Star Trek Into Darkness/Background information

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|-| Gathering a team=The prospect of working on this film along with J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Bryan Burk originally drew Damon Lindelof to the project. "The idea of doing this job with anyone other than J.J., Bob, Alex and Bryan was not appealing to me," Lindelof admitted. "It's what made me carve out the time necessary to do this movie." Once each of the five cleared their schedules, they began working on this sequel film. The team grew from that point on, Abrams later explaining, "Everyone, with very few exceptions, came back for the sequel." ()
|-| Story and script=The writers of this sequel movie were contemplating it ever since they finished working on the previous film – the first alternate reality movie, . "[The sequel] never really left our minds," Roberto Orci noted. "We were doing other things, but Star Trek was always in the backs of our minds." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 23)
The team took the responsibility of creating a sequel extremely seriously. Bryan Burk remembered, "We didn't want to go into a sequel just for the sake of doing a sequel […] We wanted to figure it out." ()
The nature of this film as a sequel had to be taken into account by those assigned to write it: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof. Initially, they, together with J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk, gathered to break (a TV writing term for devising the story as a group) the concepts they had to continue from the preceding film. () "The real issue for us," stated Abrams, who was meanwhile assigned to produce the sequel, "was how do we continue a story that stands on its own – you [ideally] never need to have seen the first film – that makes the audience feel and scream and laugh and cry." ("The Voyage Begins… Again!", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features) He also recalled, "The goal we had was to keep all the comedy, humanity and buoyancy while going into more complex and darker territory. For the story to move forward, this had to be a more ambitious movie than the first […] But at the same time, no matter the scale or the format, the thing that mattered most to everyone was to tell the most exciting and emotional story yet." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 023) Burk concurred, "We wanted to […] hopefully take a step forward with it. How do we make it better, more emotional, and with more drama, action and impossible odds?" () Kurtzman stated that, even though "going to a darker place" was a target for the writers, "We did not want to violate what we thought was so important about Star Trek at its core either, so we really did try and hold that in balance […] Despite the fact that we are literally going Into Darkness, I think we all worked very hard to make sure the theme of hope, what hope costs, and what it's really about, was always alive in how we were designing our story." () Speaking about the need to structure this film so it was accessible to viewers, Kurtzman related, "We knew what a weird needle it was going to be to thread, because we wanted to appeal to die-hard fans as much as people who didn't like Star Trek." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 023) Another definite aim the writers had in mind was to make the film synchronize with what had gone before. "In the almost fifty years of Star Trek that had existed before we came into it," said Kurtzman, "we wanted to play in harmony with what is known as Star Trek canon, and that meant that we had an enormous amount to draw from. Whereas there was really only one story we felt we could tell in the first one, there were a million in the second." ("The Enemy of My Enemy", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features) The reason this film's narrative was left open for the writers to explore was that the alternate timeline, first established in the previous movie, allowed them that "narrative freedom," so-called by Roberto Orci. 
The first question the writing team were faced with was whether there could be a five-year mission following the destruction of , as the planet is destroyed in the film Star Trek. Although the writers had discussed the historical ramifications of the planet's destruction during that movie's development, the subject was not yet settled. Later, Damon Lindelof recalled thinking, "That should be the catalyst for everything that happens in the second movie […] so we need to talk about that and understand what the ramifications are moving forward." () According to Lindelof, deciding whether to dedicate this film entirely to the fallout of Vulcan's destruction, or letting it simmer for another film, was an important decision. He stated the planet's destruction "cast a pallor over this entire Federation that needs to be reconciled. So I think, in a lot of ways, Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise is fighting for the soul of Starfleet in this movie." 
The development process became a virtually nonstop brainstorming session. "I can't even tell you how many story meetings we had. We were constantly collaborating, making adjustments, figuring out what needed to be set up," reflected J.J. Abrams. "I felt really lucky to be working with Bob, Alex and Damon again. They were tireless, and they created [the] story." 
The dynamics between the crew were discussed in the early conversations, with the writers deciding "in the first series of meetings for the second movie," as worded by Damon Lindelof, that they would continue to develop the relationship between Kirk and Spock. () The writers believed it was critical for the film to portray the two characters as markedly different from their older, prime-universe counterparts. "We did not want to make the mistake that our Kirk and Spock were in the same place [as in the preceding film or in, for example, ] […] That's part of the fun we got to have, figuring out exactly where they were on the spectrum in their relationship with each other," explained Alex Kurtzman. (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 024) Furthermore, the creative staff felt it was highly important that the relationship between Kirk and Spock be portrayed in a realistic way that the audience also understood. Although the cultural significance of Star Trek made it tempting to think of Kirk and Spock as friends, this movie was intended to be set at a time when their relationship was still forming. Defining precisely what stage their connection was at proved controversial, with Editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey having their own perspective on this matter. Brandon remembered, "Mary Jo and I were like, 'But they're friends.' And the writers were like, 'No, they are not friends." There had to be friction between the two protagonists, yet without making either person unlikable. As a result, there was ultimately a lot of discussion about how to keep their relationship balanced. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features) Roberto Orci explained, "It also gave us a great opportunity, because the logic versus emotion conflict is such a brilliant and wonderful backdrop against which to pit a huge problem like […] [Khan] walking into their life." ()
In the initial series of talks regarding this movie, the writers additionally conversed about what they wanted to do with the main characters in general. Recollecting how the writers were thinking at that point, Damon Lindelof relayed, "What is the next story that we want to tell in terms of the emotional lives of the characters? Where do we want to take these men and women? What's their arc in the second movie, because we don't want to abandon the characters; the characters are what everybody cares about. We talked about that stuff and then once we decided on what a cool version of that was going to be – which is tied very closely to how everybody feels about what happened in the first movie – then we said what is the plot?" () Alex Kurtzman felt it was important for the story's protagonists to be tested by an imposing villain, Kurtzman believing "that is always the joy of the best sequels." Bryan Burk observed, "We felt that if the first film was about how this team came together then this story had to be about them really growing up and how they are becoming adults. That idea had tremendous energy and possibility." J.J. Abrams remembered, "We knew there had to be a more complex story, a deeper story, because the first film was sort of gloriously innocent in all these people coming together that didn't know each other. So the second film is really about testing those relationships by default, in that they have to go through something more extreme and more intense […] We always knew it was going to be more of an extreme story, pushing limits dramatically and emotionally. There would be more questions of who to trust, and of manipulation and difficulty […] So we always knew we would go darker, deeper, and really see what it's like for these people to experience that, and can they get through that gauntlet alive." () Said Kurtzman, "We did not want to make the mistake of assuming that because everybody had gotten together at the end of the first movie that they were the Bridge crew that you know from the original series. It felt like that would have been a hugely missed opportunity." ()
Other questions the writers had to consider, during the initial story meetings, included, in Damon Lindelof's words, "Who is the force of antagonism? How are they going to illuminate this character story that we want to tell?" () Roberto Orci similarly attested, "We started with, 'What's a good movie? What's a good villain? What's a good motivation? We cannot rely on what's happened before." J.J. Abrams recollected, "We needed someone who would get under their skin and challenge them in a way they could have never survived when they first came together […] We were going to have someone who could push the buttons of the crew, and test the mettle of their relationships." ()
This film's development was first declared on , over a month before the first alternate-reality Star Trek movie was released. At that time, the narrative of the sequel was "still in the embryonic stage." Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof were meanwhile waiting to receive feedback from the earlier Star Trek film and were aiming to deliver this movie's script to Paramount by for a possible summer release. "The studio [Paramount Pictures] understandably wanted the next movie to come out two summers later [than the previous film]," Kurtzman noted. ()
The writing staffers, influenced by high expectations, felt it was crucial for them to do this film well. Alex Kurtzman said, "We felt an enormous amount of internal and external pressure to get it right. We all felt very vigilant about protecting this thing that meant a lot to all of us." (, issue 287, p. 86) One thing the writers learned from the response to the previous movie and were influenced by in conceiving this film was that the audience seemed mostly pleased with all the decisions they had made. The writers regarded that reaction as something they needed to "honor and stay true to," in Kurtzman's words. () In fact, because the first film was generally met with immediately positive reactions, the pressure increased. "[It] meant an even stronger sense of protecting it the second time around," Kurtzman went on. "And that responsibility never stopped being daunting. The minute it does, we have no right to be doing it any more." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 023)
J.J. Abrams believed the planning of this movie benefited from the fact he and his colleagues had a wide range of different levels of experience with Star Trek, he and Bryan Burk not having known much about the franchise before working on it, whereas the film's writers were more directly aware of what opinions the fans had about this film. "I think the great thing about that was that we were able to be aware of the chatter, just like in the first movie, hearing what people might want, or not want, or expect or resent, or have to be concerned about," Abrams considered. "At the same time, Bryan (who had never seen an episode) and I were able to approach this with a spectrum of points of view. While people were [suggesting] things, none of that really mattered much to me, because I felt like I was coming from the point of the moviegoer who just wants to be entertained, understand, and care about the world and the characters." ()
While devising this film, the writers took notice of apparently relentless fan speculation and questions, both prior to the release of the first film and in the interim between the two movies, over whether the alternate reality version of Khan Noonien Singh would appear. ("enhanced commentary", & Star Trek: The Compendium special features) Damon Lindelof said the jumping off point for the story was deciding whether Khan would be the villain, and they weighed the pros and cons of him appearing. "In a way, Damon and I were the biggest debaters about this," recollected Roberto Orci. "He argued for Khan from the beginning and I argued against it." The writers knew that including Khan would be extremely risky. (SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 040) On (precisely a week after the release of the previous film), J.J. Abrams expressed, "It'll be fun to hear what Alex and Bob are thinking about Khan. The fun of this timeline is arguing that different stories, with the same characters, could be equally if not more compelling than what's been told before […] Certain people are destined to cross paths and come together, and Khan is out there… even if he doesn't have the same issues." In retrospect, Abrams noted, "There are a number of characters we could have used, and there are a number of issues that we talked about in terms of Khan, and one of them was, 'Why do that? Why bring him back?' We've established a brand new sort of timeline, we could do anything we want, let's just do something brand new." ("The Enemy of My Enemy", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features)
A compromise Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof reached, in their debate about Khan, was to devise the story in such a way that it didn't rely on Star Trek canon. Consequently, the antagonist's motives were first-and-foremost "based on his [use] by a corrupted system of power that held the things he held dear against him and tried to manipulate him. That story stands alone with or without Star Trek history. That's how we approached it, and God bless Damon for going down that road," Orci gratefully said. 
