J.J. Abrams called Kirk and Spock the "key and heart" of Star Trek

Star Trek: The Original Series has long been hailed as the be-all and end-all of Star Trek. Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) were the icons of the science fiction world Gene Roddenberry created, and neither would ever be able to be replaced. Yet, other movies and series have brought aboard different actors to take on the roles to keep the franchise going. J.J. Abrams was the first to reinvent Spock and Kirk with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the roles in Star Trek (2009), and he admitted that he wasn't a fan of Star Trek before Star Trek (2009). But he knew about the start of Star Trek.

In The Fifty Year Mission The Next 25 Years From The Next Generation to J.J. Abrams by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Abrams said that, to him, The Original Series was what Star Trek was all about. He went on to say that as Star Trek went on, the series and movies became "less relatable" And while he originally thought a new version of Star Trek would have to be brought to life "in a way that never had been done before," it didn't take him long to realize that "Kirk and Spock were the key, the heart, of Trek." And that's why he chose to focus on Spock and Kirk in the series of movies that began in 2009.

Many fans would disagree with Star Trek being less relatable in different series. For some, their first love of Treke began with Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Voyager. Many more say Star Trek: Deep Space Nine inspired their love of the franchise, and Star Trek: Enterprise made them want to watch all of the series from the very beginning.

But no one can deny that Nimoy's Spock and Shatner's Kirk ignited the firestorm that would become the Star Trek franchise. Without these two, the chances of any kind of follow-up movies or series would have been minimal at best. But Abrams took a big risk when he reinvented Spock and Kirk, and although it paid off at the box office, some fans remain unhappy with the new direction he sent the crew in even if it was an alternate timeline.

Now, we're coming up to a fourth movie in the series, if it ever makes it into production, and Abrams has to wrap up the story in such a way that fans don't regret having watched the first three movies in the series or reject the new movie outright much like what happened with Star Trek: Nemesis. For many fans, the Kelvin Timeline movies don't need a fourth movie, especially not after all of this time. But, if the movie does actually make it to production, we'll see if Pine's Kirk and Quinto's Spock, along with the rest of the amazing cast, can bring this timeline to a satisfying conclusion, one that remembers why Spock and Kirk are so iconic to Star Trek.