After signing on to direct a couple of episodes from season 2 of HBO's True Detective, Fast and Furious filmmaker Justin Lin is now the man that will take over from JJ Abrams on Star Trek 3. Lin helmed four of the action-petrolhead movies which grossed $1.9 billion in worldwide box office receipts.

Benedict CumberbatchBenedict Cumberbatch starred as Khan in Star Trek: Into Darkness

Though Abrams was never really in the running for the third sci-fi movie - given his allegiances to Star Wars - Lin does replace the high profile Roberto Orci, who climbed from the director's seat a couple of weeks ago.

More: Justin Lin set to take helm of Star Trek 3 

According to Deadline, Lin became available because he was going to direct the sequel to The Bourne Legacy spin-off with Jeremy Renner before it got postponed when Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass agreed to do another Bourne Identity movie. There's minimal talk that Lin will direct the final Fast & Furious movie and the True Detective episodes are already underway (if not already wrapped).

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Paramount had numerous high profile names on their shortlist for Star Trek 3 - including Morten Tyldum, Daniel Espinosa, Duncan Jones, and Rupert Wyatt - though word is that  Lin was the only man offered the role and therefore presumably the first choice for the role. Us? We'd have love to have seen Jones tackle the film.

Orci remains a producer on the Star Trek movie, which is likely to be a mega-hit. The first grossed $380 million in 2009 while the sequel - Into Darkness, with Benedict Cumberbatch - grossed more than $460 million worldwide after opening in May 2013.

Star Trek 3 - written by Patrick McKay and Roberto Orci - will be released at some point in 2016.

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