Having made a big point of denying that any discussions had taken place over a possible appearance in the third of the rebooted Star Trek films, original Captain Kirk actor William Shatner has now confirmed that in fact he has been approached.

According to comments he made at the Nashville Wizard World Comic Con on September 27, he received a phone call from JJ Abrams, who is producing the new movie, saying “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.” Shatner said that he replied, “Oh, yeah. If it is meaningful” and if it were, he would be “delighted” to appear.

He agreed to keep quiet about the approach, but then discovered that “the director held an interview and said they wanted Shatner and Nimoy to be in the next movie”. He accordingly felt that the news was out there and he could confirm that they “might” want himself and Nimoy to appear. (In fact, Roberto Orci, the director, hadn’t given an interview – as reported here, it came from a blog whose writer claimed to have read the script.)