Star Trek and Transformers producer and writer Roberto Orci has died at 51

Roberto Orci will be best remembered professionally for being the writer and producer on the Star Trek movie reboot in 2009, he also worked on its two sequels. Roberto Orci also worked on the Transformers film in 2007 as well as its sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Roberto Orci created the shows Sleepy Hollow and Fringe Fox and he had writing credits on the movie Mission Impossible 3.

When Roberto Orci moved to Los Angeles when he was ten years old, he attended Crossroads School where he met Alex Kurtzman, the pair went on to work together on Transformers and Star Trek. The pair became showrunners when they were 24 and created the sci-fi series Fringe which ran on Fox for five seasons. They stopped working together on movie projects in 2014.

Variety reported that “In August of 2024, Orci was accused in a lawsuit of beating and sexually assaulting his wife, “Hail, Caesar!” actor Adele Heather Taylor. In the suit, she alleged that Orci was a bipolar alcoholic who would fly into fits of violence against her.

“Taylor’s lawsuit was in response to a suit filed by Orci that June. In the suit, he alleged that Taylor had repeatedly assaulted him, and during his battle with alcoholism, manipulated him for financial gain.”

Adele Heather Taylor, who has starred in Hail Caesar! The Blacklist and CBS’s series reboot of detective series Hawaii Five-0, is a British born actress from Leicestershire. The couple were originally going to get married in the UK, but tied the knot in Las Vegas because of the coronavirus lockdown.

Roberto Orci is survived by his father, Roberto Orci Sr., mother Macuqui Robau-Garcia, and stepmother Jeanine Orci, Roberto Orci also had a dog called Bogey and siblings J.R Orci, Taylor Orci, and Courtney Ford.

What was Roberto Orci’s cause of death?

Roberto Orci died at his home in Los Angeles of kidney disease.

Who has paid tribute to Roberto Orci?

New York Times bestselling author David Mack paid tribute to Roberto Orci on Facebook and wrote: “I was shocked just now to see an obit for film & TV writer/producer Roberto Orci, who, with Alex Kurtzman, helped revive the STAR TREK franchise by co-writing the 2009 feature film. He was 51. My deepest sympathies to all his friends & family. Trek has lost a great one.

“And before anyone out there even thinks of casting aspersions upon his work in the comments section of this post-DON’T. I’ve long admired his early screenplays; he was a profoundly talented and passionate writer, and the world is poorer for his loss.”