In the week since James Van Der Beek’s tragic death, the tributes and love from celebrities and fans have been pouring in. However, now, as the release of his final film, The Gates, approaches on the 2026 movie schedule, his co-stars are paying tribute to him in loving ways.
This year, we’ll get to see the the Dawson’s Creek actor's last two projects. One of them is the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle, which will be his final role. The other is the upcoming horror movie, The Gates, which will be his last film. Today, the trailer for that thrilling film came out, and most of the cast posted about it. Take a look:
In this movie, three friends played by Mason Gooding, Algee Smith and Keith Powers enter a gated community while trying to get around traffic, and then end up witnessing a murder. James Van Der Beek plays a pastor named Jacob, who seems a lot like a cult leader, and the three men are trying to both escape him and prove that he's the killer.
While Van Der Beek plays the bad guy in the movie, it's clear he was beloved on set. That was proven when Keith Powers posted the trailer on his Instagram, plugged the release date, and then closed out his caption with:
RIP James Van Der Beek 🕊️🤍
In the days since the actor passed away, a lot of love has poured in as celebrities paid tribute and donated to his GoFundMe. Others who were close to him, like Alfonso Ribeiro also penned emotional messages about their final moments with Van Der Beek.
His The Gates co-star, Mason Gooding, also posted about the actor right after his passing. Taking to Instagram to share some behind-the-scenes photos from the set of this new movie, the Heart Eyes star used his caption to relay a life lesson he learned from working with James Van Der Beek:
It's about ‘them.’ Yes. I think it's always about them. Whatever that means to you, it's about family. Beyond the work, beyond the art; which is wonderful. it's about them. It's always been about them. - James on set over lunch
Gooding led the post with an image of him and Van Der Beek high-fiving, and he followed that up with a bunch of photos that appear to have been taken on the set of The Gates.
All around, it’s been lovely to see the late performer’s castmates show love and support for him during this tragic time. It’s also made me very excited to see this movie.
While it’s sad to think about how this will be the final film we get to see James Van Der Beek in, I also feel lucky that we have a few projects from him to look forward to. Between The Gates and Elle, his last two projects seem like great ones. And we won’t have to wait long for them either. That’s because his last show, Elle, will hit Prime Video on July 1, and his final movie, The Gates, will premiere in select theaters on March 13.
