J.J. Abrams won't be back in the captain's chair when Star Trek 3 blasts off into darkness, but Paramount Pictures may have already found his replacement — a director who has been around the block once or twice before.

Deadline reports that Attack the Block director Joe Cornish is the studio's top choice to to helm next Star Trek film, even if the courtship is in its "early days."

Cornish is a geek-friendly name, having lent his screenwriting talents to The Adventures of Tin Tin and Ant-Man, working alongside his friend Edgar Wright on those projects. He's currently attached to adapt the future-hacker novel Snow Crash for Paramount.