George Takei, the sci-fi franchise’s original Hikaru Sulu, is not happy with the decision to “twist” the character into a gay man for “Star Trek Beyond.”
News broke earlier this week that Gene Roddenberry’s iconic “Star Trek” character was getting a sexuality change thanks to the creative team behind the new movie. Mr. Takei, who came out as gay in 2005, said that aspect of actor John Cho’s upcoming portrayal is “unfortunate.”
“I’m delighted that there’s a gay character,” the LGBT-rights activist told the Hollywood Reporter on Thursday. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.”
Mr. Takei, 79, said Mr. Roddenberry was a supporter of LGBT rights in the 1960s, but he never saw the “Star Trek” character as a gay man. Given those facts, Mr. Takei tried to convince Mr. Cho that it was a bad decision to alter the source material.
“I told him, ’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,’” Mr. Takei said.
The idea to turn the character into a gay man came from “Beyond” director Justin Lin and writer Simon Pegg, who also plays Scotty, the USS Enterprise’s chief engineer.
“Star Trek Beyond” opens in North America on July 22. The film also stars Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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