Director J.J. Abrams has revealed that Anton Yelchin will not be replaced in the Star Trek franchise.
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Actor Anton Yelchin tragically passed away last month in a auto accident at the age of 27, and his legacy is honored in Star Trek Beyond, which opens this weekend.
He played Chekov in three films, including “Star Trek: Beyond” releasing on Friday.
Abrams has now spoken of the tragic loss the cast who grew close to him feel, and that continuing the movies with someone taking his place just wouldn’t be right.
According to Deadline.com, J.J. took to the stage at San Diego’s Embarcadero Marina Park Amphitheater and said, “There’s something missing. There’s no recasting”, Abrams told the paper. “There’s no recasting. I can’t possibly imagine that, and I think Anton deserves better”. “I’m new to that kind of grief and new to losing people and it’s just an bad thing but at least we had our friends there”.
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The filmmaker pointed out that filming Star Trek Beyond was already darkened with tragedy with the death of the original Spock actor Leonard Nimoy – who died when the film was in pre-production.
