Over on Trek Movie, they’ve been running a two-part exclusive interview with screenwriter Roberto Orci. Both parts of the interview are fascinating reads and well worth a Trekkie’s time. As with previous interviews going all the way back to 2008, you get the sense that of all the creative forces involved with New Trek, that Orci is the biggest fan. He sounds like one of us when he talks about this stuff.
Below the cut are a few things the interview clearly spells out about the future of booth big screen and small screen Trek. Plus: what the reveal about the current ongoing IDW series being declared canon means for the next film’s baddie!
Possible light spoilers ahead
Here’s a break down of the main bits of news this interview revealed:
- Orci thinks a new TV show will happen at some point
- Orci wants the a new TV show to be animated
- The future of Star Trek will depend on how the next movie is received
- Like the Countdown comics from 2009, the current ongoing Star Trek comics are considered canon. This means Gary Mitchell is out for Cumberbatch’s Star Trek 2 villain. (It also means Landru is out too, but we don’t hear anyone crying about that one.)
- Part one of the interview reveals that Cumberbatch’s character is from existing Trek canon, as is Alice Eve’s. Combined with the above revelation this means Cumberbatch is playing someone from established Star Trek canon but not anyone who has popped up in the comics. As for Alice Eve, she could be playing Janice Rand, because even though that character has appeared in the comics, she was blond and sort of looked like Alice Eve. Though my money is more on Eve playing Christine Chapel (mentioned but not seen in 2009’s Star Trek).
It’s also interesting to note that Orci simply says that Cumberbatch’s character is “canon” but not necessarily original series canon. We know from Countdown that Orci likes all eras of Star Trek—the comic of “Operation: Annihilate!” featured a TNG-style communicator badge. Could Cumberbatch be Q?
What does everyone else think? Do the latest Trek revelations make you happy? Sad? Indifferent? Tell us below!
[Full interview on Trek Movie]
Ryan Britt is the staff writer for Tor.com.
Reading that yesterday, some people in the comments pointed out that Gary Mitchell in the comic book may not actually be dead/may be revivable. I’ve not read it myself, but if true, that wouldn’t actually take Mitchell out of the running.
I find it all kind of silly that they won’t say who the character is, because there’s only so long they can keep a lid on it anyway. It’s not like knowing that Bane is in TDKR tells me what’s going to happen beyond the obvious that he’s a bad dude. The only way it can really spoil anything in too much detail is if they totally recycle a storyline and that would be really boring and disappointing, so I hope that’s not why they’re keeping it a secret.
Or it is Khan and they don’t want to have to deal with the whitewashing complaints until closer to the movie’s release. Either way, keeping it secret is just making me doubt the film, at this point.
I certainly hope Mitchell is not the villain. Why did they go to the trouble of creating a whole new timeline if they don’t want to tell whole new stories?
“…the current ongoing Star Trek comics are considered canon.”
So, does that include Assimilation² ? :)
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You know I considered further clarifying that as I just finished reading the latest Assimilation issue. But, yeah, I think we know ongoing means the regular ones and everything else (like the Assimilation mini-series) doesn’t count.
Though, what if Steven Moffat said it counted? :-)
I for one like Q. it would be interesting to get Q’s take on this dimension. I’m sure the Q just yawn at temporal displacements and time line alterations. I wonder what his thoughts are on the events of the destruction of Romulus?