The writers included multiple adversaries in this film in an attempt to make it essentially action-packed. Though Klingons had been featured in an ultimately deleted scene from the film Star Trek, J.J. Abrams and the staff of writers were careful to give them more purpose in this movie. "Plus we couldn't do two movies and not have the Klingons," said Abrams, chuckling. ()
In , J.J. Abrams and Roberto Orci told the Los Angeles Times they had heard that fans would like modern, relevant issues to be explored in the sequel. At a Blu-ray/DVD release party for the film Star Trek in , Orci told Anthony Pascale he was seeking inspiration in novels by and by rewatching all of , examining how TOS installments would unfold in the alternate reality. He also looked for Star Trek novels he hadn't read yet for further inspiration. 
The writers wanted to explore the concept of the Star Trek universe being presented as a future utopia, which is how it had very often been established before. (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 023) "We wanted to go the other way, and explore Star Trek very much with conflict, very much with an unperfected humanity," admitted Roberto Orci, "and therefore felt a duty somewhat to reflect the world that we live in. Now, that's not just as simple as it being a terrorist allegory – it's a flavor of the movie, it's an element, but it's certainly not at the center of its plot. It does speak to the fact that we wanted to embed in our universe events that are recognizable to an audience today […] [Our reality] has ugly things in it, and we wanted to reflect that." () Moreover, the creative staff thought it was realistic for an advanced organization such as the Federation to be faced with oppositional forces that occasionally intruded. The writers were interested, too, in integrating a contemporary political reality into the film. "We wanted to extrapolate from the situation, at least in America, these days where it's the best of times and the worst of times," Orci observed. "We're the most advanced nation, we are prosperous, powerful and plentiful, and yet there is a lot of darkness and things we have to overcome […] [such as] real barriers, both from within and externally." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 023) Although Orci was fascinated by conspiracy theories, this movie wasn't specifically about any conspiracy theory in particular. They inspired Orci simply to keep in mind that, if the writers wanted the film and its characters to seem realistic, even the film's villains had to have understandable motives. ()
One of the first concepts J.J. Abrams came up with, regarding the prospect of doing this film, was that there be a ship which was basically a stealth version of the Enterprise. The film's writers then adopted this notion. "The thing that interested us about the design of the Vengeance," stated Alex Kurtzman, "was that Marcus has taken the ideals of the Starfleet and he's perverted them." In agreement with Kurtzman, Abrams professed, "It's very anti-Roddenberry." ("Vengeance is Coming", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features)
Alex Kurtzman once stated that – because the alternate reality version of Kirk had, at least in Kurtzman's opinion, never been shown sending men and women to their deaths – this film posed the question of what would happen if he was confronted with the dilemma of having to do so. Kurtzman referred to the way the film depicts Kirk maturing into a man as "the fun of the game we're playing and the story we're telling." (SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 044) He specified, "Particularly the idea of having Kirk face his first real challenge as captain was exciting for us." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 024)
When the initial target of December 2009 neared, no script had been written for this movie, so the film's release was changed to . The movie's writers felt it was very important not to rush the making of the film, fearing that for them to do so might result in a film they themselves weren't proud of. "Ultimately, that would have been devastating for us and for people who loved the first movie," Alex Kurtzman remarked. "So, we collectively decided, let's put our chips on the table, and ask them to give us the time to make the movie that we felt was worthy of being a sequel." Even though the postponement didn't conform to Paramount's wishes, the organization didn't dismiss the writers in favor of hiring someone else to write the sequel. Kurtzman considered the fact Paramount refrained from this alternative as "a testament to how much the studio want to protect Star Trek as well." () Roberto Orci attributed the initial delay to: other projects they wanted to do; then deciding if the initial story they thought of was the best one; and the "scary" notion of a new timeline where they had absolute freedom. The creative team used the waiting period to discuss how they could learn from the reactions to the preceding film, what they would like to see next, as well as "what to draw from the canon and pay homage to or reinvent," in Kurtzman's words. "Part of why we took the time," he continued, "was to make sure we were picking what we felt needed to happen – and that ended up proscribing a lot of choices about who the bridge crew comes into contact with, and what were the dilemmas between them." Orci explained, "The freedom to do anything now, even if canon prohibited it before, was terrifying […] We had to be rigorous so we had to make sure that a) we all liked it and b) it passed the test of sitting on a shelf for a while." (, issue 287, pp. 86 & 87) He additionally commented, "It gave us the chance to not have a time constraint force us into doing something that we weren't sure about. So it was quite a luxury to be able to think about a story that we'd talked about through the entire time. We got to wake up morning after morning thinking, 'I do think we have the right story' […] With time comes a perspective that I hope will serve the movie well." () The waiting period ultimately took longer than two years, approximately half of which was spent debating whether to feature Khan. (, issue 287, p. 86; SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 040) Kurtzman recollected, "It took us literally a year of debate, about how to proceed, whether or not it was the right thing to do, what it would mean to do that and what the expectations would be by taking that on." (SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 040) Upon revisiting the story they had invented, the writers were happy to proceed with the development process. "We took it down, looked at it again and said, 'Okay, this still holds up," related Orci. (, issue 287, p. 87)
With the writers having reached the compromise of making the film's principal villain be motivated by revenge against a manipulative and corrupted "system of power," Damon Lindelof was instrumental in influencing the plot's direction. "That's when Damon came back and reared his ugly head and said, 'OK, now that we have that, is there any reason why we cannot bring Star Trek history into this?' And he was right," Roberto Orci conceded. It was only afterwards that the creative group finally tailored the antagonist into Khan. 
