William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy's involvement in J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek XI is all but certain at this point. Both Shatner and Nimoy have confirmed that they've been contacted by Abrams and Paramount about being part of the movie. The question is, who will they play? The film is a prequel to the original series, possibly about Kirk and Spock, whom Shatner and Nimoy are now much too old to portray at a young age.

TrekMovie has a possible answer. While at Creation Entertainment's Official Star Trek Convention in Sacramento Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy took the stage and got bombarded by questions about the film. One of the questions posed to him was whether he'd be interested in playing Spock's father Sarek (originally played by Mark Leonard Baker) in the new movie. Leonard's response, "get Abrams on the phone right away!" seems to indicate that he'd be up for it.

It's not a bad idea actually. Right now it's too early to tell what Abrams has in mind of course. Even Shatner and Nimoy don't really know what he wants to use them for. Casting Nimoy as his character's father could be a nice way to work him into the story without resorting to flash forwards or flashbacks. The only problem might be that Leonard is now actually a little too old to play Spock's father in a prequel as well. Most of the original Trek cast (the ones still living at least) are only a step or two away from a walker.