JJ Abrams says Star Trek Into Darkness had "fundamental story problems"

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Despite garnering critical and commercial acclaim upon its release, Star Trek Into Darkness was a major disappointment to die hard fans of the franchise. Trekkies even voted it the worst Star Trek film of all time at a convention, with the 'Benedict Cumberbatch is not Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan' fiasco cited as a major frustration.

Speaking with Wired ahead of next month's release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Abrams revealed there were some storytelling issues with the most recent Star Trek movie. "I didn’t want to enter into making a movie where we didn’t really own our story," the director explained. "I feel like I’ve done that a couple of times in my career. That’s not to say I’m not proud of my work, but the fact is I remember starting to shoot Super 8 and Star Trek Into Darkness and feeling like I hadn’t really solved some fundamental story problems."

The level of secrecy is once again high for Abrams' next film, but hopefully only good and unpredictable surprises await this time round. "There’s a really positive side to keeping quiet," Abrams said. "You can protect the audience from spoilers or certain moments that, in a way, obviate the movie experience. But on the other hand, you risk being seen as coy or as a withholding shithead. That’s never my intent." Here's hoping fans are more appreciative of his efforts once The Force Awakens is released.

Directed by Justin Lin and starring Idris Elba, Chris Pine, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana, Star Trek Beyond warps into UK and US cinemas on July 22 2016.

Amon Warmann
Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.