One reason why the writers chose to have this film feature Khan was so he could be put in conflict with a yet-to-mature, inexperienced . Alex Kurtzman explained that this clash resulted in Khan being "so exciting to us, and that's why we ultimately chose Khan, because Khan is the perfect foil for that arc [of Kirk maturing into adulthood]." (SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 044) In their decision to include Khan, the writers were also compelled by the persistent fan queries about the possibility of the character appearing. "We felt like we couldn't avoid Khan," explained Damon Lindelof. "And in the act of avoiding him, it would be more difficult than just basically doing it and finally freeing our franchise of the only question that was really plaguing it […] Until we did our version of Khan, we really felt like we could not move past it." Lindelof likened the seemingly unavoidable prospect of portraying the Khan of the alternate reality to the basically inescapable effect of gravity on a ship that was falling to Earth. He also drew a parallel between the possibility of not depicting Khan as being similar to "Batman not doing the Joker." Added Lindelof, "So, the question just became, 'How could we do it in a slightly different way?' But we had to acknowledge the way it had been done before […] That's what we did and we stand by it. But ultimately, our version of Trek is the same as the original version of Trek." ("enhanced commentary", & Star Trek: The Compendium special features) J.J. Abrams admitted, "The truth is that no one resonated like Khan. There was such a personal connection between Khan and Kirk. To me, it was the combination of the opportunity of taking something that was extraordinarily rich and mythic, and also update it, not only with a new actor, but to take the character and to use that character in a way that hadn't been used before." No other characters were seriously considered for updating in that way. ("The Enemy of My Enemy", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features)
The priority Khan gives to his crew, which he refers to as his "family," was inspired by a monologue Khan voices in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan about having lost twenty members of his crew, including his wife. Khan's dedication to his "family" and to their protection, as an understandable motive for the character, "was something we felt we could not change about Khan on any level […] That was going to perfectly mirror in our minds Kirk's arc, and the idea that he doesn't quite understand what it means to be a captain yet," said Alex Kurtzman. (SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 043)
The writing of the film's script was initiated in . The screenplay was driven by the notion that the members of the Enterprises senior staff were slowly becoming an inseparable, if occasionally unruly, team of friends. Bryan Burk observed, "The script for Into Darkness started with one question: how can we put the Enterprise team into the greatest jeopardy and conflict?" 
In , Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof announced they were in the process of writing the script for the film and had relocated themselves to a hotel room for five weeks in order to better do it without any distractions. "We locked ourselves in a room and started trying to figure out a story," Orci remembered. ("The Voyage Begins… Again!", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features) He and Lindelof also asked for fan input on what the general consensus is for the "proper" name of the main deflector dish that has been an integral part of starship design throughout Star Trek. Orci indicated that filming would begin in fall 2011. He added the film would build on the previous one, but it still had to attract new fans and stand by itself without relying on its predecessor. 
If the writers were going to include Khan in the film, they had to write the movie in such a way that it established his personality and backstory; they needed to write dialogue in which he spoke about himself and his past, for the benefit of both viewers who were massive fans of Star Trek, who the writers hoped would take enjoyment from the canonical references, and newcomers to the franchise. ("The Enemy of My Enemy", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features) In fact, the writers felt it was vital to avoid the pitfall of assuming the audience was already familiar with Khan, even though he was a pre-established character, which was one reason they felt the story had to "stand on its own." (SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 040) J.J. Abrams was of the opinion that he and his creative associates needed to write Khan as a melodramatic, "hyper real" character, who also was very relatable. ("The Enemy of My Enemy", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features)
Conveying the bond between Pike and Kirk to the audience was considered very important. "Although we establish in the first film that [Pike] was a father figure to [Kirk], as we all know, you rely on what people's impression of the first film was, so we had to re-establish the father-son aspect of it," explained Maryann Brandon. "So, we had to create dialogue between them and a dynamic between them where you felt like [Pike] was stern and he's still [Kirk's] admiral, but that [Pike] also believes in this young captain, and he's terribly disappointed that [Kirk] chose to break the Prime Directive. [Pike] takes the ship away, but he also needs to give him hope that he personally will take [Kirk] under his belt […] and that he still believes in him." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
The film's pre-production or "prep" began in April 2011, based on a detailed seventy-page outline of the story. Roberto Orci stated they were awaiting J.J. Abrams' approval on a completed script, as he was preoccupied with completing the movie . After that film's release, Abrams estimated that making Super 8 had put the Star Trek sequel "probably six months behind." 
In June 2011, Damon Lindelof explained that – although he, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci had been collaborating on the film's script since October 2010 – their work on it had been intermittent, as they had taken time for a variety of other projects. Orci added, "We haven't had a deadline yet, and that is why we keep not finishing it. Give us a deadline and we'll finish it. We only closed our deal with Paramount two or three months ago. So it is not just doing other things, it is 'let’s find out when we are really going to go and then we will really get to work." All five members of the creative team, though, were now ready to devote their attention to the new movie without distractions. Orci, Kurtzman, and Lindelof, despite speculating that Abrams could begin filming that September and have the film out the following June (as he did on Super 8), still advocated not rushing the film's schedule.
The film's three writers meanwhile envisioned this movie as being akin to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, as regards the characters. "Now we have the opportunity to do something that Star Trek II did, which is recognize them more fully and have them be more in the places where you expect and hope if you are a fan," Roberto Orci mused. "And if you are not a fan and [have] never seen them in that position, hopefully you get to enjoy that for the first time, the way Wrath of Khan was an entry point for many, including some of us." Conversely, there was no question of the creative staff simply remaking that film. "We hold it in such high esteem ourselves that it would be creative suicide to put the bar up there and say 'that's what we are going for.' We are in an entirely different paradigm with our second movie," Damon Lindelof stressed. 
The writers had been working on this film extensively by the time it came to cast the movie, for example having put a lot of effort, before an actor had to be chosen to play the role of Khan, into determining how they wanted that character to be portrayed. Alex Kurtzman clarified that, by the time that part was cast, "we all felt pretty good about where we were at." ()
Since J.J. Abrams wanted the script of this movie kept secret as much as possible, the film's screenplay was released to the cast very soon before the film was to enter production, the start date being in January 2012. (Star Trek Magazine Special 2015, pp. 20-21) Whereas a writers' strike had prevented the cast members collaborating with the writers on the previous Star Trek film, this movie was significantly modified by the cast. "The script really changed in the weeks leading up to the shoot," Spock actor Zachary Quinto recalled. "We worked on it, talked about it, and rehearsed it, so things came out of that process that we weren't able to [add] the first time." ()
The writing continued even while the movie was being shot. On Monday , Alex Kurtzman at one point made changes to a "Yellow Revision" of the script on the set of the Enterprises bridge, using a laptop running the computer program . Damon Lindelof acknowledged, "We've rewritten this thing fifty different times, trying to find it." ("The Voyage Begins… Again!", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features) The final shooting draft of the film's script was issued on . In retrospect, Kurtzman observed that, while taking the main characters into darker territory, exploring the theme of hope had been "the thing that's been interesting to us." ()
|-| Title=Originally, J.J. Abrams noted that if they made a sequel, "it would have a subtitle instead of a number." At the end of the Star Trek audio commentary, Damon Lindelof jokingly referred to the sequel as "Pineapple". By 2012, the writers had not settled on a title. Lindelof pointed out the title "Star Trek 2" was taken by , and that he did not want a colon in the title. "Not that Star Trek: Insurrection or First Contact aren't good titles," he said, "it's just that everything that people are turned off about when it comes to Trek is represented by the colon." During production, the film was code named "Project HH". "Star Trek Vengeance" was considered for the official title of the movie; Abrams vetoed this possibility – due to the release of – but it was used as the film's title in Russia (translated as "Стартрек: Возмездие"). 
