MTV got a chance to grill Star Trek director JJ Abrams about what we could expect in the inevitable sequel. Of course, screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have not yet started on the announced sequel, so anything at this point is just speculation. But Abrams admits that the alternative universe timeline allows them to deviate from Trek canon.

When I polled the slashfilm followers on Twitter a week ago, the three most popular ideas were: The Original Crew vs. The Borg, the return of William Shatner and of course, KHANNNN!!!! The last two pose a big problem. Shatner’s Kirk died on in the climax of the 1994 film Star Trek: Generations.

I argued in the video blog last week that the alternative timeline means that Kirk’s death didn’t happen, at least not in the way it occurred in Generations, and that the Star Fleet Captain could return in a sequel, possibly in search for Elder Spock.

And Abrams tells MTV that the new timeline could allow for the return of Shatner: “The point of creating this independent timeline is to not have the restrictions we had coming into this one. And one of those restrictions was that Kirk was dead.”

As for Khan, many people believe that since Kirk never stranded him on Ceti Alpha V, the character would no longer be the same villain we saw in Star Trek 2. But Abrams argues that it is still possible to feature Khan as the villain in the Trek sequels: “[Khan and Kirk] exist — and while their history may not be exactly as people are familiar with, I would argue that a person’s character is what it is. Certain people are destined to cross paths and come together, and Khan is out there … even if he doesn’t have the same issues.”

Personally, I would like to see a story we’ve never seen before, and not just a remake or reinvention of the original Trek films. The alternative timeline might allow for both, but that doesn’t mean that the sequel should present a story we’ve already experienced before.