Roberto Orci Says 'Star Trek 3' Will Boldly Go Into Deep Space

Expect Star Trek 3 to boldly go where J.J. Abrams' earlier Star Trek movies did not. In a new interview, director Roberto Orci promised Star Trek 3 would take Kirk and his crew into deep space, in contrast to the Earth-centric storylines of the last two installments. And naturally, that means the team is about to encounter some new kinds of aliens. Read his comments after the jump.

In [Into Darkness] they set out finally where the original series started. The first two films – especially the 2009 [Star Trek] – was an origin story. It was about them coming together. So they weren't the characters they were in the original series. They were growing into them and that continues on in the second movie.  So in this movie they are closer than they are to the original series characters than you have ever seen. They have set off on their five-year mission. So their adventure is going to be in deep space.

The trip will bring them into contact with new alien races — and not just the ones familiar to fans, like the Romulans or the Klingons.

But wait, why do you have to go back to them? [...] Because this is an alternative universe I think we can choose. I don't feel the pressure to revisit anyone or not. We are lucky that way, but we have the ability to cherry pick what has become before. It will depend on what serves the story best."

Of course, creating new races raises its own challenges.

We have discussed [the challenges of creature design]. The advantage we have is there is new technology available. Even though I am a fan and I know JJ is a fan of as much practical sets and creature design you can do, we can also augment it with the technology that exists today, CGI. So in a way we have a freedom that is a little bit unexplored. I hope to do that in the next Star Trek.

For what it's worth, though, Orci names the Gorn, Tribbles, Romulans, and Vulcans as his favorite Star Trek aliens. We'll see what he has in store for us when Star Trek 3 premieres in 2016 — or maybe even earlier, as Orci plans to be "more transparent" than the notoriously secretive Abrams was.