On 7 September 2012, it was announced that a title had been chosen for the sequel. Later that day, the title was rumored and then confirmed to be "Star Trek Into Darkness". J.J. Abrams acknowledged the title was "odd," but declared, "It definitely feels like the title's appropriate: this is a story about these characters being challenged and tested and taken to a place that's about sacrifice and life and death." Additionally, Into Darkness was ambiguous enough to not spoil the story. "I remember there was a movie, , and I was like, doesn't that kinda ruin everything?!?" Abrams joked. On the other hand, according to Roberto Orci, the title of this film likewise refers to a character: namely, Khan. "Some might see part of the title coming from the fact that he's kind of a dark shadow of members of our crew. He too has gone through the process, to some degree, that some of our crew have gone through, and clearly for some reason it's failed to bring him over, so I think he represents that part of our heroes." () The title can also be seen to mirror the character arc of the protagonists themselves in this movie, as Alex Kurtzman pointed out. ()
|-| Scene development=A shot depicting Scott reacting in surprise to a view of a Nibiran fish was invented "just to reinforce the idea you're underwater," Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett mentioned. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
The story line involving the Harewood family evolved from the writers being interested in triggering human emotions in the audience shortly after the movie starts. "We discussed wanting to have something that was an emotional opening," observed J.J. Abrams. "And so the idea was to try and find ways to make human drama, a family with a sick child, not trite, but to make it something that was surprising and to an end […] It ended up being not only a sort of unexpected way in to meet our bad guy, but also a critical setup for the end of the movie. So, this little girl, who you meet at the beginning, who is unconscious and dying, and these wildly depressed parents, who are so sad, end up really being kind of the setup for our bad guy in the film." ("Introducing the Villain", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features)
Owing to the significance of establishing the connection between Kirk and Pike, the film's first scene that features them, in which Pike reprimands Kirk, was heavily rewritten. "There were many incarnations of that scene," Maryann Brandon recalled. In the scene's original version, Pike himself took the Enterprise away from Kirk and then tried to be fatherly to him. This was rewritten, so that Pike relays orders from Starfleet to reassign Kirk off the ship and then implies he is unable to do anything to circumvent those instructions. The rewrite only happened after the creative personnel struck upon the thought of writing a new scene, set in a bar, later in the plot. They realized they had to split Pike's actions of firstly relaying news to Kirk that he was to be transferred off the vessel and secondly being fatherly to Kirk into two separate scenes, with the bar scene serving the latter purpose. Admiral Marcus was deliberately referenced in the debriefing scene, in order to establish the character at a relatively early point in the film. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features) The reason Kirk is judged as not being ready for captaincy, an opinion expressed directly by Pike in this scene (as well as indirectly by Admiral Marcus), was that the writers were inspired by fans repeatedly criticizing Kirk as having become captain terribly quickly in the previous film. (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 024)
A scripted scene straight after the one in which Pike scolds Kirk featured the introduction of Carol Marcus, with Kirk meeting her for the first time. J.J. Abrams and the film's writers, with some convincing by Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey, decided the scene wasn't necessary and took it out. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
The only reason the bar scene featuring Pike and Kirk was set in a bar was to remind the audience that the two officers first met in a bar, in the film Star Trek. Having Pike console Kirk in the bar scene additionally served to make Pike's death more emotionally affecting. Mary Jo Markey stated, "As a group, we weren't feeling very much about Pike's death, when it happened, and came to feel that part of the problem with it was that there was never a point in the movie where we were really on Pike's side, and this scene was kind of designed to make you feel like, 'I really care about Pike. And I remember what a great guy he is, and what a great influence he's been on Kirk, and how he's really the guy that changed Kirk's life. He's a true father figure to him." Maryann Brandon agreed, "We deliberately had Admiral Pike say, 'I believe in you,' so that, you know, when he gets killed, really Kirk is alone. And we really needed Kirk to go to a dark place, so that you would believe that he would risk the life of his crew to […] go into Klingon space and take revenge." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features) In Maryann Brandon's opinion, the addition of the bar scene made "a huge difference in the film." ("Unlocking the Cut", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features)
In the first scene that Admiral Marcus appears in, a speech delivered by him was rewritten several times. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features) As for the rationale behind the death of Admiral Pike, later in that sequence, Bruce Greenwood recalled something J.J. Abrams once told him; "He said, 'We felt the relationship was so strong that we decided to hang Kirk's quest on the end of that relationship." (Star Trek Magazine Special 2015, p. 21)
An initial shot of Khan on Kronos was originally not written into the film, nor was an immediately subsequent scene in which a reflective Kirk, sitting in a room at Starfleet Headquarters, answers a call from Spock. "We didn't have a moment where Kirk just lost all hope, and we felt we needed it right before he gets called to action," Maryann Brandon remembered. There was some debate over who the caller should be. It was originally Scott before it changed to Spock. However, a scene immediately thereafter, in which Kirk is told that "Harrison" used a portable transwarp beaming device to escape, then had to be rewritten so that it's Scott who gives him that news. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
A later scene – wherein Kirk and Spock notify Admiral Marcus that "Harrison" has fled to Kronos, Marcus tells them that Starfleet is on the verge of war with the Klingons, and he finally then sends them to kill "Harrison" – was worked on a lot and was added to with some additional dialogue. "It was a question just of what it was gonna be, exactly," Maryann Brandon recollected, "and how to show Kirk's drive for revenge without making him seem like he was only about revenge and that his feelings about Pike had been entirely pushed to the side. It was just a balancing act to try to keep all those things. We ended up writing some new dialogue that's placed on a shot that, for the most part, it was a matter of sort of shading performance and cutting some of the scene out." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features) 
The shuttlecraft journey that takes Kirk, Spock, and Carol Marcus to the Enterprise was rewritten a few times. Objections voiced by Spock to Kirk, regarding their mission, were reworked. "Although this stuff was in the original scene," stated Maryann Brandon, "they were more implied and referred to than just boldly stated [in the way they ended up being] […] But I think it was really important, because it's where, again, […] we're really making clear what the themes are of the film, this idea of personal goals versus universal goals, and universal principles versus taking things into your own hands and deciding that your principles are the ones that are important." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
Some new dialogue might have been created for the scene showing Sulu, in command of the Enterprise, transmitting threats to "Harrison". "The dialogue, I think, was essentially the same. I mean, we might have given him a few new lines in there," reckoned Mary Jo Markey. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
More definite is that the journey to Kronos in a K'normian trading ship was revised. Mary Jo Markey and Maryann Brandon felt the original scene didn't work so well for Uhura and Kirk, being less informative for them as well as the audience, regarding Spock's emotional well being. "It became a scene that was really designed to help Uhura more fully understand Spock, and then, you know, of course by extension to help us [the audience] understand Spock better," commented Markey. "And we ended up feeling that it needed to be more about a much deeper understanding of Spock's emotional make-up, or unemotional make-up, or whatever it is exactly that a Vulcan has, where he talks about the experience of seeing his whole planet die and the existential experience of that, and how it has made him feel even more committed to the Vulcan way." New dialogue was written for the revised version of this scene. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
J.J. Abrams was determined to include the battle sequence between the Starfleet landing party and the Klingons. "The idea of an action sequence that is harrowing, exciting, and scary, involving Klingons and our characters, was too delicious to pass up," he remarked. ()
A subsequent scene in which Khan, held in the Enterprises brig, tells Kirk and Spock about his past, revealing his name for the first time, was a result of the desire to include, in the film, exposition regarding Khan. The writers knew the line "My name is Khan" was not only a significant line in the film, but also that, if the production staff were able to get that moment right, it would elicit a mix of reactions from the audience, such as gasps, applause, and boos. A line from this scene – in which Khan asks Kirk, "Is there anything you wouldn't do for your family?" – was inspired by the motive of trying to make Khan relatable. ("The Enemy of My Enemy", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium Blu-ray special features)
Having Khan, essentially a murderous prisoner, assist Kirk was intended to be a way to make viewers feel uncertain about the character, as the writers knew the audience would have preconceived ideas about him. Despite Khan's villainy, the writers were fascinated by the idea of Kirk having no option but to partner with Khan, who Alex Kurtzman likened to . "That was the fun of it for us; just moving right in to what the audience's expectations were with Khan, because those expectations were our expectations," explained Kurtzman, "and if we can get ourselves to feel, to be asking those questions and to be unsure of the outcome, which was the whole point of creating an alternative timeline, then I felt we were making the right choices." Roberto Orci added, "That's for fans. If you're not a fan, it doesn't matter; you're just watching a story of, 'Can I trust this man or can't I?', and that works on its own. But for fans, using Khan gives it a whole other layer, and we thought it was not just a homage to The Wrath of Khan, but also something for fans to play with, as evidenced by the fact that we are fans and this just tickled us." (SciFiNow, issue 84, pp. 042 & 043)
Devising how to quickly and covertly transfer Kirk and Khan from the Enterprise to the Vengeance turned out to be an enjoyable challenge. "So, that was one of the most, sort of, fun puzzles to put together in the movie, because we always loved the notion of their having to secretly get onto the [Vengeance]," J.J. Abrams explained. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
Damon Lindelof suggested that, in the resultant sequence depicting Kirk and Khan traveling through space from the Enterprise to the Vengeance, the glass in Kirk's helmet would get struck by a piece of debris. Originally, Kirk was imagined as not using a guidance system in his helmet, though this idea was altered, as was much of the sequence. "The ship-to-ship sequence […] was a constantly evolving sequence," remarked J.J. Abrams. "There were many iterations of it […] It felt like we needed to add some elements of tension […] [and] the story needed to be a little bit more complicated." For instance, new dialogue was written for the start of a shot in which Spock warns Kirk that there is a debris field between the two craft. The newly added dialogue allowed for the scene to be moved from during the flight to just before it. Another added concept was the idea of Sulu advising Kirk to use the compass display in his helmet. The creative team also tried to add drama to the sequence by having Kirk's guidance system break due to a bit of debris, an idea influenced by Lindelof's earlier suggestion of having the glass break. Uhura wasn't as featured in the original version of this sequence as she ended up being, as Abrams decided to focus more time on the character in these shots. He added the story point of her struggling to contact Scott. "I just knew it was crazy not to have her be a part of it," he admitted. Kirk was originally to have been less clearly put in jeopardy. "The new idea being that if Khan gets hit and is seemingly taken out, and then Kirk's helmet goes dead, he'd be screwed, that there would be no way for him to get to the ship. And then when Khan returns and ends up helping him out, there's this weird thing that we're going for, which is what would happen if your life was in the hands of your worst enemy? And that question of, 'How do I deal with that, and do I trust him if he ends up saving my life?' It's what we were trying to add to the sequence." Other late additions to the sequence included such moments as Spock asking Sulu if they had lost Khan, and Sulu replying with uncertainty due to the debris, as well as Sulu later advising Spock that Kirk wasn't going to make it to the Vengeance safely. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
