The Fast and Furious filmmaker takes the center seat on board the Enterprise.
Justin Lin has been confirmed by Deadline as the new director on Star Trek 3, following the departure of Roberto Orci from that job earlier this month. Lin has been behind the camera for four of the films in the Fast and Furious series, starting with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and ending with last year's Fast and Furious 6. Recent rumors had him either directing a now-canceled follow-up to The Bourne Legacy and/or returning to end the Fast and Furious saga with multiple films, but after being shortlisted for the job last week, it seems he will be heading into the final frontier with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
At first glance, Paramount's selection of Lin seems to indicate that the studio wants to continue with the tilt of 2009's Star Trek and 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness, both of which jettisoned the more thoughtful sci-fi stories of the original series and many of the earlier films in favor of action-heavy pyrotechnics (and, in the case of the latter film, a half-assed remake of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). Lin has made the action bigger and more outrageous with each of his Fast and Furious entries, although his films also cemented the family dynamic of the returning cast -- something that could prove useful in his handling of the Enterprise crew. He's also recently been directing episodes of season two of True Detective for HBO, which could also showcase another side to his directorial style.
There's no word on whether Lin will get a fresh script or keep the one Orci was overseeing, but either way he has to move fast -- Paramount wants this thing in the air for summer 2016 to celebrate Trek's 50th anniversary.
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