Melbourne, Oct 21 'Star Trek' director JJ Abrams wants to rope in William Shatner for the sequel of the sci-fi movie and is set to discuss the prospects of casting him over a lunch meeting.

Abrams was heavily criticised when he opted not to cast Shatner, the original Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise, in this year's big screen update of the iconic sci-fi film and TV series.

But now with a sequel set for release in theatres in 2011, Abrams confirmed that Shatner might be offered a role.

"I would love to work with him. We speak. We actually have a lunch date planned," The Courier Mail quoted Abrams as saying.

Abrams opted to make 'Star Trek' a prequel, winding the clock back to the early years of the Star Trek crew with young actors Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock) and Simon Pegg (Montgomery Scott) filling the lead roles.

He said that the success of the film and the welcome received by new actors will make it easier to introduce Shatner into the sequel.

"In terms of moving forward, I am open to anything. I feel like the first movie did some of the heavy lifting that needed to be done in order to free us to continue going forward," said Abrams.

"Maybe there's less of a burden and there's going to be more opportunity to work with him (Shatner)," he added. (ANI)