After months of hopeful speculation, J.J. Abrams has officially signed on to direct Star Trek 2, which is a sequel to 2009's galactic hit that starred Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto.

While many assumed he would make the follow-up to his 2009 hit, he would never give a date for the project, or actually say for sure that he would be the one directing. In July, reports elsewhere surfaced that Abrams was "moving towards a commitment" to direct the sequel but his delay had pushed a nervous Paramount Pictures to give Star Trek 2 late June 2012 release date to a G.I. Joe sequel.

According to Vulture, part of the hold-up has been that Alex Kurtzman, who wrote Abrams' first Star Trek with Roberto Orci, has been busy editing and posting Welcome to People, his directing debut at DreamWorks Pictures. We're told that now that Kurtzman is finished with those duties, he is back in his office and the team is ready to work.

Screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are writing the script.

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto and the rest of the main cast are all set to return. The sequel was originally set to come out June 2012, but the film wanted to give the writers enough time to finalize the script.

No production date has been set.