J.J. Abrams Turns Down 'Star Wars'

"Lost" co-creator and "Star Trek" reboot series director J.J. Abrams' name was one of those rumored to be in the running to call the shots on Disney's first "Star Wars film, Episode VII" - and apparently the rumors were true.

However, as "amazing" as he predicts the next films will be, he told the U.K. movie magazine Empire he declined the gig early on.

Abrams reportedly told Empire, "[T]here were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to 'Star Trek', and also just being a ['Star Wars'] fan, I wouldn't even want to be involved in the next version of those things."

Abrams praised producer Kathleen Kennedy, George Lucas' hand-picked successor at the now-Disney-owned Lucasfilm, saying the franchise is "in great hands." Disney owns ABC News.

The filmmaker said that even though he's a "huge fan" of the original trilogy, and "the idea of [that] world continuing is exciting and will be amazing," he admitted, "I'd rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them."

Abrams' next "Trek" installment, "Star Trek Into Darkness," beams into theaters in May 2013.