'Apes' Director Rupert Wyatt New Frontrunner to Helm 'Star Trek 3'

CBR

By Brett White

Published Dec 15, 2014

With Roberto Orci vacating the director's chair, J.J. Abrams and Paramount Pictures have narrowed the list of potential replacements down to five.

Sorry, Jonathan Frakes, it looks like the search for a new Star Trek 3 director has been narrowed to five other names.

Sources tell Deadline that Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) is apparently at the top of a very short list to replace Roberto Orci behind the camera of the Paramount Pictures film.

Wyatt has been a frontrunner for a long time; his name first came up as a potential director in August 2013. Joining him are Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), Justin Lin (Fast & Furious) and Duncan Jones (Source Code). Deadline goes on to point out some of the possible scheduling conflicts that could affect these directors' candidacy; Espinosa is next scheduled to helm Boston Strong, a film about last year's Boston Marathon bombing, and Jones is attached to Legendary Pictures' high-profile Warcraft feature film based on the popular video game.

Frakes, who played William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation and directed installments in the previous Trek film franchise, expressed interest in the gig after Roberto Orci dropped out. Orci previously left both Sony's "Spider-Man" franchise and the upcoming Power Rangers film to work on Star Trek 3.