In 2009, J.J. Abrams breathed life into a slowly dying franchise when he made Star Trek. Raking in more than $250 million at the domestic box office, the film nearly sextupled the gross of the previous entry, 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, which made only $43 million, the lowest in the series' history. Abrams had the world in his hand, everyone begging for more and then... nothing. Abrams decided to distance himself from Star Trek and make Super 8 - due out this summer - and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman started writing and producing various films and television shows. Finally, this past winter we got word that the project had a script and Orci even talked a bit about it at WonderCon, but not only do we not know what the status is, neither does Chekov.

Earlier today I had the chance to sit in on a roundtable interview with Anton Yelchin - who played the Russian navigator in Abrams' film - and took the opportunity to ask if he had seen a script yet and if he had received the call announcing when the production may start. His response?

"No, I haven't seen the script. I'm not sure. I think we're doing it at some point soon, I don't know when though. No idea."

Wanting to know more, I followed up by asking if he has had any contact with J.J. Abrams, he said, "No, JJ's, I think, doing Super 8 now and he's doing press for it. " Going further, he said that while he's looking forward to working with everyone again, he thinks that it will happen when the time is right.

"I haven't because they'll get to it when they get to it. I'd love to get together with those people again, I really love that whole cast. It would it be a lot of fun to do it, but it's kind of one of those things."

Unless J.J. Abrams is ready to start production on Star Trek: The Next the second that Super 8 hits theaters on June 10 (hint: he won't be), it's hard to imagine that the film will be ready for summer 2012. For comparison purposes, Captain America: The First Avenger didn't go into production until late July next year and now, according to reports from earlier today, the effects teams are starting to "feel the heat" of opening weekend. Take into consideration that the still untitled Star Trek sequel has a June 29, 2012 release date and you begin to think that either the project is going to be moved into winter or won't be seen until 2013.

Look for our full interview with Anton Yelchin, coming soon on Cinema Blend.