It’s the time of year again! Now that we saw Star Trek Into Darkness, we’ve got to start talking about Star Trek 3. What will it be called? Star Trek Darker? The Star Trekkiest? Star Trek: The Age of Ultron?
We have a bit of a rumor mill starting up once more, concerning both a new set of writers for Star Trek 3, and what part J.J. Abrams will play in this and that other big sci-fi franchise he’s involved in.
According to Badass Digest (via Comic Book Movie), Paramount has hired Thor and X-Men: First Class scribes Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz to come on board for Star Trek 3. They’ll join Star Trek Into Darkness writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzmann, who are aiming for a 2016 release date, in an effort to coincide with the franchise’s 50th anniversary.
The question still stands about where director J.J. Abrams figures into all this. Up until now we thought that Abrams was pretty well locked into Star Wars: Episode VII, itself aiming for a 2015 release date. But rumors now begin to filter through that Abrams will depart Star Wars over conflicts with the studio. Word right now is that he doesn’t want to film in England, and Disney has overruled him. That sounds like a small conflict to jump ship on, but stranger things have happened.
As yet, this is only a rumor, so don’t go running around saying that Abrams has abandoned Star Wars: Episode VII.
As for Star Trek 3? There’s still hope that Abrams will direct, regardless of what happens with Star Wars. The stumbling block will of course be the release dates. Could Abrams conceivably roll out two major sci-fi epics, with all the post-production work that goes into them, within a year of each other? I’m not certain. It would be interesting to see him try though.
So that’s where we’re at on the two biggest sci-fi franchises. What do you think of the new Star Trek 3 writers, and Abrams’ possible departure from the next Star Wars? Let us know in the comments.