JJ Abrams will not cast for Anton Yelchin's character in 'Star Trek 4'

JJ Abrams, who directed the first two movies in the current series and is a producer on latest installment Star Trek Beyond, declared that Yelchin's Pavel Chekov will never be re-cast, reported Digital Spy.

"I would say there's no replacing him. There's no re-casting. I can't possibly imagine that, and I think Anton deserves better."

Abrams went on to say that he's working on ideas on how to retire Pavel and has thought about killing off the character, but "it's too early to talk about it".

Yelchin, 27, sadly died in a freak accident last month when his car rolled down his driveway at his home and pinned him against the gate.

The actor - born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) - played the Russian-accented Chekov in all three Star Trek reboot films.