Entertainment
‘Time is the fire in which we burn’: 2 major cast losses rock the passionate ‘Star Trek’ universe
By TED ANTHONY Updated 5:27 AM PDT, October 30, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the countless memorable lines that have tumbled out of the “Star Trek” universe over the years is this gem, originally from a 20th-century poet named Delmore Schwartz: “Time is the fire in which we burn.”
It was uttered as an existential warning to Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in the 1994 film “Star Trek Generations.” But it feels equally apt this week after a one-two punch of loss that is hitting hard for devotees of the epic, six-decade science fiction saga.
First, on Sunday, Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original series during the 1960s, died at age 90. Then, on Thursday, the cosmos lost Patrick Stewart, a Shakespearean actor who in 1987 began to inhabit Picard, the poetic face of that show’s sequel, “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and decades later the anchor of the darker streaming drama “Star Trek: Picard.”
For a fan base that has long signed on as acolytes of a brighter, more equitable future, recent days have given the present an unwelcome sting.
“What a heartbreaking week it has been,” said William Shatner, who played Capt. James T. Kirk in the original series from 1966 to 1969 and went on to star in six movie sequels. He is one of only two members of that long-ago cast still living; Leonard “Spock” Nimoy, his best friend on the show — and off and on in real life — died in 2015.
‘Star Trek’ has infiltrated modern mass culture in myriad ways
For all the characterizations of it as nerdy over the years — something many fans have come to accept cheerfully — “Star Trek” has long been at the vanguard of modern-day mythmaking. That has helped it seep into the culture in various ways, vacuuming up disciples as it goes.
The earliest space shuttle was christened “Enterprise” after the show’s flagship after a mass letter-writing campaign persuaded President Gerald Ford to rename it, and the cast attended the ship’s introduction. The handheld “communicators” from the show helped inspire early flip phones. Phrases like “Beam me up, Scotty,” “He’s dead, Jim” and “Make it so” have infiltrated society ad nauseam. (The first one was never actually spoken verbatim on the show.)
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