Roberto Orci may boldly go where J.J. Abrams has gone before…

The 40-year-old Mexican American film and television writer and producer is reportedly the clear frontrunner to replace J.J. Abrams as the director of the third installment of Paramount’s Star Trek series.

Following what it calls “an aggressive lobbying campaign,” Deadline.com reports that Orci and Paramount Pictures are in talks.

Orci was a co-writer and producer on 2009’s Star Trek and it’s 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness.

The news comes after Orci parted company with longtime partner Alex Kurtzman on film projects; they still continue to work on television projects together, including Sleepy Hollow and El Rey Network’s upcoming series El Matador.

It would Orci’s first time in the director’s chair, although he has plenty of experience on massive projects beyond Star Trek, including The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ender’s Game and Cowboys & Aliens.

Abrams had helmed the first two Star Trek films, but surprised Paramount officlas by agreeing to relaunch the Star Wars franchise and direct the first film at Disney.