With J.J. Abrams currently directing the new Star Wars: Episode 7, paramount has turned to Roberto Orci (writer for The Amazing Spider Man 2), Abrams' co-writer and producer of both Star Trek and Star Trek; Into The Darkness, to helm the Star Trek 3 movie, set to release in 2016 coinciding with the series' 50th anniversary.
Orci, in his directorial debut has been reported in collaboration with screenwriters Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne (writers for the Flash Gordon reboot for 20th Century Fox).
Simon Pegg has also confirmed that Orci has taken over directorial duties in an interview via BBC:
"Bob's been there since the first Star Trek - by that I mean the 2009 one - so it seemed to make perfect sense that he come in as a director on this one because he gets it. He was always the most Trekkie of all of those guys anyway, he's always understood the story the best so it's great that he's going to be involved in the writing and directing."
The director recently took to TrekMovie's comments section to report that they have finished the first draft of the Star Trek movie:
boborci:
'p & m & I wrote, "fade out" yesterday on first draft. things are moving.'
(p & m presumably referring to Payne and McKay)
He follows with the confirmation:
"First draft is done"
Orci also explains the plot of Star Trek 3 in a podcast interview for Humans From Earth:
In [Into Darkness] they set out finally where the original series started. The first two films - especially the 2009 [Star Trek] - was an origin story. It was about them coming together. So they weren't the characters they were in the original series. They were growing into them and that continues on in the second movie. So in this movie they are closer than they are to the original series characters that you have ever seen. They have set off on their five-year mission. So their adventure is going to be in deep space.
Stay tuned for more details on the upcoming third installment. Star Trek 3 is currently expected to hit theaters in 2016.
