'Star Trek' sequel on track

As Paramount Pictures readies the May 8 release of its "Star Trek" franchise relaunch, the studio is moving forward with a sequel, and has hired Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof to pen the screenplay.

J.J. Abrams, who directed and produced the latest chapter, is onboard to produce the follow-up alongside his Bad Robot partner Bryan Burk. No decision has been made yet on whether Abrams will return behind the camera for the sequel.

Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof also are receiving producing credit on the sequel.

Story is still in the embryonic stage, but the trio are aiming to deliver their script to the Melrose studio by Christmas for what would likely be a summer 2011 release.

"There's obviously a lot of hubris involved in signing on to write a sequel of a movie that hasn't even come out yet," said Lindelof, co-creator with Abrams of ABC's "Lost" who produced the upcoming "Trek" but did not contribute to Orci and Kurtzman's screenplay. "But we're so excited about the first one that we wanted to proceed."

As for potential storylines, Kurtzman stressed that the writing team will wait to take a cue from fan reaction about which direction to go.

"Obviously we discussed ideas, but we are waiting to see how audiences respond next month," he said. "With a franchise rebirth, the first movie has to be about origin. But with a second, you have the opportunity to explore incredibly exciting things. We'll be ambitious about what we'll do."

Though Orci and Kurtzman have worked together as a writing team for more than 12 years, the duo has worked with Lindelof on only one screenplay: DreamWorks' "Cowboys and Aliens," which they are currently writing together.

Paramount has high hopes for the "Star Trek" relaunch, and is pulling out all the stops on the marketing front. Studio began a full-scale campaign six months before the film's May bow.

I only have the Kirk glass.

Star Trek glasses are probably gone.

I only have Kirk's glasses.

I got the whole set of glasses but I've only been drinking out of the Kirk one.

Could Khan Be Back For 'Star Trek' Sequel?

The idea of bringing back Khan is enough to give any Star Trek fan goose bumps. He was harsh, calculating and is considered the greatest villain of the franchise.

But, although no decisions have been made on if there is even a place for Khan in the new movie, director J.J. Abrams has hinted he could be back.

"We're not even at that stage yet," he said. "But the fun of where we are on the sequel is we could use some of what was done before in a new way. But we haven't even figured out what we would use yet, so it's very early on."

Whether or not Khan will indeed be back is something that may play out into a potential third movie. Previous reports have teased that the next story could play out over two movies similar to that of other franchises, however screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have insisted that their aim is to make the next movie as good as it can be ... and if that means keeping the story as a single entity then that's what they will do.

One thing they are conscious of, though, is not in re-walking the ground tread in the first movie. High on the agenda: The relationship between Spock and Uhura.

"You can't play that same joke again," Abrams said. "It's got to be about 'What is their relationship?' and 'Who are these people?' That's why the next one, hopefully while still maintaining the sense of fun and adventure, can go a little bit deeper in terms of the script."

And part of the way they may accomplish that is through some play on the timing of the movie.

"One of the things we like to do as storytellers is drop you in the middle of something," producer Damon Lindelof said. "And the question that you're asking yourself is 'Where am I in relation to the last time I left these guys?' Could this be something that predated even, perhaps, some of the adventures that they had in the first movie? Does it happen five years later? Is it happening two seconds later? Who knows? So we're not going to tell you."