Roberto Orci will be trekking into familiar territory…
The Mexican-American film and television writer and producer and his business partner Alex Kurtzman are in talks to pen the next Star Trek outing for Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions.
Orci and Kurtzman co-wrote the previous two installments for director J.J. Abrams, who is in negotiations to produce Star Trek 3 through his Bad Robot production company. Damon Lindelof also shared writing credit on this summer’s Star Trek Into Darkness. Sources say Lindelof will not be back for the third chapter of the rebooted franchise.
Though the project is shrouded in secrecy, much like Star Trek Into Darkness was, reports have surfaced in recent weeks that the studio would tap new writers. Rumors swirled that other young writing teams were being courted for their takes. But Paramount shifted gears recently and is returning to the duo that breathed new life into the moribund franchise. The tricky part was getting Kurtzman and Orci to find a gap in their schedules to write. In addition to their growing TV empire, they have been busy on the film front as part of their two-year first-look deal with Universal Pictures that has them rebooting The Mummy and Van Helsing.
The next Star Trek film is untitled and unscheduled, but Paramount and Skydance are eager to continue the franchise, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016. Stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana are expected to return.
