With director J.J. Abrams' departure from the captain's chair, writer/producer Roberto Orci has emerged as a potential candidate to be promoted to the Enterprise's helm for Star Trek 3. Variety reports that Orci is actively pursuing the directing gig on the new movie and has the full backing of Bad Robot, however the studio and financial backers Paramount Pictures are not entirely sold on the idea of handing out the job to someone with no directorial credits to his name. Orci was of course a massive part of the creative team for the rebooted Trek franchise. He co-wrote the scripts with his long-time partner Alex Kurtzman, a duo also responsible for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Cowboys & Aliens, Mission Impossible III and two of the Transformers films. With Kurtzman already set to direct Sony's Venom spin-off, Orci looks to have now caught the bug of wanting to go it solo and direct, his eyes looking up to the stars for one of Paramount's flagship franchises. Orci is already writing the third Star Trek movie with Patrick McKay and John D. Payne and the backing of Bad Robot could be key in him winning the directorial gig. Abrams, who will still have power behind-the-scenes as he directs Star Wars at Disney, will be keen to pass to the torch to a Bad Robot family member and it always seemed likely that it would be someone like Orci (or a Drew Goddard) who would be his choice. Paramount's reluctance is of course significant but if Abrams can convince them that Orci will deliver as successful a picture as his two movies, then it will happen. Previous reports had Attack The Block helmer Joe Cornish favourite for the job but that link has been quiet for some time and it could be that Bad Robot are really pushing Paramount hard to keep it in the family. Pre-production on Star Trek 3 doesn't seem to have hit warp speed yet with updates few and far between but if Paramount are eager to get a film out in the next few years then you can expect a director to be hired soon. The 50th anniversary of Star Trek is in 2016... which seems a very logical date for a new Trek film to beam down to our theatres. Make sure to click "next" below to read David Hooks' fantastic article 10 Ways Star Trek Just Isn't Star Trek Anymore...