J.J. Abrams, the captain of the rebooted "Star Trek" franchise, has revealed that although his pre-production team is still only in the early stages of planning, things are finally going ahead on the sequel -- which could start shooting early next year, according to The L.A. Times.

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin, John Cho, Karl Urban and the rest of the Enterprise crew will all return.

Abrams recently committed to directing the sequel (as he did the first film), and it was revealed that the film wouldn't possibly be ready for its original planned released date of June 29, 2012. Now it looks like it may not even be done shooting by that date.

While Paramount is likely champing at the bit to get the sequel underway (in 2009, "Star Trek" earned $386 million worldwide.), it's not as if Abrams and company have been slacking off.  Abrams directed this summer's hit sci-fi film "Super 8," while also overseeing the new FOX series "Alcatraz" and the new CBS thriller "Person of Interest."

Meanwhile, "Star Trek" writers Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci have had their hands full with their film "Welcome to People," while producer Damon Lindelof is ramping up Ridley Scott's quasi-"Alien" follow-up "Prometheus." Then there's "Cowboys & Aliens," produced by Lindelof and written by Kurtzman and Orci, in theaters this weekend.

"There was a lot of desire [at Paramount] to fast-track a new 'Star Trek' and have it be shooting already," Abrams told the L.A. Times. "And in theory we could have done that. But what all of us were concerned about is the release date be the master we were serving.

"Nothing is more disheartening than something going in front of the camera before it's ready. The crew can feel it and the cast can feel it. It's just a heart-attack machine."

The idea that Abrams is choosing slow-moving quality over a quick turnaround is good news for "Star Trek" fans, who may just have to bide their time by re-watching the first film a few hundred more times.