Actor George Takei says making Star Trek character Sulu gay ‘unfortunate’

The decision also received a thumbs up from out actor Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the Star Trek reboot.

(Facebook / Star Trek Beyond)Original Hikaru Sulu actor disapproves of the changes made in character’s gender.

Upon speaking to Cho and the director of “Star Trek Beyond” Justin Lin, Takei suggested that they should just be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than making Sulu gay.

Writer and star Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty, had the idea to put Sulu in a same-sex relationship as a homage to Takei, who played the role in the original TV series, and who came out in 2005. Like Pegg, Quinto cited that the current Star Trek movie universe presents an alternate version of all the characters, including Sulu, and said there is an otherwise “enormously positive response from especially young people who are heartened by and inspired by this really tasteful and lovely portrayal of something that I think is gaining acceptance and inclusion in our societies across the world, and should be”.

Star Trek Beyond comes out in theaters July 22nd.

Hear more Star Trek stories in the videos above, and check out the rest on the official Star Trek Beyond Twitter account. How often do we see gay characters in massive blockbuster films?

“We’re as thick as thieves beyond work and that makes working really easy”. He has been a big supporter of the new crew and what they bring to the table and his somewhat damning of John Cho’s characters arc and how it came about came as a shock to many fans not only for its severity, but also its timing.

He explained: “He was praising me for my advocacy for the LGBT movement and for my pride in “Star Trek”.

“With regards to his thoughts on our Sulu, I must respectfully disagree with him”, Pegg wrote in a statement to The Guardian.

“I’m delighted that there’s a gay character”, Takei told The Hollywood Reporter.

According to Takei, Roddenberry’s Sulu was always heterosexual, even if Sulu’s sexual orientation was never directly addressed during the series with an on-screen love interest.

I think Pegg is spot on here. “I can’t speak for every reality but that must surely true of this one”.

“The Man Trap” became the first broadcast episode of the original Star Trek when it aired on NBC September 8, 1966.