As J.J. Abrams decided to leave behind the world of Star Trek to focus on a Galaxy Far, Far Away, the news that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Transformers co-writer Roberto Orci would take over as director was met with a resounding “Meh!” from fans of the series. Luckily, he’s now been beamed out of that role!
According to a new report, he will for some reason no longer helm the threequel which has been dated for 2016 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise (which is why Abrams couldn’t direct).
A reason for his departure wasn’t given, but Orci is still set to serve as a producer, an indication perhaps that the split was somewhat amicable. He co-wrote the first two Star Trek movies with longtime collaborator Alex Kurtzman, but the two went their separate ways earlier this year. Kurtzman is now heading up Universal’s shared monster movie universe featuring new takes on the likes of The Mummy and Van Helsing.
In some exciting news however, it’s also been revealed that Edgar Wright is on Paramount Pictures’ shortlist to take over, something it would be very interesting to see after he recently dropped out of Ant-Man.
There’s nothing to say he’ll take the job though, and more names will probably surface over the coming weeks. Joe Cornish came close to directing at one point, so it could be that they decide to approach him as well. If the studio still want to release Star Trek 3 in 2016, a director will need to be found soon!
