Abrams explained that while he admired friend and "Star Wars" producer Kathleen Kennedy, he turned down any role in the new films.
There were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to "Star Trek," and also just being a fan, I wouldn't even want to be involved in the next version of those things. I declined any involvement very early on. I'd rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them.
A longtime "Star Wars" fanboy, Abrams had been open about his reluctance to take on the material, telling Hollywood Life in November that the job just wasn't for him:
Look, Star Wars is one of my favorite movies of all time. I frankly feel that – I almost feel that, in a weird way, the opportunity for whomever it is to direct that movie, it comes with the burden of being that kind of iconic movie and series. I was never a big Star Trek fan growing up, so for me, working on Star Trek didn’t have any of that, you know, almost fatal sacrilege, and so, I am looking forward more then anyone to the next iterations of Star Wars, but I believe I will be going as a paying moviegoer!