‘Star Trek Beyond’ Star Zachary Quinto On Anton Yelchin: ‘It Was A Terrible Loss’

The accidental death of Star Trek Beyond star Anton Yelchin is still keenly felt by the actor’s co-stars, and the loss will be felt by his Star Trek family for some time, says Zachary Quinto, who plays Mr. Spock in the rebooted franchise. Quinto opened up about the loss during a visit to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Friday, as the actor appeared to speak about the upcoming release of Star Trek Beyond. While the show must go on, Zachary expresses feelings of renewed grief, as the third film in the rebooted Star Trek series marks the final time the other actors will have worked with Yelchin.

Star Trek Beyond Star Zachary Quinto Remembers Anton Yelchin

When Quinto appeared on The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert offered condolences to the actor over the loss of Anton Yelchin, who had been killed in an accident at the age of 27. Us Weekly reports that the accident occurred on June 19, when Yelchin left his vehicle in neutral on his sloped driveway to check his mail. The vehicle pinned him between a brick wall and the security gate. Assistant chief coroner Ed Winter said Anton suffered from blunt traumatic asphyxia, which killed him within a minute or so.

“Beautiful, beautiful guy,” Quinto said, shaking his head. “I don’t even know how to talk about it. We already knew this was going to be a bittersweet experience as a result of the loss of Leonard [Nimoy]. But this has been absolutely devastating for all of us. I think our goal just has to be to celebrate his incredible life and honor him. It was a terrible loss, not only to us but to audiences and the industry.”

Zachary says that the loss of Anton has been keenly felt by the entire cast, revealing that they are all very close. He says that having worked together for nearly 10 years on the Star Trek franchise has enabled them all to bond. Experiencing the loss of both Nimoy and Yelchin has further entwined the remaining cast members and Quinto predicts that they will always remain close to one another.

Star Trek Beyond Drops A New Trailer And It’s Classic

The producers of Star Trek Beyond have dropped a new trailer for the film and the scene delivers a moment shared between Spock (Quinto) and McCoy (Karl Urban) that is so classic for the characters that it’s at once easy to forget that these aren’t the same actors from the original series. In the teaser shared by Slashfilm, McCoy happens to witness the break-up between Uhura (Zoe Saldana) and can’t pass up the opportunity to taunt Spock about it.

“You know Spock, if an Earth girl says ‘It’s me, not you,’ it’s definitely you,” Urban’s Star Trek Beyond character tells Quinto.

In past films, there has been a noticeable lack of interaction between Spock and McCoy. Sure, the duo have had a few scenes together, but, for the most part, Urban has most interacted with Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk. Star Trek Beyond seeks to change that, giving Quinto and Urban much more screen time together and providing greater opportunities for comic relief throughout the film, which is as important to recreating Star Trek’s success as is the sci-fi action sequences.

“I believe that their relationship really evolves, and you get to see them both kind of drop their guard and be who they really are around each other — just get a little glimpse of that, which is fantastic and rewarding, especially for long-term Star Trek fans,” says Karl Urban of the interplay between Spock and McCoy. “It’s something that I believe you haven’t really seen before.”

Star Trek Beyond hits theaters on July 22.

[Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images]