It’s been over a year since we learned that J.J. Abrams would be jumping ship from his recently rebooted Star Trek franchise to direct Star Wars: Episode VII for Disney. In that time, Paramount still has not named a replacement to take the helm of the next Star Trek film. At one point Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) was rumoured to be their top choice, but last we heard he had dropped out of the project. Now this week it looks like the sole remaining member of the Star Trek creative team is making a bid to sit in the captain’s chair himself. Word on the street is that Roberto Orci wants to make Star Trek 3 his directorial debut and Paramount is mostly on board with the idea.

According to Variety, the long-time writer/producer duo of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are getting ready to go their separate ways — on the big screen, at least. Kurtzman has already been tapped by Sony to direct their Venom spin-off, having cut his teeth as a director on People Like Us starring Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks. Now Orci is said to be lobbying hard for the directing gig on Star Trek 3, and the higher-ups “appear to be in favor” although they are still “being cautious” about it.

Orci is already co-writing the script with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, who previously adapted Boilerplate for J.J. Abrams. Together, Kurtzman and Orci co-wrote and produced the last two Star Trek movies plus they also had a hand in such films as Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Cowboys and Aliens, Ender’s Game and Now You See Me. There are some pretty successful blockbusters in there, but it’s hard to say how much of that is a result of their influence, and specifically Orci himself. Letting Roberto Orci direct Star Trek 3 seems like a bad idea to me, but I can see why the studio would think it is a safe choice based on his resume. What do you think, should Roberto Orci direct the next Star Trek sequel? Is this franchise in trouble without J.J. Abrams?