Zachary Quinto visited The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Friday night to kick-off promotions for the upcoming release of Star Trek Beyond. The conversation immediately went to discussing the accidental death of Quinto’s friend and co-star Anton Yelchin. Yelchin, who brought to life the character of Chekov, died on June 19 at the age of 27 after an accident with his car.
“Beautiful guy,” Quinto said to show host Stephen Colbert as he remembered Yelchin. “I don’t even know how to talk about it. We already knew that this would be a really bitter-sweet experience because of the loss of Leonard [Nimoy] last year, but this has been absolutely devastating for all of us.”
He added,“I think our goal has to be to just celebrate his incredible life and honor him as much as we can. It was a terrible loss, not only to us personally, but I think to the industry and audiences. He was such a talent.”
The cast of Star Trek, which also includes Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Karl Urban, have worked together since shooting the first film in 2009. Quinto expressed how they all bonded and became like family to each other.
“I think we take it for granted in a lot of ways because we genuinely love each other so much,” Quinto said. “We are truly intertwined inextricably and I think we always will be.”
Star Trek opens in theaters on July 22.
