Roberto Orci in talks to direct Star Trek 3

After J.J. Abrams took his leave from Star Trek and moved over to Star Wars, there has been a lot of curiosity regarding who would take over directing for the third installment of Star Trek. It was previously rumored that Joe Cornish would direct, but he backed out because he didn't want to step into a franchise that was already well developed. It now seems that writer Roberto Orci will take over.

Orci has already written the screenplays for and produced Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness so he is no stranger to this franchise. If the negotiations are completed, the third Star Trek will serve as Orci's directorial debut. His inexperience isn't much to worry about as he has been part of several big budget and high anticipation films such as Transformers, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ender's Game, and Cowboys & Aliens.
However, Orci's intentions could cause issues. He is pretty notorious for catering his scripts and screenplays to meet studio blockbuster expectations. We can all agree what disasters Transformers, Cowboys & Aliens, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were. His scripts are meant to appeal to just about everyone so they often come across as widespread and with little substance. Yes, Orci wrote the first two Star Trek films but he also had J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof to even the balance and direct the script where they wanted it to go.

This comes after Orci ended his longstanding partnership with Alex Kurtzman so they could both explore directorial options. Orci is now partnered with JD Payne and Patrick McKay who are currently writing Star Trek 3 with him and Kurtzman is attached to direct Sony's Spider-Man spinoff, Venom.