Okay, so JJ Abrams is now going to be ruler of the Star Wars universe, and Paramount wants to keep the Star Trek franchise going with or without him. There’s been much speculation as to who could take over the Enterprise, in fact, there’s still much speculation because Paramount couldn’t get the director they wanted.

Giant Freakin Robot tells us that Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) was up for it, but he’s ultimately passed on making another Star Trek, several times in fact. Cornish is instead making an adaptation of the sci-fi novel Snow Crash, also for Paramount, and he also co-wrote the screenplay for Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man.

Robot tells us that Abrams’s personal choice for Trek would be Rupert Wyatt, who helmed Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Paramount is also reportedly considering Brad Bird, and Justin Lin (Fast & Furious, the next Bourne film.)

There is a script in the works for the next Trek, with Abrams regular Roberto Orci writing with J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. Paramount wants the movie ready by the franchise’s 50th anniversary in 2016, and as Freakin Robot points out, if the next movie gets up and running by late 2014, it should make that deadline no problem.