'Star Trek 2' Is Unimaginable Without J.J. Abrams, Says Zachary Quinto

The stars of "Star Trek 2" are very excited that J.J. Abrams is returning to the director's chair for the sequel. MTV News caught up with Zachary Quinto and Anton Yelchin recently while they were promoting their upcoming films "Margin Call" and "Like Crazy," and the two expressed nothing but enthusiasm about the news that Abrams will be helming the follow up to 2009's hit "Star Trek." "I think it would be unimaginable to make that film without J.J., so to know that he's going to be at the helm again and sort of manning the ship so to speak is pretty amazing," Yelchin said. "We all have such tremendous respect for him and he's such a brilliant human being that it gives you great confidence in going in to make this again." Quinto echoed the same sentiments, saying that he "would never have imagined" that Abrams wouldn't have come back for the sequel. Since Abrams has many film, television and book properties up in the air, it took about two years for him to confirm his involvement for "Star Trek 2," and Quinto said he's glad that "there's no doubt about that." Even though Abrams is on board, there is still a lot of work to be done before the film goes in front of the camera. Neither Quinto nor Yelchin have seen the movie's script yet, but they're both excited to start preparing for their parts. Quinto will reprise his role as Spock, while Yelchin will return to Chekov. For Quinto, that starts at putting his Vulcan ears back on. "I think figuring out the point at which we reenter the story will be informative and define a lot about how I prepare for it. There's a transformation that takes place as we get ready to start. And actually the physical part of it is pretty significant," he explained. Yelchin said his preparations will begin with rewatching the original series and looking back at the notes he took for their original film. But he'll also have to go back and watch that film to keep the continuity between his character, which is something that he described as "kind of weird." "It's going to be really important to basically to pick up all the work right where I left off which is interesting because I've never done that before," Yelchin said. "I've never had to reprise a character which will be interesting." Are you glad that Abrams is directing "Star Trek 2"? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!