Anton Yelchin dead: Star Trek director J.J. Abrams responds with touching note

J.J. Abrams paid tribute to Star Trek star Anton Yelchin, who died Sunday at age 27, in a touching note he posted to Twitter.

“Anton, you were brilliant,” Abrams, who directed Yelchin in both 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, wrote in the handwritten letter. “You were kind. You were funny as hell, and supremely talented. And you weren’t here nearly long enough. Missing you…”

In a 2009 interview with The Guardian, Yelchin said, “With Star Trek I wanted to work with J.J. Abrams because I think he’s great at the kind of things he does.” Years later, during an on-set chat with press for the upcoming Star Trek Beyond — which Justin Lin directed so Abrams could helm Star Wars: The Force Awakens — Yelchin joked (via /Film), “I always miss J.J.’s hand jobs,” referring to his shaky camera habits.

Yelchin also expressed his appreciation for Lin in a separate interview: “I think his ideas are really interesting,” he told Nuke the Fridge in 2015. “He has a way of looking at it that is going to both reinvigorate it and also relate it closer to the kind of ethos of the original series.”

On Sunday, Lin recalled his time with Yelchin. “Still in shock,” he tweeted. “Rest in peace, Anton. Your passion and enthusiasm will live on with everyone that had the pleasure of knowing you.”