The conclusion of "the ship-to-ship sequence," where a Vengeance security guard gets blown out an airlock that Kirk and Khan fly through to gain access to the ship, was thought up by J.J. Abrams. "We were actually location scouting, and we're at a restaurant, and I remember I just doodled this idea on a napkin," he recalled. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
The writers had Spock Prime make a cameo appearance, midway through the sequence in which Khan and Kirk collaborate, as a reminder to the audience that Khan is incontrovertibly evil and untrustworthy. The writers intended for the scene to lead the audience into questioning, even more, how the alternate reality version of Khan would turn out. Alex Kurtzman referred to this scene by saying, "The bomb is symbolically put under the table." (SciFiNow, issue 84, pp. 042-043)
The idea of Khan commandeering the Vengeance was thought up as a way of heightening the jeopardy which the protagonists were put in. As Alex Kurtzman expressed it, "The last thing you would want would be for a ship like that to fall into the hands of someone like Khan." ("Vengeance is Coming", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
Roberto Orci conceived the line in which McCoy refers to the members of Khan's genetically altered, cryogenically frozen crew as "Human Popsicles." Remembered Damon Lindelof, "When he first pitched it, we all got quite a laugh." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
According to Damon Lindelof, the writers had the Enterprise fall towards Earth in order to demonstrate that gravity "can be very dangerous." A section of the Enterprises bridge was depicted cracking, during the ship's fall, because J.J. Abrams "loves it when the hull cracks," in Lindelof's words. Later in the sequence, Chekov was tasked with running up a flight of stairs and switching a manual override, which Lindelof referred to as "some doodad," because the writing team felt they needed to give all members of the Enterprises senior staff something practical to do. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
Kirk sacrificing his own life in order to save the Enterprise and, in his final moments, speaking with Spock while they are on either side of a glass window was written as an homage to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It was inspired by the compulsion that the writers felt to acknowledge how the Enterprise crew had previously defeated Khan. Although referencing The Wrath of Khan in such a way was thought to be risky, the writers decided to make a big effort to do so. There was consequently a lot of discussion about Kirk going into the warp core area where he saves the ship but receives a lethal dose of radiation. "We talked a lot about the climb and wanting to make it sort of excruciating," recollected Damon Lindelof, "and the idea that a character is sacrificing his own life for his crew, et cetera, to make it as dramatic as possible." Thus, there was also deliberation over what obstacles Kirk had to overcome in the area. "One of the things we talked about was how can we illustrate the idea that there's lots of radiation here?" continued Lindelof. "We talked about the idea that there were sort of like heat waves that Kirk was going through, et cetera, et cetera […] I think we had no less than fifty meetings about how we could visually describe what was wrong with the core and how Kirk was gonna set it right. And then it was just simply like, 'Oh, he's just gonna kick the thing so it lines up with the other thing.' But it took about fifty meetings to get to that point." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
Despite the fact Kirk's climb inside the warp core chamber was obviously intended to be concurrent with the Enterprise free-falling towards Earth, the writers opted for Kirk's movements in the chamber not to reflect the turbulent motions of the vessel. "I do think that one of the things that we talked about," Damon Lindelof stated, "was making sure that Kirk's travel here was fixed, that, at this point, he couldn't be spinning and sort of bonking around, even though the Enterprise was, and that's one of those little cheats that you do, filmically, to get past it." Lindelof accounted for this by saying, "Kirk is, you know, fixed in a gravitational field, here." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
The scene in which Kirk dies was deliberately concocted to feature resonances with canon. Not only was it obviously meant to reference Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but it was also "in service of" what Damon Lindelof referred to as "the most, sort of, resonant aspect" of both the alternate reality version of Star Trek and the "prime" version, which was "the love story and friendship between Kirk and Spock." ("enhanced commentary", & Star Trek: The Compendium special features) While writing the scene, the creative team even reused lines of dialogue from The Wrath of Khan, such as the question, "Ship, out of danger?" Commented Roberto Orci, "It feels dumb not to use the lines that apply specifically to that scenario, so instead of saying 'I'm trying to save the ship, did it work or not?' we said, 'Hey man, let's just pay homage to it and use Star Trek […] So sure, we debated it, and sure it was something to think about." (SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 042) The scene also underwent some revision, Bryan Burk noting, "[It] took a while to kind of find its rhythm and really work for us emotionally." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
According to Damon Lindelof, the climax of this movie always highlighted a confrontation between Khan and Spock, with the stakes being Kirk's life. However, there originally would have been a simultaneous subplot about a Klingon fleet heading to Earth, "only to be turned around via diplomatic intervention by Uhura," Lindelof said. "We dropped it pretty early on, as it didn’t feel intimate, cool, or earned." 
In fact, the climax was originally far different from what it became. "The original idea of the third act didn't have us landing on Earth," explained Executive Producer Jeffrey Chernov. "J.J. said, 'Now this really excites me." ("Brawl by the Bay", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium special features) J.J. Abrams had the Vengeance, as it crash-lands on Earth, destroying Alcatraz as an in-joke; he used this moment to reference the fact his production company, Bad Robot Productions, previously had a TV series called which had ended up being cancelled. "So, I destroyed Alcatraz, even though I love it," he conceded. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
The climactic chase sequence, with Spock pursuing Khan through the streets of San Francisco, was inspired by a shot from the film Star Trek, showing a group of shuttles leave the city. Because the footage provoked J.J. Abrams into becoming extremely interested in seeing what it would be like in the city, this film's chase sequence was put together. "The fight was originally conceived as a fight between two guys on a street, essentially," recalled Abrams. "To make it into a fight on the garbage barge traveling through the city upped the stakes of the whole thing. It gave the thing a kind of an energy that it wouldn't have had otherwise." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
Whether to have the chase involve one or two garbage barges was the subject of considerable debate. It was finally decided that, although only one barge was necessary, two would be more exciting. "It just felt like a fun way to add another layer of, sort of, Saturday-morning-serial-now-what-ness to it," J.J. Abrams remarked. ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
The creative team chose to factor Uhura into the end of the garbage-barge sequence. "One of the ideas that I thought, you know, was sort of fun was, how do you end the sequence?" J.J. Abrams related. "We wanted to give Uhura something great […] The idea [was] of giving her a beat that was really tough, and badass, and saving the day. There was always something Barbarella about this moment too, the way she sort of shows up wearing that uniform." ("enhanced commentary", and Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
Having Khan be returned to cryogenic freeze, alive, in the final moments of the film was done as a conclusion that was meant to be internally consistent with the rest of the plot; the writers felt this story point was "the logical and moral conclusion of the movie" and meant for Khan to be put on trial thereafter, rather than be immediately executed. The writers have been less forthcoming about whether they actually kept Khan alive as a convenient way to resolve any future narratives, Roberto Orci stating only that this "could be." (SciFiNow, issue 84, p. 044)
|-| Cast and characters=
|-| Design, sets, and locations=
Following the release of Super 8, it was announced, in September 2011, that J.J. Abrams would direct this film. He had quite a good idea of how he wanted this film to look. Production Designer Scott Chambliss reported about Abrams' design specifications, "On Star Trek Into Darkness he had pretty strong thoughts about more complete concepts of what he wanted than I was accustomed to." (, issue 287, p. 96) On the other hand, the film's creation was obviously reliant on a team effort, Abrams himself remarking, "I think we all felt we have to outdo ourselves not with scale, or bombast, or pyrotechnics, but to maintain the thing we did last time. Despite it being called Star Trek, it had to be real. You had to feel it." ()
J.J. Abrams felt green screen was "obviously" necessary in this film. However, he explained, "One of the things we've continued from the first movie is the idea of finding locations or building sets whenever we could to create a world that isn't synthetic or sterile, but feels very, very real." Dan Mindel agreed, "What we brought to this one was the fact that we went outside more." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 026)
For the Enterprise in this film, the creative team attempted to preserve a look of newness and cleanliness while also giving the vessel a sense of scale. "We wanted to show the audience far more of the ship and to give it more depth," noted J.J. Abrams. (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 026) Due to the fact that permanent sets used for NCIS: Los Angeles were on Paramount Stages 8 and 9, this movie was instead scheduled to film at Sony Studios in Culver City. Sony Stage 15, which was the largest stage at Sony and was larger than the Paramount stages, enabled the filmmakers to build interconnected interiors for the Enterprise, similar to the original television show. (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 26; ) This time, filming locations chosen to represent Enterprise interiors included not only Budweiser Brewery, which had been used for ship interiors in the previous movie, but also National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. (SciFiNow, p. 026; )
For the garbage barge scenes, a green screen set was built in Marina del Rey, California, along Jefferson Blvd. and near Grosvenor Blvd. Also, Hawaii was considered for "jungle scenes" set on Nibiru but a location in Southern California was chosen instead. This was clearly a reuse of the set in Marina del Rey, complete with red prop trees. The set of the Nibiran volcano also made use of a large green screen. Other filming locations included , Long Beach City Hall, MCAS Tustin, and Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park as well as Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. For Leonard Nimoy's cameo, the offices of Bad Robot were selected. Dan Mindel observed that the variety of locations used to film the movie "gave the huge scope it has now." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 026)
Iceland was picked for the filming of some visual effects shots. J.J. Abrams had considered filming exterior sequences in Iceland for the previous film. 
