While Simon Pegg is currently gearing up to start filming Mission: Impossible 5 (and touting the release of his drama Hector and the Search for Happiness), he recently took some time to talk about two other major franchises that he’s somewhat involved in.  Firstly, Pegg discussed the prospective hiring of Roberto Orci as the new director of Star Trek 3, saying he’s “really happy” that Orci has been chosen to take over the franchise from J.J. Abrams and adding that the Trek series is in good hands.  Additionally, Pegg reiterated his enthusiasm for Star Wars: Episode VII, with which he has no involvement beyond being very good friends with Abrams.  Pegg noted that Episode VII is destined to “feel more like Star Wars than anything we’ve seen in the last 30 years.”  Hit the jump for Pegg’s full comments on Star Trek and Wars.

While Roberto Orci recently told us that his hiring as the Star Trek 3 director is contingent upon how the script (penned by Orci, John D. Payne, and Patrick McKay) turns out, Pegg was more certain that he will be the man behind the camera when Trek 3 rolls around. Speaking with BBC News:

"He emailed me before the news broke saying: 'Hey man, I might be doing this, shall we nerd out?,' He's a good friend, he's very much part of the Star Trek family.”

Pegg went on to say that he believes Orci is a swell fit for the job:

"I'm really happy he's doing it as it's kept within the family kind of thing, it's not somebody coming in from outside. Bob's been there since the first Star Trek - by that I mean the 2009 one - so it seemed to make perfect sense that he come in as a director on this one because he gets it. He was always the most Trekkie of all of those guys anyway, he's always understood the story the best so it's great that he's going to be involved in the writing and directing."

Abrams will still be involved in Trek 3 in a producing capacity, with Pegg adding that the filmmaker likely wouldn’t be able to let it completely go “because that’s not in his nature.”  That doesn’t mean he’s not still terribly busy, though, as Abrams is hard at work on Star Wars: Episode VII at the moment.  As a massive Star Wars fan and Abrams’ good friend, Pegg shared some thoughts on this next installment in the beloved franchise:

“I'm very excited and obviously I have some inside information because he's a very good friend of mine. I'm excited to know he's going to be using physical effects and trying to make it in line with the processes that brought about the first three [films]. It's going to feel more like Star Wars than anything we've seen in the last 30 years - I can sleep at night knowing he's at the helm of that."

Whether Pegg has a (likely very small) cameo in Episode VII is still up for debate, but it’s certainly nice to hear his enthusiasm for the new film.  An official timetable has yet to be given for Star Trek 3, but Paramount is keen on releasing the film in time for the 50th anniversary in 2016, so expect it to go in front of cameras sometime next year.