Justin Lin Justin Lin is a Taiwanese - born American film director . On 22 December 2014 , it was announced that he had been hired to direct the sequel , replacing Roberto Orci . His production company Perfect Storm Entertainment is co - producing the sequel , thus Lin also received credit as Producer . His son Oqwe Lin appears as an alien boy in the film . He is a " Star Trek " fan , explaining he would watch the with his parents after they closed their restaurant each night . " " Every night , it was " Star Trek " on Channel 13 in L . A . That was my childhood . All my friends were " Star Wars " kids but I didn ' t go to the movies , so I was the " Star Trek " kid . " " Lin cited his favorite TOS episodes as , , and . He also said that , when he was growing up , his favorite TOS character was Leonard McCoy . ( " SFX " , issue 276 , pp . 47 & 49 ) Lin is best known for directing four of the films in the " Fast & Furious " franchise : " The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift " ( 2006 ) , " Fast & Furious " ( 2009 ) , " Fast Five " ( 2011 ) and " Furious 6 " ( 2013 ) . On the latter two he also worked as executive producer . On these films he worked with actor Dwayne Johnson , composer Brian Tyler , cinematographer Stephen F . Windon , and costume designer Sanja Milkovic Hays . For " Furious 6 " , he received a Hollywood Movie Award nomination in 2013 . He had previously directed actor John Cho in the drama " Shopping for Fangs " ( 1997 ) on which he also worked as co - writer and editor . This film marked his directorial debut . Lin directed Cho again in his breakthrough work , the crime drama " Better Luck Tomorrow " ( 2002 ) on which he worked as editor , co - writer and producer . This film earned him a Grand Jury Prize nomination at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002 , a Visionary Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival in 2002 , and a John Cassavetes Award nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards in 2004 . Career . Early career . Lin grew up in Orange County , California and attended the University of California , San Diego and the UCLA where he graduated with an MFA in Film Directing . Prior to his directorial debut " Shopping for Fangs " , Lin worked as director of photography on the short action film " The Game " ( 1995 ) and the drama " Flow " ( 1996 ) . In 2000 , he wrote , directed and produced the short documentary " Crossover " followed by the short documentary " Spotlight " ( 2005 ) on which Lin was the director and producer , and the comedy " Finishing the Game : The Search for a New Bruce Lee " ( 2007 ) , written , directed and produced by him . The latter one featured music by Brian Tyler and the voice of George Takei . He also directed the drama " Annapolis " ( 2006 , with co - fight coordinator and stunt actor Lauro Chartrand ) , and directed , wrote , and produced the short film " La revolución de Iguodala ! " ( 2007 ) . Later career . Beside the above mentioned " Fast & Furious " franchise , Lin directed three episodes of the comedy series " Community " ( 2009 - 2010 ) for which he received two Image Award nominations in the category Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series in 2010 and 2011 and a Banff Rookie Award nomination for Best Sitcom in 2011 . During the next years , Lin worked as executive producer on a number of projects including the television series " Always You " ( 2012 ) , " BFFs " ( 2012 ) , " Dr0ne " ( 2012 ) , " Silent Terror " ( 2012 ) , " Ground Game " ( 2012 ) , " The Book Club " ( 2012 ) , " MotherLover " ( 2012 ) , " Reality Reboot " ( 2012 ) , " Squad 85 " ( 2012 , with Diedrich Bader ) , and " Runner " ( 2013 , produced and starring Martin De Boer and directed , written and produced by Mike Gunther ) . He also produced the short projects " Double " ( 2012 ) , " Vesuvius " ( 2012 ) , " Yellow Face " ( 2013 , with Linda Park ) , " Whistle While I Work It " ( 2013 ) , and " How to Be More Asian " ( 2013 ) . Between 2014 and 2016 , Lin was an executive producer on the television series " Scorpion " , co - produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci with music by Brian Tyler . Lin directed the pilot episode of the series which featured Jack Guzman , co - producer April Nocifora , costume design by Sanja Milkovic Hays , makeup design by James MacKinnon , and stunt coordination by Mike Gunther . Recent projects . Lin directed the first two episodes of the second season of the crime drama series " True Detective " in 2015 . He also produced and wrote the story for the action comedy " Hollywood Adventures " , with Bridgett Riley , Lorin McCraley , Thomas DuPont , and Josh Drennen . Lin ' s next project is a sequel to the feature length Looney Tunes film " Space Jam " for which he ' ll write the screenplay , direct , and produce . Also announced is a " Bourne " sequel as producer and director , a directing credit for the television series " Warriors " , and a producing credit for another " Highlander " film .