Star Trek cast honor Anton Yelchin with minute silence at premiere

The stars of Star Trek Beyond honored their late castmate Anton Yelchin with a minute's silence at the film's premiere.

Anton, who played Starship Enterpise crewmember Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek franchise, passed away last month (Jun16) aged 27 after a freak car accident outside his Los Angeles home.

Star Trek Beyond producer J.J. Abrams, who directed the previous two instalments in the science-fiction franchise, led the cast and fans in a period of silent reflection ahead of the film's bow on Wednesday (20Jul16).

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 someone missing. Anton should be here,” before calling for the impeccably observed minute's silence.

Many of the film's cast have shared their devastation at the premature loss of the actor.

Speaking to WENN at the movie's U.K. premiere last week (end15Jul16), Spock actor Zachary Quinto said, "Losing Anton is unthinkable for all of us and I think it brought us closer together through the bonding of grieving his loss."

While at the same event Chris Pine, who plays Captain James T. Kirk in the film, revealed, "I don't really know any other way that I would have been able to deal with it (Anton's death) without having my friends and my family around me. I'm new to that kind of grief and new to losing people and it's just an awful thing but at least we had our friends there."

Anton's death is the second bereavement the Star Trek cast have had to cope with in the last 18 months, as last February (15) Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in the original TV series and films died aged 83.

Leonard, who had a cameo as an alternate reality version of his character in the modern films, is honored within the plot of the new movie, a tribute Zachary was delighted about.

"I think it was very important to honor Leonard's legacy in this film and it was very important for me personally that we found a way to include it in the story," he said.

Star Trek Beyond is released on Friday (22July16).