Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman Update Star Trek 2
Posted 12.02.10 by Ryan
After director J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot of Star Trek earned $385 million at the worldwide box office, the question wasn't whether a sequel would be made but when. The first step is for screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to deliver the Star Trek 2 (working title) script, which the writers previously admitted was due in December of 2009. In January, Paramount set the sequel's release date to June 29, 2012, which put a slight rush job on the script. In June, Orci and Kurtzman said they were "halfway through the story" and a week away from getting together with co-screenwriter Damon Lindelof and write the script. Almost six months later, and the writers told the LA Times that they finally "have broken the story" with Kurtzman saying the script for the sequel provided challenges that the original did not.
I think one of the weird challenges that we’re facing on this one is that in many ways, with the first movie, I don’t think people knew what to expect... Now, that first movie has come up and did well and everyone wants to know what happens next. We didn’t have that pressure, exactly, on the first one... We need to find our way back to the same kind of vibe that we had when we wrote the first one: What do we want to see here? What moved us about Trek? Where can we go from where we left off?
Orci said the duo are "looking at a lot of the old episodes for inspiration" on the sequel's script.
Whereas the last movie was all about breaking free from Star Trek and its canon, now that we can do whatever we want, we still want it to feel like good ol’ Star Trek even though it’s a new story.
While neither writer would say much about the story they just "broke," Kurtzman did say the sequel won't have the "luxury of not having the entire family there together at the start of the story."
So now [with the second] it becomes about this family that’s together, so now it becomes about the thing that shakes them up and challenges them.
The start of production on Star Trek 2 is currently unscheduled. Abrams will produce the sequel, though he has not yet agreed to return as director. Chris Pine, Karl Urban and Zachary Quinto and the rest of the cast are expected to return.