'Star Trek Beyond': John Cho's Sulu Revealed to Be Gay - Variety

Contents:

• GEE TAKEI REACTS TO GAY SULU NEWS: “I THK IT’S REALLY UNFORTUNATE”
• HAS STAR TREK'S SULU ALWAYS BEEN GAY? IT'S COMPLITED
• SULU IS GAY IN 'STAR TREK BEYOND,' MAKG FRANCHISE HISTORY
• ‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ NFIRMS THAT HIKA SULU IS GAY
• STAR TREK ACTORS STAND BEHD GAY SULU REVELATN
• JOHN CHO NFIRMS THAT SULU IS GAY AND MARRIED "STAR TREK BEYOND"
• SULU IS GAY STAR TREK BEYOND AND IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL
• JOHN CHO REVEALS SULU IS GAY 'STAR TREK BEYOND' -- HERE'S HOW FANS ARE REACTG!
• AS AN HOMAGE TO GEE TAKEI, JOHN CHO’S SULU IS GAY STAR TREK BEYOND
• ‘STAR TREK BEYOND’: JOHN CHO’S CHARACTER SULU IS OPENLY GAY
• JOHN CHO SAYS SULU IS EXPLICLY GAY STAR TREK BEYOND
• SIMON PEGG'S CANONIZED EXPLANATN OF WHY SULU IS GAY

GEE TAKEI REACTS TO GAY SULU NEWS: “I THK IT’S REALLY UNFORTUNATE”

On Thursday, the Herald Sun announced that the character Hika Sulu will be revealed to be gay Star Trek Beyond, which hs theaters July 22. Gee Takei, who played Sulu the origal show and who has been a proment LGBT activist sce g out as gay jt over a ago, told the Hollywood Reporter that he has been agast revealg the character as gay sce he first heard was unr nsiratn last year.

“I’m lighted that there’s a gay character, ” Takei told THR. He believed ma more sense to create a new character who has always been gay, rather than brgg Sulu out of a prumed closet.

” But he also exprsed a ncern, which he discsed wh L and -wrer Doug Jung, that a new gay character may have been perceived by the dience as a token gay character, “primarily fed by their sexualy. ” Pegg believ Rodnberry’s cisn not to velop a gay character earlier was a product of his time, not of his visn. ” Based on the movie’s timele, the cisn to make Sulu gay do not necsate his havg been the closet, Pegg explas, and prum that there has been an LGBT prence sce the begng of the anchise’s universe.

HAS STAR TREK'S SULU ALWAYS BEEN GAY? IT'S COMPLITED

Neverthels, Takei — who announced he was gay 2005 — was fully attuned to the gay equaly nversatn gag momentum at the time. Te to s tle, the latt big-screen outg, Star Trek Beyond, has gone where none have gone before: Star John Cho — who assum the Sulu mantle for the third time the reboots — has told Atralia’s Herald Sun that the character is revealed to be gay.

SULU IS GAY IN 'STAR TREK BEYOND,' MAKG FRANCHISE HISTORY

He had never asked for Sulu to be gay. “I’m lighted that there’s a gay character, ” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. Takei tried to nvce him to make a new character gay stead.

“I told him, ‘Be imagative and create a character who has a history of beg gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, sudnly beg revealed as beg closeted. In other words, assumg non orthodoxy, this storyle suggt Sulu would have had to have first been gay and married, only to then go to the closet years later. Not long after Cho’s bombshell ll me another, this one om L, aga rmg him that Sulu was ed to be gay Star Trek Beyond.

‘STAR TREK BEYOND’ NFIRMS THAT HIKA SULU IS GAY

'” Takei was certa the creative team had rethought their cisn to make Sulu gay.

Cho said was bound to e out that his character was gay, and “what should he do? “I really tried to work wh the people when at long last the issue of gay equaly was gog to be addrsed, ” Takei says.

STAR TREK ACTORS STAND BEHD GAY SULU REVELATN

Takei for his part is hopg to take Sulu new directns as well, potentially on CBS’ upg Star Trek seri, slated to premiere January and -n by Alex Kurtzman and Bryan Fuller, who is openly gay. Hika Sulu is now known as the first openly gay character  Star Trek, but the character's sexualy hasn't always been so clear-cut.

