George Takei Is Not Happy With Star Trek's First Gay Character

John Cho of Star Trek Beyond drops a bomb in a new interview with the Herald Sun: His character—Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the Starship Enterprise—(spoiler alert) will be revealed as a gay man who has a daughter with his partner. "I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out of it," says Cho. The idea was to salute original Sulu and LGBT activist, George Takei, but Takei isn't pleased, reports the Hollywood Reporter. For one thing, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wouldn't have wanted it. "I'm delighted that there's a gay character," Takei says. "Unfortunately, it's a twisting of Gene's creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it's really unfortunate."

Takei says Roddenberry—"a strong supporter of LGBT equality"—always envisioned Sulu as straight and changing his vision now is a poor way to honor him as the 50th anniversary of Star Trek approaches. Plus, the change won't make sense to fans; according to 1995 Star Trek novel The Captain's Daughter, Sulu has a daughter with a "stunningly gorgeous woman." Takei says he tried to convince director Justin Lin to create a new character "who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted" when he first learned of the proposed change last year. Lin "left me feeling that that was going to happen." (More George Takei stories.)