Zachary Quinto paid tribute Monday to his predecessor, late Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy, saying that he "never could have anticipated" the close relationship he would build with his fellow Spock.
In an article for Time, Quinto described the unexpected affinity he felt for the man whose shoes he would fill.
"I never imagined was how close we would become, and what a father figure he would be to me," Quinto wrote of the elder Spock, who died Feb. 27 in Los Angeles.
Quinto expressed similar feelings in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, telling the magazine that his initial conversations with Nimoy revolved around their character, the logical, pointy-eared Vulcan.
Quinto also said that he was "grateful" to speak at Nimoy's funeral Sunday.
"It meant so much to me that I was able to be a part of saying goodbye to him in that way, because I felt that that's who he was. He would have traveled to the ends of the earth for the people that he loved, and I was so grateful that I had the opportunity to do that," Quinto said.
Source: UPI