As we previously reported on TGDaily, Star Trek 2 has been a long time coming, mostly because Team JJ Abrams was busy with other projects, such as Super 8.
But Abrams is finally back to helm the Enterprise, and filming of the long-awaited Star Trek 2 will commence on January 15.
As Collider reports, “Unless Paramount is willing to throw a lot more money at the sequel and is willing to rush, don’t expect the sequel to hit theaters until summer 2013 at the earliest.”
Roberto Orci, who’s writing the script with Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof, confirmed the script is on the third draft right now.
As you may recall, finishing the script was one of the key stumbling blocks to kicking off production of the film, as Orci and Kurtzman who were busy with Cowboys and Aliens. Similarly, Lindelof was consumed with Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.
Collider and TrekMovie also reported there will be a location scout in Hawaii “for a jungle planet,” perhaps borrowing a page from Avatar. There’s also no word on our recent report on whether Benicio Delo Toro will play the villain role, and no one knows who the villain is yet, although Khan would certainly be cool. (Del Toro himself didn’t know the villain he’s going to play when the offer came in).
It goes without saying Star Trek 2 is a major geek event, and Abrams and company are going to be under tough geek scrutiny until the film is ready for take off.
Being a fanboy turned pro himself, Abrams realizes he can’t phone this gig in, and that the goal is to surpass the first movie. But knowing Abrams wouldn’t go forward until everything felt right to him, and that the 2009 Trek gang is back for round two, here’s to hoping the planets will align again for the next film.
