Actor John Cho announced that his character, Hikaru Sulu, will be revealed as gay in Star Trek Beyond. But the original Sulu, George Takei, was not pleased to hear the news, this despite the fact that he’s gay and an advocate of LGBT rights.
Takei had been in discussions with Cho, Simon Pegg and Justin Lin, the film’s director, about this topic while the movie was being made. During these conversations, Takei let his opinions be known.
"Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate,” Takei said.
Takei, who came out in 2005 and is married to a man, was referring to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991.
The actor told The Hollywood Reporter that Roddenberry had always envisioned Sulu as heterosexual.
While Takei did say that he’s “delighted” to have a gay character in the movie, he said it shouldn’t have been Sulu. While Sulu never had a romantic relationship during the show’s three-year run, he did father a child, Demora. She appeared in the movie Star Trek: Generations (played by Jacqueline Kim) and also in the series Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II (played by Mimi Chong).
'Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted.’…Honor him [Roddenberry] and create a new character. I urged them. [Lin] left me feeling that that was going to happen," Takei said.
Simon Pegg, who co-wrote Star Trek Beyond and plays Scotty, said in a statement, “I have huge love and respect for George Takei. However, with regards to his thoughts on our Sulu, I must respectfully disagree with him.”
“He’s [Takei] right, it is unfortunate that the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character.”
"I don't believe Gene Roddenberry's decision to make the prime timeline's Enterprise crew straight was an artistic one, more a necessity of the time," he added.
Takei said he "urged" the Star Trek Beyond director to "honor" Roddenberry and "create a new character" who is gay instead of Sulu. Lin has not commented.
"We could have introduced a new gay character, but he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the 'gay character,' rather than simply for who they are," Pegg told The Guardian. "And isn't that tokenism?"
"Our Trek is an alternate timeline with alternate details," he added. "Whatever magic ingredient determines our sexuality was different for Sulu in our timeline. I like this idea because it suggests that in a hypothetical multiverse, across an infinite matrix of alternate realities, we are all LGBT somewhere."
Zachary Quinto is disappointed with George Takei's response to the decision to make Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS Enterprise, gay in Star Trek Beyond.
“As a member of the LGBT community myself,” Quinto said, “I was disappointed by the fact that George was disappointed.”“I get it. Takei has had his own personal journey and has his own personal relationship with this character but, you know, as we established in the first Star Trek film in 2009, we've created an alternate universe. And my hope is that eventually George can be strengthened by the enormously positive response from especially young people who are heartened by and inspired by this really tasteful and beautiful portrayal of something that I think is gaining acceptance and inclusion in our societies across the world, and should be.”
“Come on, George,” he added.
