Paramount and director Bob Orci are in full-throttle mode gearing up for the currently untitled Star Trek 3 (or Star Trek 13 depending on your disposition), and according to fansite TrekMovie it looks like the production may have found the site of their first location shoot in the beautiful city of Seoul, South Korea.
That is, according to the mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon, who recently visited Los Angles in an attempt to evangelize his city to studios as a prime location for big budget Hollywood productions. The mayor announced on his Facebook page: “Today I met with Jeffrey Chernov, producer of ‘Star Trek 3,’ at the Paramount Pictures Studio and agreed to film a portion of the upcoming movie in Seoul.”
Following this announcement, the film’s director Bob Orci, no stranger to fan sites, coyly commented in TrekMovie‘s messageboards: “the Mayor was a lovely man :)”
Paramount has made no official announcement at this time, so for the time being it can be considered a rumor, though it’s not too early to speculate on what filming in the region might entail. If it is a non-Earth location, as the site suggests, could Seoul be a stand-in for a world inhabited by Romulans, Klingons or possibly a new alien planet where no man has gone before? Actor John Cho, who portrayed Hikaru Sulu in the previous two films, was born in Seoul, but that does not necessarily indicate a Sulu-specific plot element.
Other major films that have shot in Seoul recently include The Bourne Legacy and Avengers: Age of Ultron, both of which received ample tax breaks and citywide cooperation, including the closing of streets and even whole districts.
The entire young cast of the previous two reboot movies in the Star Trek franchise are expected to return for the new installment, written by Orci, Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne. J.J. Abrams, currently pre-occupied with another Star franchise, will executive produce for an expected 2016 release date to tie in with Trek’s 50th Anniversary.
