Science Fiction World

J.J. Abrams surpassed almost everyone's expectations with the stunning relaunch of the Star Trek franchise in 2009, with his plainly titled Star Trek. Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the film took Star Trek back to its humble beginnings when Kirk, Spock and Bones meet for the first time. It also introduced an alternative time line that will enable Abrams to do pretty much whatever he feels like with past Star Trek lore in upcoming films (and a TV series?).

While it's unclear what the plot of Star Trek 2 will be, we now know that one of the big new stars (and a possible new villain) will be actor Benedict Cumberbatch, best know for his role in the BBC's modern retelling of the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories, entitled Sherlock. Season 2 of Sherlock is now playing in the UK.

Screen Rant reports that when asked whether Cumberbatch would be a villain, Abrams replied:

"Who said he's our villain?...Honestly, he's just an incredible actor. If you've seen his work in Sherlock, he's just got incredible skills. He's an amazing stage actor. He did amazing work (on stage) in Frankenstein. He's brilliant. You try to cast people who are great. We got lucky."

The second thing we know for certain is that Star Trek 2 will be in 3D. It will be the post production type of 3D unfortunately, which has ruined a few films in its time.

Regarding the choice of 3D for Star Trek 2, Abrams said:

"I did not fight for the 3D. It was something that the studio wanted to do, and I didn't want to do it. And then, when I saw the first movie converted in sections, I thought that it actually looked really cool. So, I was okay with their doing it, as long as I could shoot the movie the way I wanted to, in anamorphic film, and then let them convert it. So, those who want to see it in 3D, which looked pretty cool, can do it, and those that want to see it in 2D can do that too."

I like the idea of introducing Cumberbatch in whatever role they can. I'm not so sure about a 3D Star Trek 2 though. Is there really a need?