Avatar is the reason why Zoe Saldana almost refused Star Trek Into Darkness

Zoe Saldana has been a part of the famous critically acclaimed reboot of the JJ Abram’s Star Trek, in which she played Nyota Uhura. She is back with the much awaited sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness where she will be seen reprising her role.

But what we don’t know is that she almost refused to act in the sequel as she was quite tensed (positively) post her role as Neytiri, an alien in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Avatar’ that reinvented cinema and box office collections.

 “I was afraid. I think I was just a little beside myself because after the treat and the gift of booking Avatar and being in the middle of shooting, to be able to then do another great movie with another great filmmaker back to back—I was a little overwhelmed" she says.

But the actress has loved science fiction since she was a little girl and hence was excited for the project, “I was always captivated by space and space travel" she says. "And I think the human race is fascinated with what might be out there, outside of us and beyond our world."

She further adds about her fascination towards sci-fiction and how it has always excited her, “I love science fiction. I grew up with a mom that’s a sci-fi buff and I’ve read Dune (by Frank Herbert) three times. When I was thirteen, I dressed up as Lady Jessica (a character in Dune) for Halloween. So this is definitely my arena and I find it hard to believe that there are people on earth who don’t like it. The one thing I’ve learned since I was a little girl is that it doesn't matter where a story is set – in the future, a period piece or on a boat – if it’s a good story and it has rich characters it will not distract you from getting into the story.”

Along with the Zoe, the film also stars Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as First Officer Spock, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Simon Pegg as Chief Engineer “Scotty” Scott, Zoe Saldana as Communications Officer Uhura, John Cho as Helmsman Hikaru Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov and Bruce Greenwood as Admiral Christopher Pike. Joining the cast is Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of the mysterious intergalactic terrorist John Harrison, Alice Eve as ship newcomer Carol Marcus and Peter Weller as the Star Fleet Admiral who comes into conflict with the Enterprise. The film will be releasing in India first on the 10th may 2013.