Roberto Orci, a prominent writer and producer behind the successful reboots of "Star Trek" and "Transformers" in the late 2000s, has died at the age of 51.
As reported by Variety, Orci, who also played a key role in creating the sci-fi series "Fringe," died at his Los Angeles home on Feb. 25 due to kidney disease.
Orci had a long-standing creative partnership with his friend Alex Kurtzman, teaming up on major film franchises such as "Star Trek," "Transformers," "Now You See Me," "Ender's Game," "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," and "Mission: Impossible 3."
In television, his work extended to popular series including "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," "Xena: Warrior Princess," "Alias," "Sleepy Hollow," "Scorpion," and the 2010 reboot of "Hawaii Five-0."
Born in Mexico, Orci relocated to the United States with his family at the age of 10.
Since news of his death broke, social media has been flooded with tribute from friends, fans, and colleagues.
"Desperately sorry to hear of Bob's passing," Xena star Lucy Lawless wrote on X. "A beautiful, sweet man and outrageously talented. I send my heartfelt condolences to all the many people who loved him."
Comic-book writer and "Deadpool" creator Rob Liefeld added, "Terrible news. Way too young. Enjoyed much of his work. R.I.P."
Zack Stentz, who worked with Orci on "Fringe," also remembered the iconic writer and producer on social media.
"I got to know Bob a bit while working on 'Fringe,' an earlier version of the movie that became 'Star Trek Beyond' & a couple other things and always found him to be kind and generous to a fault. I'd been meaning to check in on him for a while, but life got in the way. Now, I regret it," he wrote on X.
"I always felt a connection with Bob because we both loved 'Star Trek' & cut our teeth on writing teams writing for Kevin Sorbo syndicated action hours," he added.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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