Zachary Quinto Remembers Star Trek Co-Star Anton Yelchin

After spending nine years working on three Star Trek films together, the cast has grown close, and Zachary Quinto said during his Friday appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that the cast “genuinely love each other” like a family. That’s why Anton Yelchin’s tragic and sudden death has been especially difficult on him and is fellow castmates.

“Beautiful guy. I don’t even know how to talk about it,” Quinto said when Colbert brought up Anton’s death. “We already knew that this would be a bittersweet experience because of the loss of Leonard [Nimoy] last year, but this has just been absolutely devastating for all of us.” He added, “I think our goal has to be to celebrate his incredible life and honor him as much as we can. It’s a terrible loss not only to us personally, but I think to the industry and audiences. He’s such a talent.”

Yelchin tragically died Sunday, June 19, at around 1 a.m., when his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled backwards down his steep driveway, pinning him against a brick mailbox pillar and security fence. The 27-year-old actor was on his way to meet his friends for rehearsal, but when he didn’t show up, his friends went to his house and found him deceased by his car.

After stopping off at Starbase Earhart, a remote outpost on the fringes of Federation space, the USS Enterprise, halfway into their five-year mission, is destroyed by a powerful, unstoppable wave of unknown aliens. With the crew stranded on a unknown planet and with no apparent means of rescue, they find themselves in conflict with a new ruthless enemy who has a well-earned hatred of the Federation and what it stands for.

Star Trek Beyond, the highly anticipated next installment in the globally popular Star Trek franchise, created by Gene Roddenberry and reintroduced by J.J. Abrams in 2009, returns with director Justin Lin (“The Fast and the Furious” franchise) at the helm of this epic voyage of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her intrepid crew.

From Paramount Pictures and Skydance, Star Trek Beyond is a Bad Robot, Sneaky Shark, Perfect Storm Entertainment production. The film stars John Cho, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoë Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin and Idris Elba. Directed by Justin Lin, the third film in the franchise series is produced by J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci, Lindsey Weber, and Justin Lin; and executive produced by Jeffrey Chernov, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Tommy Harper. Based upon Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, the screenplay is written by Simon Pegg & Doug Jung.

Star Trek Beyond opens in theaters and IMAX beginning July 22.