Even though he hasn't confirmed he'll be stepping down from the Captain's, sorry, Director's Chair, JJ Abrams - who has steered the good ship Enterprise for both the 2009 blockbuster and this summer's Into Darkness - will soon be heading off to a galaxy far, far away. So, who should take his place?

Let's be realistic; we can long for the likes of Joss Whedon or David Fincher 'til the space cows come home, but they're never gonna do it. We've also ruled out any directors that would've been perfect, but are tied up for the foreseeable future, e.g. Duncan Jones is off doing World Of Warcraft, etc.

So, to that end, here are the five directors we think would be best suited for Star Trek 3…

5. JUSTIN LIN
Remember how crap the Fast & Furious movies were before this guy took over? Turning them into a gigantic action juggernaut with Fast Five and set to do the same with this summer's Fast Six, Lin has also directed a few episodes of cult TV series Community, so he's got the comedy chops, too. He recently announced he wouldn't be returning to direct Fast Seven, so he's got some free time right now to fill!

4. ANDREW STANTON
The director of one of the best sci-fi movies in recent times with Wall-E, Stanton dipped his toe in live action with last year's epic flop John Carter. However, the sci-fi actioneer is not nearly as bad as it's been made out to be - it's actually quite a bit of fun - and it proved that Stanton knows how to direct on an epic scale. He's recently signed up for the sequel to Finding Nemo, but we're sure he could multitask.

3. JOSEPH KOSINSKI
One of the most fantastic visualists of the past few years, he's wowed our eyes with the likes of TRON: Legacy and this April's Oblivion, Kosinski is a man who knows how to make sci-fi look wondrous. He hasn't always been able to get the storytelling right, but with someone else looking after the script, that could be fixed. Also, after getting Daft Punk and M83 to score his last two movies, imagine who he might get for a Star Trek movie?!

2. JONATHAN NOLAN
The brother of the director that everyone knows, and the genius screenwriter behind the likes of The Dark Knight, Memento and Christopher's upcoming sci-fi epic Interstellar, Jonathan could be the guy to pump up the SCIENCE in the sci-fi, making the series that bit more cerebral. He has very little directing experience, having only helmed a single episode of TV series Person Of Interest, but Abrams was brand new when they gave him Mission: Impossible 3 and then Star Trek, so why not Jonathan? Plus he'd have his big brother there to help him out should he need it.

1. KENNETH BRANAGH
He's done sci-fi (kinda) and action with Thor, and he's worked with lead actor Chris Pine for this December's new take of John Clancy's series Jack Ryan. Branagh is a perfect fit, and would bring back that grandiose Shakespearian vibe, stopping it from getting too generically action-y. He's currently in pre-production on his new take on Cinderella, but with the shoe-losing princess still uncast, he could easily be swayed to take over the Trekkies reigns. Especially if he's enticed with possibly playing the villain! Now THAT would be awesome!

Star Trek Into Darkness is in cinemas from May 9th. Check back with entertainment.ie for more coverage and a full review soon!