Back in September we brought you the news when director J.J. Abrams (Super 8) officially signed on to helm the forthcoming sequel to the 2009 blockbuster, Star Trek. Just last week, we told you that Abrams was expected to offer the a mysterious villain role in the as yet Untitled Star Trek Sequel to actor Benicio Del Toro (Savages).

Now, THR reports that Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said Thursday during his company’s quarterly earnings call that J.J. Abrams is “focused on developing the next installment of our Star Trek franchise” for a potential release in 2013. You may remember back in July that Paramount Pictures shifted the release date of the Star Trek sequel from its original June 29th, 2012 release date to the ambiguous and dateless fourth quarter of 2012 or summer 2013. Now I guess we can bet on the latter slot being more likely.

If Trek 2 opens in the summer of 2013, it’s going to be up against some tough competition in the form of director Zack Snyder‘s Superman reboot Man of Steel, director Shane Black‘s first Marvel film Iron Man 3, director Guillermo del Toro‘s mechs and monsters movie Pacific Rim and Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski‘s graphic novel adaptation Oblivion starring Tom Cruise.

The as yet Untitled Star Trek Sequel is slated to hit theaters in 2013.