During a recent conversation with MTV, Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek), discussed not only her forthcoming projects, Takers, The Losers and the Death of a Funeral remake, but also what's happening with the sequel to last summer's tremendously successful Star Trek reboot.

"I spoke to JJ [Abrams] and Bryan Burk, his producing partner at Bad Robot, and they are still in the middle of building the script with Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci," she said. "And we'll probably be going into pre-production around this time next year."

Thus, if pre-production begins in a year, then shooting will likely commence in November of 2011, with a likely release date of spring or summer, 2013.

Of course, what this also means is that the story idea must be well underway. And while no hints have as yet been dropped about what the story might entail, previous reports and some new speculation might point to likely possibilities. We know from previous remarks made by Abrams that the reintroduction of Khan was under consideration. We also know that Abrams would like to have Shatner in the sequel (not an idea we like—but hey, this is what we've heard, after all, not what we'd like).

Meanwhile, the folks over at Trekmovie published a little survey of their own on Christmas eve, asking fans to vote up or down on several possibilities for the sequel. The highlights of what emerged were an enthusiastic nod for more character development, more Karl Urban as Bones, Klingons as the primary heavies…and not necessarily retreading old ground for story ideas (i.e. a resistance to returning to Khan as the protagonist). They also indicated a marked preference for not having previous Trek alum appear as guest stars in the next films (though if one did make an appearance, the preference was, interestingly, for Shatner).