George Kirk George Kirk was a Human Starfleet officer in the early 23rd century . His father was Tiberius Kirk . George was the husband of Winona Kirk and the father of James T . Kirk and George Samuel Kirk . ( ; ) He had four grandchild ren : three from his son George Jr . , and one from his son James . ( ; ) History . When George Kirk was a kid , he owned a PX70 motorcycle . According to , Kirk often put Winona on the back of the vehicle and it drove her nuts . Kirk joined Starfleet because he truly believed in the humanitarian and exploratory ideals of the Federation . ( ) By 2233 , at the age of twenty - nine , Kirk was serving as first officer aboard the under Captain Richard Robau . ( , ) His wife was also aboard the ship and was pregnant with his son James Kirk at the time . James Kirk often spoke of his father , crediting George with providing him with the inspiration to join Starfleet . George lived at least long enough to see his son become captain of the in 2265 . ( ) Appendices . Background information . George Kirk , specifically the alternate reality version of the character , was played by Chris Hemsworth . This footage of George Kirk was set immediately after the split in the timeline , allowing an insight into what the prime - universe version of the character was like , as George Kirk has never appeared in canon aside from that . Although George Kirk wasn ' t canonically referred to until the series of alternate reality films ( released from onwards ) , there were several early attempts to refer to him . For instance , in the first draft story outline for ( dated ) , James Kirk ' s father was depicted as having led a research expedition on a planet colony , twenty - five years prior to the events of that story , at which time Dr . Leighton had been his assistant . After the colony was brutally taken over by an army of marauders ( which was led by a revolutionary leader named Kodos ) , they tried to force Kirk ' s father to defect to their side . He refused , rejecting a medallion that bore the symbol of the marauders , who consequently executed him , while his son , James Kirk , was watching . At this early stage in the development of " The Conscience of the King " , the murder of Kirk ' s father was key to the episode ' s backstory , though he wasn ' t actually named in the story outline . The decision to drop the idea of his murder was made by the series ' writing staff , rather than by the writer of the episode , Barry Trivers ( as evidenced by a memo dated 15 April 1966 ) . The change was made because the TOS writing staff believed that having the victim be James Kirk ' s father would tie them " to an aspect of Kirk ' s close family past , creating something which may hem us in later . " George Kirk was also mentioned in the unfilmed " " script as having died when his craft , the " " , disappeared during an experimental dilithium - fueled warp jump . Montgomery Scott worked with him on the project . In the script of , George Kirk was referred to as a thirty - two - year - old as of 2233 , suggesting he was born in 2201 . The script also described him as having an " all - American face . " On the other hand , in , James Kirk muses that , upon reaching thirty , he ' ll be a year older than his father when he died , making George twenty - nine at the beginning of 2233 , with a corresponding birth year of 2203 or 2204 . As director of the film " Star Trek " , J . J . Abrams specifically asked for Chris Hemsworth to portray George Kirk , though the actor had only begun working in America a few months beforehand . He received notification of the role one day after he returned to Los Angeles following a couple of months of filming in Chicago . " " I had a phone call from my manager saying that I needed to drive across right away to Paramount Studios and meet J . J . Abrams in his office to do the scene , " " Hemsworth explained . " " I cancelled what I was doing , drove over there , did the scene in his office at his desk and he said , ' Fantastic – we have to work together . You start next week . ' And that was it ! " " Although Abrams didn ' t share much information with the performer at that time , Hemsworth did use a genuine scene from the movie for his audition . He had very little time to prepare for the role , though there wasn ' t a lot he could do to ready himself for the part anyway . ( ) Since this character had never appeared before , Abrams and Hemsworth were free to collaborate on the portrayal of George Kirk . " " On set we discussed how we wanted to play it , " " remembered Hemsworth . " " J . J . had very specific ideas about what we wanted to achieve , but he ' s also the kind of director that gives you the freedom to try other things and put your own interpretation on it . It was more a case of taking the scenes that we had , and finding the truth in what was being said , then just playing that and trusting in the overall picture J . J . was creating and that the writers had done for us . " " ( ) Constructing a backstory for his own character , Hemsworth came to the opinion that George Kirk is " " someone who has quite a strong sense of justice . He ' s that old - fashioned kind of good guy : he has strong morals and puts other people before himself . But he was also played as someone in his mid - 20s . He ' s still quite young , so I think a lot of who he is was ingrained , maybe through his upbringing . I feel like he had a pretty strong sense of character , and especially to be put in the position he is at such a young age says a lot about who he is . " " ( ) In many ways , Chris Hemsworth was relieved that , because there wasn ' t much rehearsal time , he didn ' t have long to consider what he was letting himself in for by playing James Kirk ' s father . " " That was funny , " " he remarked . " " In a really good way , I was thankful for not having enough time to think about it , because the turnaround from the audition to when I was shooting was so quick . I didn ' t have too much time to think about the pressure that was built around it . But afterward , the more I heard about it , I started hoping I did an okay job ! [ . . . ] There were a couple of times when I was sitting there on set , and I thought that it doesn ' t get any bigger than this , in terms of money , expertise and everything that ' s put into making a film . And I wondered what I was doing there ! But [ . . . ] it was mind - blowing and exciting . " " Also , Hemsworth found that his confidence regarding his performance was boosted by Abrams . ( ) Although refers to George Kirk as having been a lieutenant when he was aboard the " Kelvin " , Kirk is actually shown wearing the rank braids of a lieutenant commander . Lieutenant commanders are usually afforded the privilege of being referred to , in short , as commander s and not as lieutenants ; Shelby , Geordi La Forge , and Deanna Troi have also been addressed as lieutenant , despite clearly holding the rank of lieutenant commander . He may have a brother , since James T . Kirk said he was staying at his uncle ' s farm in Idaho in . It was never made clear which of his parents had a sibling though , or if he was just using the term for a long time family friend . In , an was cut from the script and reworked into Winona ' s new husband heard in the film . Apocrypha . The name " George " for James Kirk ' s father first originated in Vonda N . McIntyre ' s TOS novel " " , which gives his full name as " George Samuel Kirk , Senior " . The novel " Collision Course " calls him " George Joseph Kirk " , while the comic story " Captain James T . Kirk : Psycho - File " calls him " Benjamin Kirk " . " " calls him " Eugene Claudius Kirk " . Intel ' s " Star Trek " tie - in website gave his serial number as SA - 733 - 9624 - AM . George Kirk was seen as the first officer of the under Captain Robert April in the novel " " . In the novel , Kirk was the one responsible for convincing Captain April ( who had been charged with naming the as - yet - unnamed ship ) to name the ship " Enterprise " . The cover art for the book contained a picture of him . Additionally , Kirk played a major role in the novel " Best Destiny " , where he was once again shown as first officer under Captain Robert April . He plays a more direct role in sixteen - year - old James Kirk ' s life , and is upset with him for his rebellious behavior . In the " Crucible " trilogy , written by David R . George III , George Kirk was described as having died when his son , James , was a young boy , with no mention of the elder Kirk ' s career in Starfleet . IDW Publishing ' s comic " Keenser ' s Story " depicts George Kirk as having been present for first contact with the s ( Keenser ' s species ) . After Keenser helps them fix their shuttle , he accompanies George on the ride back to the " Kelvin " , with the intention of going to Starfleet Academy . The novel " The Autobiography of James T . Kirk " lists George ' s birthday as December 13 , 2206 .