Now that Star Trek Into Darkness has earned $444 million worldwide, Paramount Pictures is looking ahead at the next film and it sounds like they may start shooting earlier than was expected.

Lucien from BuzzHub tells us: “I attended a public interview with Zachary Quinto at the Galway Film Festival in Ireland on Friday, and during it, he revealed that Paramount have told the Star Trek cast that they’re planning to shoot ST3 in 2014, and that J.J. still wants to direct! He also told the audience he does not want to be in Episode VII, but he would like to cameo in The Big Bang Theory!”

To quote exactly what Quinto said about “Star Trek”: “Star Trek 3 should be filming, I suppose, next year. Its going to be made a lot quicker than the last one. Thats the plan, although nothing is confirmed yet.”

It would seem impossible for J.J. Abrams to direct the film next year considering his Star Wars: Episode VII duties, but it’s interesting to hear Quinto say that. Who do you think should direct the next film?