Star Trek is an American science fiction show, science fiction entertainment series, and media franchise. The Star Trek fictional multiverse created by Gene Roddenberry is the setting of six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek, and eleven feature films.
A new movie, simply titled Star Trek, was released in May 2009. The film's major cast members have signed on for two sequels, which is standard practice. Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof began writing the script for a sequel in March 2009, with the hope to complete it by December and produce the film for a mid-2011 release. J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk will produce, although Abrams has not signed to direct again. He explained with the alternate reality set up in Star Trek, it would be "ridiculous to not be open" to ideas like resurrecting William Shatner's James T. Kirk or recasting Khan Noonien Singh. "The idea, now that we are in an independent timeline, allows us to use any of the ingredients from the past — or come up with brand-new ones — to make potential stories," he said.