William Shatner recently responded to rumors that he could make an appearance in the third Star Trek film that's slated to hit theaters in 2016.

William Shatner Joining 'Star Trek' Movie?

It's been a subject of speculation that Shatner, who originated the role of Captain James T. Kirk in the '60s TV series, will make a cameo in the third Star Trek movie in the big screen franchise. While Shatner initially shut down speculation on Twitter, he eventually decided to address and explain the reason behind the persistent rumors.

Apparently, J.J. Abrams, who directed the first two films and will serve as a producer for the third, contacted Shatner, revealing that helmer Roberto Orci was looking to involve him in the film. "I said, 'Oh, yeah. If it is meaningful, because when Leonard was Spock…in that first movie, I said to Leonard, 'You know your role, when you go back in time and you're still old,'" Shatner said at the 2014 Wizard World Nashville Comic Con. "So, it depends on what you do with the character, I'd be delighted."

"They might want Leonard and myself but I don't know what to do with it," Shatner told the fans. "How do you get me 50 years later into the movie? How do you rationalize it? I know it's science fiction, but even I couldn't come up with an idea. So that's the news on that."

Shatner was supposedly meant to appear in the first Star Trek movie in which Leonard Nimoy appeared as Spock. Though a scene was written into the script, they ultimately decided to scrap it, thinking it would look as though they were trying too hard to appease diehard fans.

"We wrote a scene for William Shatner at the end of the movie where Spock, played by Leonard, gives his young self, played by Zach Quinto, something he'd kept with him," Orci told The Hollywood Reporter in 2011. "And it was basically a recording of Kirk singing 'Happy Birthday' to him for the last time before he went off to die in Star Trek VI. J.J. had determined early on that he felt it might seem like it was, A, too small, and B, pandering to the fans a bit. But we wrote it anyway because as a fan you're always trying to protect that thing where you want to be able to look fans in the eye and say, 'We were ready.'"