'Trek' sequel to deal with modern issues

J.J. Abrams has hinted that his Star Trek sequel will reflect modern-day issues.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Abrams said that he is keen for the next Trek outing to offer up contemporary social commentary.

"The ambition for a sequel to Star Trek is to make a movie that's worthy of the audience and not just a second movie that feels tacked on," he explained. "The first movie was so concerned with just setting up the characters - their meeting each and galvanizing that family - that in many ways a sequel will have a very different mission."

He continued: "It needs to do what [creator Gene] Roddenberry did so well, which is allegory. It needs to tell a story that has connection to what is familiar and what is relevant. It also needs to tell it in a spectacular way that hides the machinery and in a primarily entertaining and hopefully moving story.

"There needs to be relevance, yes, and that doesn't mean it should be pretentious. If there are simple truths - truths connected to what we live - that elevates any story."