As Paramount Pictures prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gene Roddenberry’s seminal sci-fi franchise Star Trek in 2016 with the release of the third movie in the rebooted series, Zachary Quinto (Spock) has spoken about the threequel during an appearance at the Television Critics Press Tour to promote his new reality series The Chair…
“I think the five-year mission will be a part of this next film in some way,” said Quinto (via IGN). “We’re coming up on the 50th anniversary of one of the most iconic sci-fi series in entertainment history, so it’s inherently an ongoing story. But I do think that we’ll feel some sense of evolution in these characters that’s been building through the first few films.”
Quinto then went on to offer some praise to Roberto Orci, screenwriter on the first two movies and potential director of the third: “[Orci] is definitely sort of a purist about the Trek universe, so I’ve spoken to him a number of times about his ideas and they’re really exciting and I’m really excited that we get to be a part of his feature directorial debut. It’ll be a different world without J.J. [Abrams] on set every day, but this is a family and Bob is an essential part of that family and we’re all really excited to see where it goes.”
While it had been thought that Roberto Orci had secured the job of replacing J.J. Abrams for Star Trek 3, Orci has revealed to Collider that he’s yet to officially sign on to direct:
“I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch. The studio has yet to even read the script. I’m in the middle of writing it, with the talented team of John D. Payne and Patrick McKay. They are true Star Trek fans, as well. So, I can’t even think anything about the future until I give them a script and they greenlight it. Until that happens, everything else is just a rumor… If I’m lucky enough that Paramount loves the script and that we go forward, it’ll be because I have loved Star Trek for so long and the idea of having seen one of the best guys in the business direct two of them already, and to have seen it from the vantage point of a producer too, I know where a lot of the challenges are and where a lot of the fun is. If we’re lucky enough that everything goes right, then I’ll start to feel the pressure. As a writer, I feel the pressure as the returning screenwriter to this franchise. I feel it at the story level. I can’t speak for Payne and McKay, but they seem to be having a good time. They don’t look as nervous as I feel, but maybe they’re just good at hiding it.”
Star Trek 3 is set for release some time in 2016.
Originally published July 12, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
