How come William Shatner is not in the new Star Trek movie?

Answer 1

The rumour that Shatner declined to appear in the new Star Trek (2009) movie is untrue, the veteran star was actually upset when director J.J. Abrams refused to include him in the new movie, choosing instead to recast the roles made famous by Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley.

Mmm..not quite. Leonard Nimoy had already been cast to reprise the older version of Spock. J.J. Abrams always intended to cast all new, younger actors to reboot the series, but wanted to tie in to the old one. However, there was no way to make casting Shatner as well work in the script, and he was excluded for that reason.