J.J. Abrams Talks Shatner in Trek

Ever since J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek was announced fans have been wondering if William Shatner would be involved. Abrams and company have stated before that Shatner will not be appearing in the flick, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t try. In a new interview with AMC, Abrams reveals that they tried to fit the original Captain Kirk into the flick.

We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn’t quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn’t want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It’s funny — a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.

Some people still believe that Abrams is just throwing up smoke screens and that Shatner will make a surprise cameo. I guess anything is possible, but I just don’t see that happening.

Head on over here to read the full interview, where Abrams also talks about his latest TV series, Fringe.