Designer Neville Page said that, if there were Klingons, he would have to explore a rationale for their appearance, such as their long hair, and give their species a varied look, perhaps with different races. 
Industrial Light & Magic began working on visual effects in November 2011, starting with shots of outer space that would not require live-action elements. 
The making of this film required both Benedict Cumberbatch and Zachary Quinto to do some training. Both cast members enjoyed their training routine, which involved wire work for both the two actors. Quinto's training – which was with a stunt trainer, "for a couple months before shooting" – also included sprinting, and Cumberbatch remarked that his own routine was "for these choreographed fight scenes, stunts, […] and all sorts of fun and games." ()
|-| Filming=On 23 November 2011, it was reported that this sequel would be shot in 3D for a release. J.J. Abrams later clarified the film would be shot in 2D and converted into 3D during post-production. He also opted to shoot the film in a hybrid mix of IMAX and Panavision anamorphic 35mm. Choosing to present the film with 3D and IMAX was not a decision Abrams took lightly, as his priority was to always try to keep things in the movie authentic, regardless of the story being fantastical. The choice Abrams made was influenced by him looking closely at modern films which used the two formats. Bryan Burk stated, "We hope that the combination of the IMAX and 3D will be unlike anything audiences have seen." 
As for his decision to use IMAX in particular, J.J. Abrams was inspired by having worked with Director Brad Bird on , one of only a few recent blockbuster films which had employed IMAX. "But I'd yet to see a space adventure presented in this way," Abrams noted. The deal was nonetheless clinched for him after Christopher Nolan kindly screened for Abrams the section of The Dark Knight Rises that uses IMAX. "Watching that incredible footage," he related, "it made me realize if we had an opportunity to shoot some of this movie in IMAX, we'd be crazy not to." According to A-camera 1st AC Serge Nofield, one of the challenges of moving between the two formats was working in the different aspect ratios. "In an effort to bridge that difference, we didn't use the entire [1.43:1] IMAX negative – we masked it to achieve a ratio of 1.66:1," he says. "When viewed in an IMAX theater, the movie will shift from 2.40:1 to 1.66:1." 
This was the first official 3D Star Trek production and the first 3D film that Bad Robot Productions worked on. Regarding the choice of using 3D for this film, Damon Lindelof expressed, "It did not impact the writing of the script […] All of us were a little bit cynical about doing the movie in 3D […] So the 3D decision was more along the lines of like 'are we going to screw up Trek by doing this movie in 3D or is Trek ready for 3D?' Hopefully it is the latter." J.J. Abrams and his allies were persuaded to convert the film to 3D after watching converted footage of a scene in Star Trek where the arrives at . Bryan Burk later noted, "When we looked at what Star Trek is all about – epic battles, sweeping planet vistas and nail-biting action – we thought, if Star Trek isn't worthy of 3D, then what movie is? The bottom line for us was that if we were going to embrace 3D for the first time, we wanted to make it special and different […] We knew if we did this, we wanted to really go for it." The production staff settled on the premise that simply adding 3D to the mix wouldn't be enough – it had to be used to bring more impact to the storytelling or heighten the realism of worlds which didn't exist in reality. 
As reported by TrekMovie, shooting of the sequel started on . The first footage to be shot was on the set of the Enterprises bridge. "I was angry at J.J. for throwing us on to what can be a difficult set," Chris Pine laughed. (, issue 287, p. 90) The set indeed proved troublesome, when Alice Eve initially stepped onto it. "I fell on my bum the very first time, which is a testament to how clean and shiny they kept the floors," she reckoned. (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 023) On 14 January 2012, Paramount officially announced principal photography had begun. 
As the filming got under way, some results of the decision to shoot much of the film in IMAX proved clear to the filmmakers, giving them some mind-boggling logistical challenges. "The idea of throwing the IMAX cameras around was a huge challenge," Cinematographer Dan Mindel recollected. "J.J. stood by his commitment to use that system, but we couldn't operate the cameras the way we do normally." The time needed for shooting in IMAX was especially hard, as IMAX cameras take a very long time to reload and run out of film extremely quickly, which caused frustration for J.J. Abrams. "So the biggest challenge for me," continued Mindel, "was just to keep all that going and have him not lose interest in or be disappointed in the decision he made to use the system." (, issue 287, p. 87) Abrams himself remembered, "It became a rule that when the action was outdoors, we shot using IMAX, and when we were indoors, we used anamorphic 35." 
After each angle was shot, the actors had to move out of the camera's perspective, then a pass was filmed with a 3D camera which replicated the original camera moves, to help the 3D conversion process. This was a new technique, which J.J. Abrams described as involving "multiple virtual cameras to push the perspective and depth in certain ways, towards how people see in 3D." The new method allowed people who didn't enjoy or perceive 3D to "get it," Abrams counting himself as one of those individuals. "That's not to say the 2D experience wasn't the primary focus," he clarified. "All I wanted to do was make sure I made a movie that was working in 2D, but [that] if you see it in 3D you get a little more bang for your buck." () For the conversion process, the team brought in stereographer Corey Turner, who had worked on some of the biggest 3D films of the past few years, and then encouraged him to keep pushing the boundaries of visible depth and immersive detail on screen. "The process was both extremely laborious and more precise than we ever imagined," explained Bryan Burk. "Along with Corey, we literally went through the film frame by frame, pushing every aspect of the 3D that was possible – really making objects feel as if they are coming out from the screen. We would routinely say to Corey 'let's push it further' and he would say, 'this is as far as anyone could possibly go' and we would say 'Go further! Go further!' and then he would." Damon Lindelof was a supporter of using 3D for this film. In hindsight, he suspected, "I don’t think this is going to hurt the movie. If people want to see it in 3D, they will get their money’s worth […] Based on the dailies that I have seen, I think JJ pulled it off." 
In the final week of January 2012, NASA astronaut and engineer visited the Enterprise bridge set while the Star Trek sequel was in production. He inspected some of the stations on the bridge, sat in the command chair, was announced as a "guest of honor" by J.J. Abrams, and gave a speech to the shooting company. In his speech, he commended them by saying, "You know, what you guys are doing here, it's not just an incredible, spectacular movie […] but it's also inspiring a whole new generation of kids." (Star Trek: Secrets of the Universe)
Recalling one example when IMAX was employed, J.J. Abrams noted, "We used it for the volcanic planet Nibiru." For the filming of the scenes in which the Enterprise is underwater, Dan Mindel softened the lights on the set of the Enterprise, making the ship's interior look "more subdued, cooler or bluer in color," as phrased by Mindel. (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 026)
Another usage of IMAX was for footage in the Qo'noS scenes. Filmmaker Edgar Wright visited the Qo'noS set and got to direct a shot for the movie. 
