Deadline reports that Orci is leaving the still-untitled follow-up to Star Trek Into Darkness for unspecified reasons, and suggests that Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World filmmaker Edgar Wright may be one of the directors the studio is targeting to replace him. The outlet provided no explanation for Orci’s exit from the film, which has yet to be confirmed by the studio and should be considered a rumor until there’s official word from Paramount Pictures.
If Orci has indeed departed the third Star Trek movie, it will be a surprising move, given that the filmmaker very publicly cleared his schedule for the project. Just a month after being confirmed as the director the upcoming Star Trek sequel, Orci parted ways with The Amazing Spider-Man franchise at Sony, where he had been working on the script for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 with longtime collaborator Alex Kurtzman. A few months later, Orci vacated the director’s chair on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie due to his Star Trek commitments.
Still, it’s worth noting that the choice of Orci to direct the next Star Trek movie was a surprise in itself, as the blockbuster project would be his feature-film directorial debut.
The outlet reports that Orci will stay on the upcoming Star Trek film as a producer despite exiting as director.
