No Older Kirk in Trek Sequel

Director of the new Star Trek movie J.J Abrams has dismissed the possibility of William Shatner returning to the SF franchise in a sequel to the latest instalment in the Trek film franchise.

Fans hoping for William Shatner to reprise his role of Captain James T Kirk will be disappointed to hear that it isn’t likely to happen – so says director J.J Abrams. The man behind the new Star Trek film, which is a prequel to the original television series, says that it’s highly unlikely Shatner will appear in a sequel to the new movie because his Kirk is dead. Original series star Leonard Nimroy reprises his role of Spock, an older Spock that is, in the new film but reviving Kirk could prove difficult as he was killed off in the film, Star Trek: Generations.

“His character died in one of the (Star Trek) films and we wanted to be consistent. Everyone says – the Trek fans – if you’re gonna do a Trek film, you need to be consistent. He died.” – J.J Abrams

The latest Star Trek film is a prequel to the original series, which ran between 1966 and 1969 on television, and also designed to reboot the troubled franchise. The last Trek movie, Nemesis, wasn’t a hit at the box office and was panned by the critics while on television series spin-off series Enterprise, the fourth spin-off from the original series, was axed after four seasons due to low ratings. The spin-off was the first incarnation of Trek on television to be cancelled since the original series in 1969. The three other spin-off series’, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, all came to their natural conclusions.