Shatner Confirms Star Trek 3 Considering Roles for His Kirk and Spock

After a week of rumors had indicated that old Kirk and Spock could appear in Star Trek 3, William Shatner inadvertently confirmed the rumors. He thought that sources within Paramount had confirmed that he was approached by movie producer JJ Abrams to be in the film and so during his panel this weekend at the Nashville Wizard World Comic Con, he spoke about it.

The weirdest thing has happened and I think I can tell you because it is so weird. So I’m in Australia a couple of weeks ago…and JJ Abrams calls me. He called me in Los Angeles and I’m not there, so my assistant calls me and says “JJ called and is going to call back.” I said “great” and hung up the phone "I wonder what JJ wants?" Because the last time I talked to JJ was before the first movie came out and I went to meet him at his office and he said "are you interested in being in the Star Trek movie?" "And I would play the captain?" "No, no. Not as Captain Kirk. We have a young, handsome guy to do that." But he handed a script and I read it, and it stunk…It is like telling people “You know that little cute baby you got there. It is the ugliest thing I have ever seen!” So I didn’t say that to JJ. This is the worst script I have ever read and it is the next Star Trek movie and the beginning of the whole thing and it was awful! Turns out it wasn’t the script at all…He was assessing whether people were interested in being in the movie and handing them a dummy script because the final movie was really good, but it wasn’t the script that I read.

So now I get this call and he is going to call me back and a week and a half goes by and he never called me. I wonder if he is going to call me? Maybe it is a trick? Maybe it is TMZ? Could he be that cruel. So he calls and says "I’m calling, Bill, because the director of the Star Trek movie, the next one, has had an idea where you might be involved in it. So I am calling to see if you would be interested." I said "Oh, yeah. If it is meaningful." When Leonard was Spock in that first movie, I said to Leonard "you know when you go back in time you are still old." So it depends on what you do with the character. I said "I would be delighted." And he said "you can’t say anything." And I said "I wont even tell my wife. I wont tell anyone. I wouldn’t do that, JJ."

So I get back from Australia and it is all over the Internet, that the director held an interview and said they wanted Shatner and Nimoy to be in the next movie. I bet JJ is frothing at the mouth. So the news is out that they have an idea that they want Leonard and myself. They might want Leonard and myself . I don’t know what to do with it. How do you get me fifty years later into the movie…I know it’s science fiction, but even I couldn’t come up with an idea.

Personally I likes Spock's appearances in both movies and thought both were handled very well as well as the rumored scene that was written in the first movie for William Shatner (which he declined to the annoyance of many fans). As a result I really have no concerns about how it will be handled and just look forward to the idea. As for Shatner, he has been reminded to not speak of such things,saying "All I can say is that I’m very excited about the film." Unless Roberto Orci, JJ Abrams and Paramount change their mind after this minor incident. The scope of the role (likely small) and other details are unknown. Hopefully not. An appearance (regardless of length) would be a nice nod considering Star Trek 3 is aiming to come out in time for the 50th Anniversary of the franchise in 2016 and what is a major anniversary without at least 2 (and why not more?) characters that helped the series survive and thrive? Below is the video for his answering that specific question and after that is the entire Q&A session.