Star Trek is a series of television programming.
The Star Trek film series is the cinematic branch of the Star Trek media franchise , which began in 1966 as a weekly television series on NBC , running for three seasons until it was canceled in 1969 because of poor ratings . Five more Star Trek feature films featuring the entire original cast followed . A sequel to Star Trek ( 2009 ) , Star Trek Into Darkness , was released in theaters on May 16 , 2013 . Star Trek Into Darkness is a 2013 American science fiction action film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci , Alex Kurtzman , and Damon Lindelof .