JJ Abrams has become more open about his work in the Star Trek franchise now that he has moved onto Star Wars. The second film in the franchise, Star Trek Into Darkness, fell short of most expectations. Abrams admitted the film began production despite the fact he “hadn’t really solved some fundamental story problems.” He also felt the film was too beholden to paying homage to previous Star Trek stories rather than creating its own.
The movie’s co-writer and producer, Damon Lindelof, also decided to add to the discussion of the film’s faults. In an interview with Variety, Lindelof commented on the team’s decision to deny that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing the classic Star Trek villain Khan. “When we did Star Trek Into Darkness, we decided that we weren’t going to tell people that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing Khan. And that was a mistake, because the audience was like, ‘We know he’s playing Khan.’ That was why it was a mistake.”
Lindelof continued pointing to JJ Abrams current strategy with Star Wars hiding key facts to build hype. “JJ is telling us nothing about the new Star Wars movie and we love it. I’ve not come across a single person who’s like, ‘I wish I knew a little bit more.’ We are like, ‘Thank God he’s protecting us from all the things that will be revealed in the movie theater.’”
The next film in the Star Trek franchise will be Star Trek Beyond. It will be in theaters July 22, 2016 and stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, and John Cho. A TV adaptation of Star Trek is also in the works slated for 2017.