Shatner Almost Had Part In 'Star Trek XI'

Over the past months, there has been much discussion as to whether William Shatner would be in 'Star Trek XI' or wouldn't be (or should be or shouldn't be,) but it turns out that Shatner's demands made it impossible for it to happen.

As reported by AMCTV.com, in the course of being interviewed about his newest series Fringe, J.J. Abrams discussed Shatner's anger at not having a role in next year's Star Trek XI. "It was very tricky," said Abrams. "We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn't quite feel right."

Complicating matters was Shatner himself, who sought a bigger role than was offered. "The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn't want to do a cameo," explained Abrams. "We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves."

In addition, there were concerns over canon and the desire to make the storytelling consistent. "The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling," said Abrams. "It's funny, a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that."

To read more, head to the article located here.

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