The rebooted "Star Trek" franchise has been an interesting one. Having to navigate the occasionally opposing purposes of creating something fresh for a contemporary audience while pleasing the diehard ‘Trek’ fanbase has been tricky. 2009’s "Star Trek" seemed to get the balance right, even if cramming Leonard Nimoy in the story was an unnecessary bit of fan service. However, the 2013 sequel stumbled, with the film turning Zachary Quinto‘s Spock into a rock ’em sock ’em action hero and thus ending up barely resembling anything like the show Gene Rodenberry created decades ago. But can the return of the Enterprise’s original captain create a course correction? J.J. Abrams hope so.
Abrams having handed off the reins to director Robert Orci for the reboot’s third installment, it would appear that plans are afoot to bring back Captain Kirk one more time. With rumors running pretty high last week, William Shatner has now confirms he was contacted by Abrams, still on the project as a producer, to play Captain Kirk one more time.
"…the director of [Star Trek 3] has had an idea where you might be involved, so I’m calling to find out whether you would be interested," he told the crowd at Wizard World Nashville (via Comic Book) that Abrams said to him, adding that he was supposed to keep this secret (oh well).
"I’d love to do it. But how do you get me 50 years later into the movie? I mean, how do you rationalize it? I know it’s science fiction, but even I couldn’t come up with an idea," Shatner added.
Well, we’re sure if they could find a way to get Original Spock in there, they can find a way for Original Kirk too. But it does seem unnecessary, and the only way the franchise can move on is if it completely lets go of the past. That said, with Abrams and co. bringing back the gang for "Star Wars: Episode 7," it would seem "Star Trek" is also a property whose value is still in those aging characters.