William Shatner hasn't exactly been shy about expressing his disappointment over not being included in next year's Star Trek XI -- but, as it turns out, his protests may have been premature.

As Trek XI co-writer Roberto Orci tells SCI FI Wire, there's still a chance that the filmmakers will find room for The Shat in J.J. Abrams' franchise reboot -- but if they don't, it's nothing personal. It's just that, you know, Shatner's character is dead. From the article:

"There are two things," Orci said in an interview in November. "One, from our point of view, we are still hoping to find a way. Secondly, one of the difficulties that was brought up and discussed with Shatner when we all met him and pitched him ideas is that Trek fans are sticklers for their canon. [And,] unfortunately, Shatner's Capt. Kirk was killed in Star Trek VII [1994's Generations]."

The second of Orci's "two things" is, of course, the writers' strike, which is keeping Orci, his partner Alex Kurtzman, or Abrams from making any changes to the script. Once that's out of the way, Orci isn't averse to a Shatner appearance, provided it makes sense:

"The difficulty there is not just ignoring that or explaining it in an unsatisfactory way merely to get him back in," Orci said. "So that is the struggle: the rigors of canon and not phoning it in just to have a cameo."

So there you have it, Shatner fans. All hope is not lost. And if you can take Orci at his word, the torch has been passed to capable hands -- the screenwriter is all kinds of happy about the casting of Chris Pine as young Kirk:

"Chris Pine has two things which are very difficult to find simultaneously," Orci said. "He has the maverick nature of an extremely motivated, cocky guy who doesn't play by the rules, who is intelligent enough and can command sufficient respect to be an astronaut. Remember, these people are all astronauts!"

Source: SCI FI Wire