We already knew that Fast and the Furious director Justin Lin had replaced Roberto Orci as the director of Star Trek 3, but now, Paramount have made another major addition to the backroom team in the form of Simon Pegg - Scotty himself - as co-writer.

Simon PeggSimon Pegg will script Star Trek 3, as well as playing Scotty

It's a bold and confident move from the studio, who have matched the British star up with Doug Jung - creator of the TNT series Dark Blue. He's already written for J.J Abrams and Paramount on a movie called Diamond.

Though what on the face of it seems a left-field hiring, Pegg has all the credentials to move on the Star Trek story after two well received reboots. He co-wrote Edgar Wright's genius Cornetto trilogy - Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End - as well as Run Fatboy Run and the criminally underrated Paul. 

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As an actor, Pegg is currently working on Mission: Impossible 5, with Tom Cruise , Jeremt Renner, Paula Patton and Alec Baldwin. 

Though we're told Pegg and Jung are co-writing the movie - what that actually means is that they're polishing off a script that's probably been existence for a while now. With Paramount Pictures setting a rather ambitious release date of July 8, 2016, it would be crazy for the duo to be writing the thing from scratch what with the inevitable rewrites, etc.

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According to reports, Star Trek 3 will take place in deep space with the Enterprise and crew dealing with some sort of crisis. 

Star Trek: Into Darkness, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as villain Khan, grossed over $470 million worldwide. 

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