J.J. Abrams: 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Had 'Fundamental Story Problems'

Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

As Star Wars: The Force Awakens draws ever closer, director J.J. Abrams wants sci-fi fans to know that he got it right this time. In an interview for the December issue of Wired, Abrams said that he and co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (who also co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) focused heavily on storytelling, a luxury he didn’t have with previous films like Star Trek Into Darkness.

“I didn’t want to enter into making a movie where we didn’t really own our story. I feel like I’ve done that a couple of times in my career,” Abrams told Wired. “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.”

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The sequel to Abrams’s mega-successful 2009 Star Trek reboot, Into Darkness premiered in 2013 to good box office and decent reviews. However, the sequel failed to generate the excitement or revenue of the first movie, and many longtime Star Trek fans took issue with its convoluted plot (which heavily borrowed from 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan).

Film fans were also annoyed at the film’s marketing, which withheld the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s villain — even though it was fairly obvious all along. Judging from the Wired interview, that’s another mistake Abrams hopes to avoid with The Force Awakens. “There’s a really positive side to keeping quiet. You can protect the audience from spoilers or certain moments that, in a way, obviate the movie experience,” Abrams told the magazine. “But on the other hand, you risk being seen as coy or as a withholding s—head. That’s never my intent.”

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Though the trailers for Star Wars have been few and far between, Abrams promises that they’re not misleading in any way. “What I’m excited about is that the movie itself feels like those teasers,” he said, “and not like the movie is one thing and the teasers are something else.”

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters on December 18.