William Shatner: Kirk Cousins will play for Redskins longer than Star Trek aired

WASHINGTON - The original broadcast of the sci-fi classic, 'Star Trek,' lasted only three seasons. But Captain Kirk himself is sure that the Redskins' captain Kirk will last for much longer than that.

William Shatner, who is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the television show, joined us Friday ahead of his tour stops in D.C.

"Three seasons of the original show," Shatner said. "That was all there was. Kirk Cousins will last a lot longer with the Redskins. He's wonderful"

50 years can fly by - but it doesn't feel that way to Shatner. "It's a strange duality of the passenger of time. 50 years, I don't know where they went, and on the other hand -I dimly look across that gap and think, my god, that was 50 years ago. It's hard to imagine."

It's hard to imagine Captain Kirk not being played by Shatner - but there was a time when the actor considered turning down the role.

"I considered not doing it," he said. "I talked at great length with the people there and then decided to do it. And what a boon, what a wondrous thing happened to me as a result of doing it."

His new book, 'Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man,' is on sale online: http://bit.ly/LeonardBook

Shatner will be in D.C. several times over the next few weeks for his one-man show and for the 'Star Trek' anniversary - check out his dates here: http://concerts.livenation.com/william-shatner-washington-district-of-columbia-02-04-2016/event/15004F0DD5D53652