William Shatner Net Worth 2026: How Captain Kirk Built $100 Million

William Shatner’s net worth is estimated at $100 million as of October 2026, a fortune built over more than seven decades as Captain James T. Kirk, Denny Crane, a best-selling novelist, a recording artist, a convention favorite and the face of Priceline’s ads. The Canadian-born actor turned 95 in March 2026 and is still working, with a heavy metal album in the works.

Published estimates for Shatner agree on $100 million, but they lean on one another, and the biggest unknown in his finances, the Priceline stock he received in the late 1990s, has never been disclosed. The Radar Readout below shows how the published figures compare and how we model his fortune from those figures plus what he has likely earned since.

William Shatner Net Worth at a Glance

How William Shatner’s $100 Million Net Worth Is Built

No public filing pins down Shatner’s assets, so this table shows our working model. The starting figure is the widely published $100 million estimate from mid 2025, trimmed for tax and living costs, with the money he most likely kept since then added on top.

The wide range around the starting figure reflects three unknowns: what his early Priceline equity was really worth, how much the 2020 divorce settlement cost him, and what his California properties would fetch today.

How Much Did William Shatner Make From Star Trek?

The original Star Trek ran on NBC from September 1966 to June 1969, for three seasons and 79 episodes. Celebrity Net Worth reports that Shatner started at $5,000 per episode. If that rate held for every episode, the full run would have paid him about $395,000 before agents and tax, a solid wage at the time but small next to what the show later earned.

That gap is the real story. NBC spent around $175,000 to $190,000 per episode on the show, and the budget was cut for the third season. Reruns then turned Star Trek into a cult hit, and by 1987 Paramount was reportedly making $1 million from each episode in syndication.

Shatner did not share in that windfall. As Giant Freakin Robot has noted, his royalties from the original series come to zero, because shows made before 1973 did not pay residuals for reruns. He made the point himself on social media, writing that anything before 1973 “doesn’t pay a cent in royalties.”

No sweetheart it doesn’t. Anything before 1973 (that includes Star Trek Original Series) doesn’t pay a cent in Royalties. So please don’t think you own me or I owe you something for watching. It doesn’t work like that. https://t.co/jVxfG3Pn3K

— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) November 3, 2020

The bigger Star Trek money came later. Shatner played Kirk in seven feature films, from Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979 to Star Trek Generations in 1994. Exact film salaries were never published, so we do not break them out, but the films and the decades of convention work they fed are a core part of the fortune behind the $100 million figure.

Boston Legal, The Practice and Later TV Paydays

Shatner’s second great run came late. He joined David E. Kelley’s The Practice as attorney Denny Crane in 2004 and carried the character into the spinoff Boston Legal, which ran until 2008. The role earned him two Emmys, one for each show, and a Golden Globe in 2005.

Celebrity Net Worth reports that his salary reached about $150,000 per episode at points in his later career. TheThings has applied that rate to the 101 episodes of Boston Legal, which would come to just over $15 million for a single TV series. That is a gross figure; after agents, managers and tax he would have kept roughly half.

What Shatner Earned From $#*! My Dad Says

A popular Twitter account once became a real sitcom, “$#*! My Dad Says,” with Shatner starring as the father behind the account. The show lasted a single season, and The Richest has reported that he earned about $150,000 per episode, or an estimated $2.7 million for the full season. With only one season, there was no long syndication tail.

The Priceline Deal: Why the $600 Million Story Is Wrong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBNL9xx3Ie0

Shatner began working with Priceline in 1998 and agreed to take at least part of his early pay in company stock. His self-mocking commercials made him the face of the brand, and a story spread that the stock had made him as much as $600 million.

Priceline’s own chief executive shot that down. In a 2013 interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, chairman and CEO Jeffery Boyd called the $600 million figure an urban legend and said the actor sold his shares in the company early, at a low price. Boyd added that Shatner was doing fine. The actual amount has never been disclosed, which is the single biggest reason our range runs as wide as it does. Even so, years as the paid spokesman, plus the stock he did sell, made Priceline one of his most valuable deals.

Conventions and Fan Appearances

Fan conventions remain a steady earner for Shatner. Celebrity Net Worth reports an arrangement of $10,000 for travel plus $10,000 per hour with a five-hour minimum, which puts a single appearance at $50,000 or more. At Creation Entertainment’s 2026 Las Vegas convention, fans paid $145 for his autograph and $165 for a professional photo with him, though promoters share in that revenue, so those prices are not his personal take.

