We find this bit of news interesting not so much for what it means for the next Star Trek movie, more so due to the ripples it throws towards other Star-movies. Because it looks a little bit like Paramout is getting the gang back together for the series – at this point do we still call it a reboot? Or does it get its own Trek designation? – third installment.

Writer/Producers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, the men behind both Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, will be back to write Star Trek 3, overturning earlier speculation that Paramount was going to go with a new team. They (Paramount) had been said to be speaking with Ashley Miller and Zach Stentz, who combined for the scripts for Thor and X-Men: First Class, among other younger writers. 

J.J. Abrams, of course, is the missing piece here. In addition to directing the previous Trek installments, Abrams co-wrote the movies with Kurtzman and Orci. Curiously, he’s also in negotiations to produce the next Star Trek, though this would seem to compete with his commitments to the new Star Wars movie. Bad Robot, Abrams’s production company, could presumably still be involved in the production of Star Trek 3 without its principle, but it certainly lends some credence to rumors we previously reported about Abrams potentially backing out of Star Wars.

Production of the new Trek film hasn’t been planned yet, but it will also be returning stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, and Karl Urban. 2016 is the 50th anniversary of Star Trek‘s TV premier, so we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the next movie release line up with that timetable despite the gap between Into Darkness and the next film that such a release would create. If the release is pushed late in the year it could potentially allow for Abrams to be involved in both Wars and Trek, but it would still be a very tight squeeze.