AceShowbiz -

The crew of the USS Enterprise will explore a new world in "Star Trek 3". Director Roberto Orci said on the "Humans from Earth" podcast that the next installment would take place "deep in space," unlike J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" (2009) and "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013) which was also co-written by Orci.

"In [Into Darkness] they set out finally where the original series started," he explained. "The first two films - especially the 2009 [Star Trek] - was an origin story. It was about them coming together. So they weren't the characters they were in the original series. They were growing into them and that continues on in the second movie. So in this movie they are closer than they are to the original series characters that you have ever seen. They have set off on their five-year mission. So their adventure is going to be in deep space."

When asked about what alien might be seen in the upcoming third entry, Orci still played it coy as quoted by Badass Digest, "The Horta is actually the villain in the next one - no - they are in deep space now, so let's see what's out there."

Of the possibility of having a gay character, he said, "It can be part of a character and not be the whole shebang...It doesn't have to be like 'South Park', like 'what have we learned today.' It can be so normalized that it just exists. I agree it can't be shoe-horned in. And it is not necessary for it to be the whole point of the thing. It is an ensemble and there is lots of people to represent so no one point of view should hog it."

"Star Trek 3" is slated for 2016.