‘Fast & Furious’ director Justin Lin will direct ‘Star Trek 3’

Roberto Orci recently stepped down as the director of the upcoming Star Trek 3, forcing fans to wonder who Paramount Pictures would hire as a replacement. According to Deadline, Paramount, Skydance Productions and Bad Robot have joined together and decided that Fast & Furious 6 director Justin Lin will face the difficult task of following J.J. Abrams and helming the rebooted sci-fi series.

Previous reports claimed that Lin was one of five names on a shortlist of candidates for the film’s director position. Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt, The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum, Safe House‘s Daniel Espinosa, and Source Code‘s Duncan Jones were all rumored to be under consideration before the studio ultimately decided on Lin. This marks the second franchise gig he has been offered since relinquishing his Fast & Furious directing reins over to James Wan. Universal tried to hire him to direct the next installment of the Bourne franchise when they believed they make another film featuring Jeremy Renner’s The Bourne Legacy character Aaron Cross, but the studio instead decided to return director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon to the series.

Orci was Paramount’s first choice to helm Star Trek 3 since he was already involved as co-writer of the revamped series, and while he will still be a producer on the upcoming film, his departure from the director’s chair put its entire status in question. However, sources say that Lin will still use the script written by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay; the screenwriting duo was hired on to the film over a year ago.

While critical response to Abrams’ <em>Star Trek</em> films have been mixed, they were both box office successes. The first of the revamped films grossed $380 million worldwide in 2009, and its sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, grossed more than $460 million worldwide after opening in May 2013.

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