Filming the scene in which Scott runs through a long open area aboard the Vengeance was grueling for Simon Pegg. "I remember that day very clearly," he explained, "cause I'd just eaten and I rocked up on set and J.J. said 'You've got to run 100 meters, really fast' […] I'd been hanging around all day on set, it was a nice shoot, I'd had a big dinner, then they say, 'OK Simon, you're up,' and I had to do this sprint. And I did it as fast as I could. I mean, I really went for it. I did the first take and everyone clapped, because I ran like I hadn't run since I was a kid. It was amazing. And then J.J. said, 'Can we do it again?' and I said, 'Yeah! No problem!' By the third take, I was, like, 'No.' So I went back to my trailer." There, Pegg finally threw up. "Fortunately, my trailer was a simple stumble away," he concluded. ()
J.J. Abrams came up with a method of shooting the sequence in which the Enterprise falls toward Earth. "JJ got very interested in the idea that if you move the camera in certain ways and if people behaved in certain ways," reported Roger Guyett, "it would really feel like everything on the ship had wrapped around upside down, and he was right." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 026)
IMAX was used "especially at the end where there's […] [a] chase through San Francisco," stated J.J. Abrams. 
As evidenced by photographs which were leaked online, the scene in which Spock and Khan jump from one garbage barge onto another was filmed on the garbage barge green-screen set on . 
Alice Eve visited a filming location where she was astounded by seeing Benedict Cumberbatch, who had been a friend of hers for almost nine or ten years beforehand, do some wire work. "I saw him flying through the air!" she exclaimed. "It was just amazing to see that. It was staggering to see your friend working in that way, with all these people around. It was dusk as well, in this weird location and I was thinking this is crazy." Eve later cited this experience as one of her fondest memories of the shoot. ()
The volcano sequence was first rehearsed by a stunt double. In front of the set's green screen, Zachary Quinto was then rigged to a pair of wires, lifted to a height of ten stories high, then dropped at a high rate of speed as if he was falling. 
As reported by Go for Location on , the Star Trek sequel filmed exterior and interior scenes all week in Downtown Los Angeles, especially Bunker Hill and the historic core areas and at Flower and Olympic. 
On Friday 20 April 2012, production filmed at 710 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles (7:00 am – 10:00 pm). The day after, the cast and crew conducted more filming in Los Angeles. Between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm, they shot footage in the Grand Ave. crosswalk, between Cal Plaza and Wells Fargo Plaza, as well as at 350 S. Grand Ave., and at 333 S. Grand Ave. Between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm on that same day, the cast and crew filmed at 710 S. Grand Ave., 650 S. Spring St., and 523 W. 6th St. as well as returning to capture some more footage at 710 S. Grand Ave. The shooting company did even more filming at the latter address on the next day, 22 April 2012. During these dates, base camp was set up at Grand and 8th Ave. 
According to a crew member, the production would, after the Los Angeles shoot wrapped, head to the San Francisco area for the final week of filming. According to On Location Vacations, there was a radio casting call in San Francisco for a big motion picture and shooting was scheduled to start there on . As reported by On Location Vacations just a few days later, some location filming was done at the National Ignition Facility, prior to the filming in San Francisco. The production unit was also scheduled to film in Pleasanton. 
After Leonard Nimoy drove himself to the offices of Bad Robot Productions, his cameo scene was shot there, directed by J.J. Abrams. 
J.J. Abrams discovered that, by attempting to push the limits of what he and the rest of the film's crew were capable of, this movie turned out to be, by far, his hardest directorial effort yet. "I think part of it was the scope of it. The scale of the movie was pretty huge," he offered. "I think that it was also about trying to take what we did before and embrace the things that worked, and try some things that we hadn't done. Part of it was realizing there are always things [in the original] that I look at and wish I had done this or that. It's a little bit of a second chance to try and do some things that didn't quite work the way I wanted them to, and then do some things I didn't get a chance to do before." () However, Abrams was typically hyperactive during the shoot. "He'd doodle a cartoon, and then turn it into a 3D printable graphic, he'd come up with an idea for Nickelodeon – this is just in the breaks between set-ups, with the IMAX being changed over," Benedict Cumberbatch reported. "He'd beatbox, he'd play music that was comically fitting for the moment of the day." ()
Simon Pegg and Zachary Quinto tweeted that filming (of principal photography) wrapped on 8 May 2012. The reason why Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci had advocated not rushing the making of this film was that Star Trek would naturally require intensive post-production, more so than Super 8. Following the wrap of the movie's principal photography, second unit filming began with the film's Iceland shoot. This marked the first time a Star Trek movie shot outside the United States. 
|-| Editing=One shot of the Enterprise, reminiscent of the initial view of the original Enterprise in first episode , was planned but scrapped. Sean Hargreaves explained, "There was a shot where they were going to tilt up and the whole top [of the bridge] was going to open up […] It was very complicated mechanics, it was beautiful, and it was nixed; they didn't end up doing it, but I've always loved that." 
In an October 2012 interview on the talk show Conan, J.J. Abrams stated that this film was in the editing process. He was still involved in editing and tweaking the movie in late March 2013. ()
Responding to criticism that the scene in the Enterprise shuttlecraft in which Kirk catches a glimpse of Carol Marcus in her underwear could be viewed as sexist, J.J. Abrams revealed – during an interview on Conan on 23 May 2013 – a segment of a deleted scene from the film in which Khan is seen taking a shower. 
Carol Marcus is highlighted in a deleted scene explaining that her parents had separated, thus leaving Carol to be raised by her mother alone in England. The scene thereby addresses why Carol has a different accent from her prime-reality counterpart. The explanatory deleted scene is the only one involving Carol Marcus. 
Several deleted, expanded and alternate scenes appear exclusively through the film's Xbox SmartGlass second-screen app. An alternate cut of the scene where Kirk loses his command was the version in which Pike personally demotes him and takes control of the Enterprise, immediately relegating Kirk to first officer. The opening scene at Nibiru originally ended with Kirk recording a captain's log entry on the bridge, untruthfully stating that the crew never set foot on the planet's surface and that the mission was "uneventful." In the deleted scene, Kirk stated in his log:
: "Captain's log, stardate 2259.55. We've completed our survey of newly-discovered Class M planet designated 'Nibiru'. Intelligent life was observed. The species is primitive; indications of early language and even religion were noted. I thought it wise to stay off the planet altogether unless we somehow interfere with their way of life. If there's one word I would use to describe this mission, it would be… 'uneventful'. Kirk out."
The scene where Thomas Harewood sits as his station at the Kelvin Memorial Archive originally included a video chat in which Harewood explains to Admiral Marcus, "He [Harrison] said you'd know why he did this," right before activating the explosive device disguised as his Starfleet Academy ring. The sequence where Harrison fires upon several Starfleet officers from a jumpship was recut: in the earlier version, Kirk witnesses Pike get shot and is by his side as Pike dies; Harrison swoops back to the scene and resumes fire, prompting Kirk to take down the ship.
Uhura's exchange with the Klingons originally involved her lying to them by stating that she was seeking out a lone Klingon who was her lover and had stolen from her. Uhura's ruse is interrupted when Kirk decides to exit the K'normian ship and attack the warriors with his crew members. The ensuing fight halts when two Klingons hold Kirk to the ground and put a rifle to his head. As Kirk's crew comes out from behind cover, the Klingon commander shouts an order and a redshirt is shot in the chest. The commander also orders Kirk to be killed, but the Klingons are shot by Harrison as he appears.
The scene where Scotty approaches the secret hangar containing the Vengeance included a sequence where he bluffs his way in by stating he was delivering "hull plating and the coffee cells for the food synthesizers." The end of the film originally contained a scene at the commemoration ceremony, where Kirk speaks with Rima Harewood and her daughter Lucille, the latter of whom appears to have been restored to good health.
|-| Music and sound=Michael Giacchino confirmed he would return to compose the film's music score before filming began. "One of the things I spent a lot of time thinking about on this was […] the villain, Khan […] To be able to have music that represents the wrong side of someone's decisions, but also represents sort of the buried goodness in what they want to do." ("The Sound of Music (and FX)", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium special features) Elaborated Giacchino, "It wasn't about writing based on what the character wanted or the things he's doing; it's more about his past and the way his brain works. I found him to be very interesting, especially because it's Benedict […] I kept looking at him and saying, 'What is he thinking right now?' For me, the music was exploring that idea and the fact that what is going on is based on something that happened a while ago. Again, going to the emotional side of things is what I do. He gave me tons to play with. Hopefully, I came up with something more than just bad guy music for him." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 029) Giacchino composed new themes for not only Khan, but also Admiral Marcus, and the Klingons, as well as a more "personal" arrangement of Kirk's theme. The Klingon music incorporates Klingonese lyrics that were sung by a choir and were written by music editor Alex Levy. 
