Star Trek - Abrams: 'Shatner's Kirk Is Dead'

STAR TREK director J.J. ABRAMS has dismissed reports WILLIAM SHATNER will return to the franchise for the sequel of his new movie - because his Captain Kirk character is dead.

Despite protestations from Shatner himself and hardcore Trekkers, Abrams decided not to use the original Kirk in his new film, explaining it would have irked film fans who saw his character die.

Abrams says, "His character died in one of the (Star Trek) films and we wanted to be consistent.

"Everyone says - the Trek fans - if you're gonna do a Trek film, you need to be consistent. He died."

Abrams reiterates he did offer Shatner a role in his new film, but explained it could only be a cameo.

He adds, "It was clear that he didn't wanna just do a cameo, so to create a story which was in the movie, it would have been reworking everything (sic)."

But Abrams insists he didn't purposefully snub the original Kirk: "I love William Shatner."