Simon Pegg: ‘Bob Orci Is Going To Direct The New ‘Star Trek’ Film’

If you want evidence of the flippy-floppy, fickle nature of the film and television industry, you need look no further than the Star Trek franchise. In the latest chapter of the huge question mark that is Star Trek 3, we have confirmation from actor Simon Pegg that Roberto Orci, co-writer of the first two recent Star Trek films, will be taking the director’s helm of the flick, Trek Movie reports.

In the recent Star Trek Las Vegas Con, Pegg spoke before the large crowd on his current take on the state of the newest Trek film, backing up most previous reports, including Orci–who has been the frontrunner to direct for awhile–making his directorial debut on the movie. According to the article, the nature of the discussion on Orci was very casual, with no regard to it being in question. This can mean two things… that Orci is either set to direct, or he isn’t. Not quite the comfort one would think, but the fact remains that things can change at any moment, and actors are notorious for making big claims on films whilst being completely out of the loop. This can be added to the list of Star Trek 3 rumor confirmations, but until a producer comes out and declares Orci director, it’ll still be nothing but another Trek rumor.

Among other things, Pegg stated that he has not yet read the script to the film, which makes sense considering since last we heard, Roberto Orci hadn’t even finished the script or showed it to Paramount. With this in mind, Pegg believes the film will shoot next year in 2015, and be released in 2016, in time for the franchise’s 50 year anniversary.

The Star Trek films aren’t the only thing Pegg had to comment on while he was on stage. There were also some pretty strong opinions about the potential of a new Star Trek series, which has already been rumored for years. If he were given control, where would he take the series?

I think deep space. And I have a suspicion that the next [Star Trek] film will see us out there on the mission. That is what the last part of [Into Darkness] established – that we would be out there as in the series in the midst of nowhere. I would like to go to some of those crazy places like the series did. The series was such an interesting proposition. It was about something fantastic but didn’t have the budget to be that visually fantastic. Sometimes it would get teased because it was studio-based. It didn’t have the lavish effects that you have today on film and on television. So they would boil down the stories to something very real and human and personal and they became these fantastic little plays which I really loved as a kid. They always had a moral and social messages which you had to unpick. That kind of stuff is what Star Trek is fundamentally about. It is a metaphor. I would love to see some of that stuff again.

Hardcore Trekkies would rejoice at such an approach, were it to happen, as the films have often been criticized as being too much a product of Hollywood and not enough a product of the original nature of the series.

Of course these are all just rumors and pretend, so take everything with a huge grain of salt. Thoughts on Orci directing? What would you like to see in a new Star Trek series?