JJ Abrams and Star Trek co-writer Robert Orci were asked about their plans for the sequel’s storyline, and they acknowledged that the first film’s main goal was to re-introduce the crew of the Enterprise but that the follow-up would have a different mission.

“The ambition for a sequel to ‘Star Trek’ is to make a movie that’s worthy of the audience and not just another movie, you know, just a second movie that feels tacked on. The first movie was so concerned with just setting up the characters — their meeting each and galvanizing that family — that in many ways a sequel will have a very different mission. it needs to do what [the late ‘Trek’ creator Gene] Roddenberry did so well, which is allegory. It needs to tell a story that has connection to what is familiar and what is relevant. It also needs to tell it in a spectacular way that hides the machinery and in a primarily entertaining and hopefully moving story. There needs to be relevance, yes, and that doesn’t mean it should be pretentious. If there are simple truths — truths connected to what we live — that elevates any story — that’s true with any story.”

Orci then spoke about writing a reflective, socially relevant film:

“We’ve literally had two meetings now. We haven’t decided anything but we’re starting to circle around some ideas. We got a lot of fan response from the first one and a considerable amount of critical response and one of the things we heard was, ‘Make sure the next one deals with modern-day issues.’ We’re trying to keep it as up-to-date and as reflective of what’s going on today as possible. So that’s one thing, to make it reflect the things that we are all dealing with today.”

When asked if these modern day issues included torture, terrorism, and politics, Orci said that those are exactly the kind of things they are considering when it comes to the message of the next film.

STAR TREK 2 is set to hit theaters in summer 2011.