Vulture has confirmed that Super 8 director J.J. Abrams has committed to a second voyage aboard the Starship Enterprise for the sequel to his 2009 success Star Trek.
According to the article, “Insiders familiar with the director’s plans tell Vulture that pre-production is underway, that the script will be done by month’s end and that Abrams will start shooting this winter”.
The originally slated date for Star Trek 2 would have been June 2012, but due to several delays this slot has now been given by Paramount to G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The film was also put on hold due to original writer Robert Kurtzman, who wrote the first script with Robert Orci, working on his directorial debut Welcome to People.
This is excellent, if somewhat inevitable, news for fans. Abrams managed to inject new life back into the series, while maintaining links to the past. When we spoke with Abrams back in June on the Super 8 tour, he mentioned how much fun it was working with the cast on Star Trek.
• The Orion Syndicate as the villains
• Larger all-star cast as well as many cameos including by William Shatner
• More planets
• Larger space battles with more starships
• Kirk having better fighting skills
• Kirk having several human love interests played by Hollywood’s most beautiful young actresses
• No cut scenes
• The Star Trek theme music from the Insurrection end credits used at the end