Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have huge pull in Hollywood these days, thanks to the mega-successful Transformers franchise that they helped envision, their surprisingly fresh reboot of Star Trek and their TV series, Fringe. Only days ago, Orci blogged that the duo would not be returning for another Transformers film, but the two are at work on a sequel to Star Trek.
During a press day event for the release of both the Star Trek DVDs (out on November 17th) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DVDs (out on October 20th), Kurtzman said:
"So, if the studio wants more than one, great. But, our thinking is going to be very much about the story and whether the story prescribes that there will be more than one. Part of what is great about Star Trek is that it’s a continuing adventure, so you naturally think that there will be many, hopefully, but we only focus on what comes next, and then build off of that. Right now, we’re not thinking specifically about making 2 and 3. It may come up, but it’s not where our heads are at right now."
And, as if the duo doesn't already have enough fan cred, Kurtzman uses examples from some of the most popular genre sequels to explain how they're approaching
Star Trek 2:
...there’s Empire Strikes Back, Superman 2, Aliens, Terminator 2, Star Trek 2. What do all those movies have in common? Well, they’re amazing stories, all on their own. You didn’t have to see the first movie. And, there was some incredible, emotional test of character, in all of those movies. Superman has to give up his powers for love. The Spock and Kirk relationship is tested by Khan. Ripley finds a daughter. All of those things are such big ideas, in and of themselves, and you really can’t tell those stories in movie #1 because movie #1 is very much about establishing a world.