Matching the pace and scope of the film wasn't always easy for Michael Giacchino. "There was a point where I said, 'I'm not sure where to go now because the film has reached such heights of drama that I'm like, 'I did that and the next scene is even bigger," he laughed. "How do I keep jumping that hurdle each time? That was the architecture of the score, looking at it and going, 'You need to get big in the middle of the movie, but you don't want to get too big, because you know there's going to be something bigger later.' For me, it was about focusing on each character's storyline and making sure that when I'm writing for them it's appropriate, and not just me saying, 'I want to write a big piece of music' […] Hopefully, the steady ramp up for the audience is exactly that: a steady ramping up to an emotional climax." (SciFiNow, issue 80, p. 029)
Michael Giacchino also incorporated a theme from the TV show in this film: "I had just finished writing and shut off my computer and said I'm done done. I went downstairs and went on Twitter and someone tweeted to me 'Can you please use one of the themes from one of the old series in the new movie'… and I thought 'OK, OK' and so I went back upstairs and there was one I always particularly loved… so that will be there for you to find." The theme in particular is the "fight to the death" music from , which can be heard during the climactic fight between Spock and Khan. composer Gerald Fried is acknowledged in the credits for the track titled "Ritual".
At one point, a music cue that Michael Giacchino wrote for one scene had to be changed in order to account for the fact that the relevant scene had recently been edited differently. Whereas the cue may have worked perfectly well during the previous week, it had to be altered to fit with the new edit. Giacchino decided to rewrite the cue on the next morning, unsure how successful it would turn out. Even while played by an orchestra, the score was still evolving, in the concerted attempts to improve the film. ("The Sound of Music (and FX)", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
On another occasion, Orchestrator/Conductor Tim Simonec instructed all musicians who were holding a note at bar twenty-nine in one of the cues to hold the same note for another three bars. ("The Sound of Music (and FX)", "Featurettes", Star Trek: The Compendium special features)
Depending on where the film was screened, a different song was played in the scene showing Scott and Keenser at a San Francisco bar. For example, the UK edition of the film used "The Rage That's In Us All", by Bo Bruce, while the Australian version was "The Dark Collide" by Penelope Austin. 
Business Wire announced that Star Trek Into Darkness would be released with Dolby Atmos "to deliver a more natural and realistic soundtrack that moves sound around and above audiences, transporting them into the outer regions of the universe." 
|-| Continuity=
* The writers of this film have stated it is set roughly six months to a year after the preceding film, . Added Roberto Orci, "The idea is they've had at least a tour of duty or two, and every minute of exploring space is like five minutes of regular time here on boring Earth." ()
* In this film, Admiral Pike – last seen in a wheelchair at the end of the film Star Trek, after his ordeal with Nero – is shown to have regained his ability to walk and is represented using a cane.
* Star Trek Into Darkness continued to use the same stardate system devised by the screenwriters for the film Star Trek. According to Roberto Orci, in that system, stardate 2259.55 would be February 24, 2259. 
* Admiral Marcus' model collection includes the Ares V, the Phoenix, the , , the , and the Vengeance.
* Spock tells McCoy that "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Spock Prime tells Kirk this in .
* Admiral Marcus reveals that the Kelvin Memorial Archive was really a base of Section 31, the Starfleet Black Ops division that existed as early as 2151, when a young Malcolm Reed was recruited by them. Section 31 was first introduced during the sixth season of , but Section 31 agent Luther Sloan claimed that the organization had existed as a secret black ops division of Starfleet Intelligence since the founding of Starfleet. The prequel series later established that this did not simply mean the beginning of the "Federation Starfleet", but the foundation of the predecessor United Earth Starfleet, which later grew into the Federation Starfleet after that organization's creation.
* En route to Kronos (Qo'noS), Spock pronounces Uhura's first name, Nyota, differently than he does in the previous film.
* Chekov, established as a "whiz kid" at the age of seventeen in the film Star Trek, continues to demonstrate his proficiency by learning enough about engineering systems to be Kirk's choice to replace Scott as chief engineer.
* The dialogue in the scene where Kirk dies in the radiation chamber uses some verbatim quotes from a very similar scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In that film, it is Spock, rather than Kirk, who sacrifices his life, exposing himself to radiation in a chamber of engineering in order to save the Enterprise.
* Likewise, when calling Spock down to engineering after Kirk's sacrifice, some of Scott's dialogue, such as "You better get down here, better hurry," "You'll flood the whole compartment," and more, is verbatim dialogue spoken by McCoy in a very similar scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
* The number of torpedoes containing Khan's old crew, seventy-two, is the same number of Augments that survived with Khan nearly three centuries of suspended animation when Kirk discovers the in .
* Starfleet Command meets in the Daystrom Conference Room. Richard Daystrom was introduced in and mentioned in other Star Trek episodes as well.
* is mentioned by name as one of Kirk's former conquests, having purportedly told Carol Marcus all about him. In this film, she has apparently transferred and is now working as a nurse. The Prime Universe variant of Chapel appears as a recurring character in TOS and as well as in and .
* In the previous film, it was revealed that Uhura speaks "all three dialects" of Romulan; in this film, it is revealed that she also speaks Klingon.
* The Klingon homeworld, Kronos (Qo'noS), features the remains of the exploded moon in its orbit. This is a homage to , in which the Klingon moon Praxis was destroyed by over-mining and insufficient safety procedures.
* The Klingon leader seen in the film has cranial ridges, despite the appearance of Klingons in era; the Klingons appearing in the series , set in roughly the same era, also have cranial ridges. This suggests that not all Klingons were afflicted by the Klingon augment virus. ()
* While Admiral Marcus was preparing for war with the Klingons, the shows that indeed a has already happened in the prime universe. Ironically, this war doesn't seem to have happened in the alternate reality.
* "Cupcake" – Security Officer – who Kirk met in the bar fight in Iowa, is still serving aboard the Enterprise and accompanies Kirk to Qo'noS.
* At one point in this movie, Khan is referred to as having sought refuge on Qo'noS in the Ketha Province. As established in , the Ketha lowlands, in the "Prime" reality, were the birthplace of Chancellor Martok.
* The Vengeance destroys Alcatraz as it crashes to Earth. In , a future version of Kathryn Janeway from the year 2404 told her past self, in 2378, that one could see Alcatraz from 's ready room on a clear day, because Voyager was a museum located on the Presidio in that timeline.
* In this film, McCoy refers to Khan as a superman. In "Space Seed", Spock refers to Khan and his people as supermen.
* As Kirk wakes from his coma near the end of this film, he can hear his mother and father speaking about him moments after his birth. This dialogue was reused from the film Star Trek.
* At the San Francisco bar, among the other drinks on Scott's table is a Budweiser. Uhura orders a Budweiser Classic in the previous film, and both this movie and the previous one used a Budweiser plant for scenes in engineering.
* McCoy uses his medical skills to assist Carol Marcus in performing "surgery" on a torpedo, something his prime universe counterpart assists Spock with in .
* Scott sabotages the Starfleet prototype USS Vengeance to help save the Enterprise. His prime universe counterpart likewise sabotages the prototype USS Excelsior to help the Enterprise escape in .
* In San Francisco, trolley cars are shown to still be in use. The Star Trek settings they appear in date from as early as 1986, in .
* In the film's London scenes, the "London Eye," a giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames, built in , is clearly visible and still in use.
* Among the pedestrians in San Francisco is an Orion woman.
* Pike tells Kirk that Starfleet Command returned the captaincy of the Enterprise to him by saying, "They gave her back to me," which is also what Kirk tells Scott when he regains command of the Enterprise in .
* The Enterprise spiraling down to Earth with the engines off-line is reminiscent of , where the prime-universe Enterprise spirals down to Psi 2000 after its engines are turned off.
* The effect of fading the screen to black but then having sounds become audible was previously used in and .
* Risking one's life to save the Enterprise is something not only that Kirk does here but also that his prime counterpart does in .
* This is the first Star Trek film to use the 2012-present Paramount Pictures logo.
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