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Speaking to MTV News about his sequel plans, the director noted that the alternate reality created in the new movie leaves the door open for Shatner's return as Captain Kirk and the possibility of the villain from Wrath Of Khan facing the Enterprise crew again.
"The fun of this [new Star Trek] is that the destiny of these characters is in their hands - it's not constrained by the pre-existing films or TV series," Abrams said. "Believe me, whether it's William Shatner or Khan... it would be ridiculous to not be open to those ideas."
He added: "The point of creating this independent timeline is to not have restrictions [and] one of those restrictions was that Kirk was dead."
Star Trek screenwriter Alex Kurtzman revealed that the filmmakers had initially planned to include Shatner in the movie as a hologram projection addressing Zachary Quinto's young Spock.
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