At 95, Shatner still travels for these events. Our model assumes he has kept about $1 million from appearances since mid 2025, with a range of $500,000 to $2 million depending on how many shows he works.

Books and Albums

Shatner has had a long relationship with Simon and Schuster. According to the publisher, his work includes nine Star Trek novels, among them the New York Times bestsellers The Ashes of Eden and The Return, along with nonfiction titles such as Get a Life! and I’m Working on That. His wider catalog includes TekWar, written with Ron Goulart, Star Trek Memories, the 2008 memoir Up Till Now, and Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder.

Music has been a side career since 1968, when he released The Transformed Man, a mix of dramatic readings and covers that included Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and the Lennon-McCartney song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” He has since released ten studio albums, including Has Been (2004), Seeking Major Tom (2011), Ponder the Mystery (2013), Why Not Me (2018), The Blues (2020) and Bill (2021). In 2018 he also put out a holiday record, Shatner Claus.

The music has not stopped. In February 2026, The Canadian Press reported that Shatner was making a metal album featuring Henry Rollins and Zakk Wylde. By July 2026, Blabbermouth reported that the project, tied to Cleopatra Records, had drawn a long list of rock drummers, including Mikkey Dee, Dave Lombardo and Carmine Appice, and that Shatner planned to take it to the stage at Riot Fest 2026. Album and book income is modest next to his acting money, so we count about $500,000 kept from this lane since mid 2025.

Real Estate, Divorce and Other Assets

Shatner’s 2020 divorce from Elizabeth Anderson Martin, finalized in January of that year, is the main recent drain on his fortune that is on record. Celebrity Net Worth reports that he paid her $2 million and that she received a Malibu property and Belle Reve Farm in Versailles, Kentucky. He kept his Studio City home, a four-bedroom house of just over 4,000 square feet, and an 18-acre ranch in Three Rivers, California, which he bought in 1979, along with several horses and his horse-breeding equipment.

The split did not last. In January 2023 the Mirror reported that the couple was back together, and by 2025 Shatner was again calling her his wife.

Shatner has also kept adding to his legend. On October 13, 2021, he flew to space aboard Blue Origin’s NS-18 at age 90, becoming the oldest person to reach space at the time, and in 2025 he received a Special Lifetime Achievement Saturn Award. His full list of film and TV credits, which spans more than 70 years, is on his IMDb page.

Why Other Sites Say $100 Million

We land on the same headline as everyone else, but for a different reason. The published figures mostly repeat one another, so their agreement does not prove much. Our model checks the figure against what Shatner has earned and kept since mid 2025 and shows the range the uncertainty creates. The stories that he made hundreds of millions from Priceline are not supported; Priceline’s own CEO said he sold early.

How William Shatner Compares

Shatner sits among Hollywood’s longest-running screen careers. To see how other actors with signature franchise roles and long TV runs stack up, read our profiles of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, Keanu Reeves and Danny DeVito.

Frequently Asked Questions About William Shatner’s Net Worth

How much is William Shatner worth in 2026?

William Shatner’s net worth is estimated at $100 million as of October 2026, with a likely range of $74 million to $120 million. The range is wide mainly because his Priceline payout was never disclosed.

Did William Shatner make $600 million from Priceline?

No. Priceline CEO Jeffery Boyd told CNBC in 2013 that the $600 million story was an urban legend and that Shatner sold his early equity at a low price. The real amount has never been made public.

Does William Shatner get royalties from Star Trek?

Not from the original series. Shows made before 1973 did not pay residuals for reruns, so the 79 episodes that aired from 1966 to 1969 pay him nothing today, even though they became a syndication hit for Paramount.

How much did William Shatner make per episode of Star Trek?

Celebrity Net Worth reports a starting salary of $5,000 per episode. Across all 79 episodes, that would come to about $395,000 if the rate never changed.

How much does William Shatner charge for conventions?

Celebrity Net Worth reports a fee of $10,000 per hour with a five-hour minimum, plus $10,000 for travel. Fans at Creation Entertainment’s 2026 Las Vegas convention paid $145 for an autograph and $165 for a photo, with promoters taking a share.

How old is William Shatner?

William Shatner was born on March 22, 1931, in Montreal, Quebec, so he is 95 years old as of October 2026.