William Shatner says he has been approached by J.J. Abrams about Star Trek 3

William Shatner has shed more light on the rumours of a potential appearance in Star Trek 3 , by revealing J.J. Abrams has been in touch to sound him out.

According to Shatner, Abrams called him recently, saying, “I’m calling because the director of Star Trek , the next movie, has had an idea where you might be involved, so I’m calling to find out whether you would be interested.”

Unsurprisingly, Abrams had asked Shatner that he keep their discussion private, but as far as the actor is concerned, the rumour mill had pretty much got to the bottom of things anyway.

“It’s all over the internet that the director had held an interview and said they want Shatner and Nimoy to be in the next movie," he said. "I’ll bet you J.J.’s frothing at the mouth at this point. So the news is out that they have an idea that they want Leonard and myself…”

We’re not sure how much that will appease Abrams, but in any case, Shatner is at least keen on the idea in theory…

“I would love to do it,” he continued. “But how do you get me fifty years later into the movie? I mean how do you rationalise it? I know it’s science fiction, but even I couldn’t come up with an idea.”

Over to you, Mr. Orci… Star Trek 3 is expected to arrive in 2016, with a release date yet to be confirmed.

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.

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