Star Trek and Transformers co-writer Roberto Orci has been confirmed as the director of the third Star Trek reboot film, set for release in 2016, Variety has reported.

Orci, a self-confessed fan of the franchise long before he began working on JJ Abrams’ reinvention of Gene Roddenberry’s classic series, split from his film-writing partner Alex Kurtzman recently, and is writing the story for the new movie with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. The news has been greeted with congratulations from the cast of the Trek movies, including Simon Pegg and Christopher Doohan.