In 2005, 36 years after Star Trek: The Origal Seri end, Sulu's origal actor, Gee Takei, publicly me out as gay. Wantg to honor this legacy, Simon Pegg me up wh the ia of havg Sulu be gay  J. John Cho supported the ia, as did Zachary Quto, the actor who played Spock and who publicly me out as gay 2011.

JOHN CHO NFIRMS THAT SULU IS GAY AND MARRIED "STAR TREK BEYOND"

Why Takei Was Upset That Sulu Beme Gay. Takei publicly disagreed wh wrer and Stty actor, Simon Pegg about the plan to make Sulu gay.

While he wholeheartedly supported the cln of LGBTQ+ characters  Star Trek, he thought a new character should be created stead of makg Sulu nonilly gay. Pegg was also wary of Takei's advice to create a new character simply to fulfill the purpose of havg a gay character, as he thought that would lim the character to tokenism.

SULU IS GAY STAR TREK BEYOND AND IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL

Was Sulu Gay In The Wir Star Trek Canon? The fact that his dghter existed many of the novels and gam don't preclu the possibily that Sulu might be gay. Abrams' Star Trek exist on different timel, 's possible to say that both a straight Sulu and a gay Sulu exist as part of the multiverse's non.

JOHN CHO REVEALS SULU IS GAY 'STAR TREK BEYOND' -- HERE'S HOW FANS ARE REACTG!

One of the “Star Trek” universe’s most beloved characters is revealed to be gay the latt stallment of the inic anchise. “I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thg out , which is where I hope we are gog as a speci, to not policize one’s personal orientatns, ” he and Pegg’s cisn to pict Sulu as a gay man was a nod to Gee Takei, who played the role the origal 1960s “Star Trek” televisn seri and six subsequent films, Cho said.

Takei, 79, me out as gay 2005, and has sce gone on to bee an outspoken advote for LGBT rights.

UPDATE: After news of this story broke, Takei lled the cisn to pict Sulu as a gay man “really unfortunate” a Hollywood Reporter terview. In a tribute to his ongog legacy as an in of the Star Trek anchise, wrer Simon Pegg and director Jt L cid make Sulu nonilly gay the upg movie.

AS AN HOMAGE TO GEE TAKEI, JOHN CHO’S SULU IS GAY STAR TREK BEYOND

While Hollywood still has a long way to go terms of queer reprentatn, feels appropriate for Star Trek to be the first big sci-fi anchise to clu a gay character s ma st. Image source, PAImage ptn, Simon Pegg (send left) receiv a kiss om Chris Pe at Star Trek Beyond's UK premiereThe stars of the latt Star Trek film have stood behd s revelatn that long-standg character Sulu is gay. "I'm lighted that there's a gay character [ the film], " the 79-year-old told the Hollywood he claimed the "outg" of Hika Sulu was "a twistg" of Gene [Rodnberry]'s creatn, "to which he put so much thought" said Star Trek creator Rodnberry "was a strong supporter of LGBT equaly" but had always envisned Sulu as heterosexual.

‘STAR TREK BEYOND’: JOHN CHO’S CHARACTER SULU IS OPENLY GAY

The actor - who went on to play Sulu the six Star Trek films ma between 1979 and 1991 - announced he was gay source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Gee Takei (left) and John Cho share the role of Sulu, helmsman of the Starship EnterpriseSpeakg on Tuday before Star Trek Beyond's UK premiere, Simon Pegg said the revelatn about Sulu's sexualy "don't change Gee's Sulu any way". "I was worried bee I knew [Gee] was a gay man who had played a straight character, " he told the BBC.

JOHN CHO SAYS SULU IS EXPLICLY GAY STAR TREK BEYOND

"Quto, who is also openly gay, add: "The LGBT (Lbian Gay Bisexual Transgenr) muny has long advoted for reprentatn the Star Trek universe. Well, that answers that latt Star Trek film, "Star Trek Beyond, " will nfirm that one of s ma characters -- Hika Sulu, played by John Cho -- is gay. And not only is he gay, but he is married and has a child, Cho revealed to Atralia's Herald Sun.

SIMON PEGG'S CANONIZED EXPLANATN OF WHY SULU IS GAY

Sulu’s gay and no one the Star Trek universe judg him for . 'Star Trek' Star John Cho Reveals His Character Sulu is Gay!