Easiest way to bring Kirk back...

[johnconner]

It's certainly easy enough to bring Kirk back, no matter how many "... but ... but ... teh GENERATIONS!" get raised.

I don't think that's in question at all. It's Star Trek and it's sci-fi. *shrug*

The real questions are:

Is Shatner in or out?

and

Do Abrams, et. al. even want him in?

 

[FabiusMaximus]

Don’t mention Soran, the Nexus et al. If the story has older Spock traveling to his past (chasing the villain or whatever) then use the butterfly effect to explain any changes to the 24th century. Have Nimoy front the film reminiscing about his friends long dead. Perhaps show him next to a memorial or statue of his friend Kirk. And then at the end of the film as Nimoy returns to the 24th century the statue would be gone. Shatner as Kirk could then make his appearance and we could have the “Boston Legal” style ending some have mentioned on this board. Or if Shatner is unavailable, just have Nimoy standing in the area of the missing statue and then a shadow falls next to him – he turns – he raises an eyebrow – fade to black.

 

[jayrath]

To be purely practical, right now the biggest barrier to Shatner's return as Kirk is the writer's strike. Ain't gonna be no new pages until that's settled, and the clock is ticking and the cameras are rolling.

 

[starburst]

If its a small part a Shatner Kirk appearance could be added much later and put into the film as a pickup shoot

 

[Santa Kang]

Shatner's part was filmed months ago.