Zoe Saldana options 'Hell or High Water' as potential series

The beautiful and talented Zoe Saldana ('The Words,' 'Columbiana') is getting into the producing game. Considering she starred in the highest grossing feature of all time, 'Avatar,' I imagine she has the spare change kicking around to work on whatever project she so desires--and it would seem she has found one.

Saldana has teamed up with producers Jane Startz ('Tuck Everlasting,' 'Ella Enchanted') and Aida Bernal ('Dancelife') to option the mystery-thriller "Hell or High Water," the debut novel from Joy Castro.

The plot of "Hell or High Water" is hyped on Castro's website with the following:

"It's 2008 in New Orleans, and hundreds of registered sex offenders who went off the grid during the Hurricane Katrina evacuation have never been found.

The sex-offender story is assigned to Nola Céspedes, an ambitious young reporter at the Times-Picayune, who tries to balance her investigation with taking care of her aging mother, seeing her girlfriends, mentoring a teenager, and meeting a mysterious stranger named Bento.

As her research progresses, Nola is gradually drawn in to an underworld of violent predators--a world she struggles to keep separate from her middle-class professional life.  Raised in poverty by a single mother in New Orleans' notorious Desire Projects, Nola has her own secrets to hide."

Reportedly, Saldana has yet to decide whether or not "Hell or High Water" will be optioned as a feature or a series. The novel was only released in July; Castro has got to be over the moon with this news.

Saldana will be seen in J.J. Abrahms' upcoming sequel 'Star Trek Into Darkness.'