In the trivia it states Shats was offered the lead role as the passenger again but turned it down (probably due to schedule conflicts with filming Star Trek III and TJ Hooker). anyway it wouldn't have made much sense (would it a sequel to the episode with him as the same character or a remake with Shatner playing another character?)
However it'd have been cool if hed cameoed briefly as another passenger (his character from the episode?) or even the plane captain
Would not have mattered. The remake of Nightmare cannot hold a candle to the original. The version with Shatner is far more subtle and has a slow buildup to the climax of the story while the remake is too over the top. The passengers on the plane are even scarier than the monster on the wing. The whole point of the original was that everything was normal except in the mind of this nervous passenger who was on the plane with his wife and already was recovering from a nervous breakdown. It just can't compare and Shatner was lucky he missed it.
shareI honestly thought the remade version was very good - I'm glad John Lithgow got the part because he was great
George Miller and Joe Dante did outstanding jobs of directing screenplays by Richard Matheson, of which his contribution to this 1983 film was probably his best work. The 3rd and 4th segments of the 1983 film could not have been any better.
After giving us four of the greatest movies of all time from 1975-1982, Spielberg took a back seat to George Miller and Joe Dante, both of whom deserve a standing ovation.
Landis gave us Michael Jackson's Thriller video at about that same time, around (1983 or 1984), so all four filmmakers were dishing out magic at or around that time. But the magic in this film came from Richard Matheson, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Others contributed as well, especially Jerry Goldsmith.