Earlier this year, Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness star Simon Pegg took over the writing duties on Star Trek 3 with co-writer Doug Jung. The actor/writer revealed last week that the first Star Trek 3 screenplay by Roberto Orci, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, was too "Star Trek-y," which lead Paramount to bring him and Doug Jung in for a rewrite. The actor revealed that their script is now complete, which comes just four weeks before shooting is set to begin in Vancouver.
"We started again six months before we were due to start shooting, which is insane! In fact... we start shooting in Vancouver in four weeks - and we're only handing in our first draft today."
It's worth noting that "today" doesn't exactly mean May 29, since it isn't exactly known when this interview took place, especially since his "Star Trek-y" comments from last week came from the same interview. Regardless, production on Star Trek 3 is certainly starting soon, but it remains to be seen if Paramount will ask Simon Pegg and Doug Jung to rewrite their first draft. The actor/writer also revealed that he trimmed the initial draft by Roberto Orci, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay from a whopping 180 pages to 135 pages.
Simon Pegg didn't divulge any specific plot details of his new script, but with production slated to begin very soon, hopefully Paramount will release official story details very soon. Justin Lin is directing Star Trek 3, which already has a July 8, 2016 release date set by Paramount. The 2016 release also means that this sequel will arrive just as the original Star Trek TV series celebrates its 50th Anniversary. Are you excited to learn more about Star Trek 3? Be sure to stay tuned for more updates as we get closer to production starting.
Star Trek 3 comes to theaters in 2016.