wasn’t happiness for the sake of television and movies, it was a survival mechanism born from humanity confronting its worst impulses.
He's reminding the tech billionaires that if modern Star Trek feels darker, it’s because the world does too.