JJ Abrams on why he tried to keep Khans identity secret in Star Trek into Darkness

JJ Abrams is currently busy promoting Star Wars: The Force Awakens (read our review here), but that hasn't stopped people asking about Star Trek into Darkness; the film the director worked on prior to switching 'Star' franchises. Abrams recently admitted the sequel had "fundamental story problems", and in a new interview with Buzzfeed he went into more detail on why it "didn’t work as well as it could have".

"Any movie, any story has a fundamental conversation happening during it. There’s a fundamental argument; there’s a central question. And I didn’t have it," he said. "While I agree with Damon Lindelof that withholding the Khan thing ended up seeming like we were lying to people, I was trying to preserve the fun for the audience, and not just tell them something that the characters don’t learn for 45 minutes into the movie."

"I felt like, in a weird way, it was a little bit of a collection of scenes that were written by my friends - brilliantly talented writers - who I somehow misled in trying to do certain things," Abrams continued. "And yet, I found myself frustrated by my choices, and unable to hang my hat on an undeniable thread of the main story. So then I found myself on that movie basically tap-dancing as well as I could to try and make the sequences as entertaining as possible."

Even though the approach to Khan didn't work out too well, Benedict Cumberbatch's performance was still excellent and there were a lot of things that worked well in Into Darkness. It's certainly admirable for Abrams to take responsibility here though, and if The Force Awakens is any indication he's learnt from his mistakes.

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.

Images: Paramount

TOPICS
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.

Latest in Sci-Fi Movies
John Boyega in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
John Boyega was tired of "doing a lot of falling" in the Star Wars sequels, so asked director J.J. Abrams for a "level of growth" between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker
Darth Vader in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars fans have ignited an age-old debate, and there are some seriously hot takes
Sam Worthington in Avatar: The Way of Water
James Cameron's early cut of Avatar 3 is "absolutely breathtaking," according to Disney CEO Bob Iger
Pacific Rim
The 35 greatest 2010s sci-fi movies
Godzilla emerging from an exploding volcano.
Win a Blu-ray of Godzilla vs Biollante
The Mandalorian and Grogu
The Mandalorian and Grogu has the lowest budget of any theatrical Star Wars movie since Disney bought Lucasfilm
Latest in News
A screenshot shows Pokemon Legends: Z-A protagonists standing in a city at night.
Pokemon is a stealth game now: Pokemon Legends Z-A wants you to sneak attack trainers during its nighttime battle royale
Samus firing a beam in a screenshot from Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Our best look at Metroid Prime 4 yet shows Samus with a new suit and some psychic abilities, but we're still staring down a 2025 placeholder
a cyborg pac-man fused with a mysterious protagonist grabs an enemy off a ledge and eats it
Pac-Man the gritty Metroidvania, inexplicably in the works at Amazon's Secret Level, gets a new launch date and some very dark gameplay
A screenshot from Witchbrook.
Gorgeous pixel art life sim Witchbrook blends Stardew Valley and Hogwarts Legacy, as the wizard school RPG arrives later this year
Nintendo Switch 2 controller slot
Best Buy just confirmed the Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order date, and there's only days left to wait
AriZona 99 the game with contents
You know AriZona drinks? Yeah, there's a board game for that now... in a can