Sulu Revealed as Gay in Star Trek Beyond, According to John Cho

The movie is going to boldly go where the franchise has never gone before

By Corinne Heller Jul 07, 2016 5:07 PMTags
John Cho, Sulu, Star Trek BeyondParamount Pictures

Star Trek Beyond is going to boldly go where the franchise has never gone before.

Hikaru Sulu, a main character played by John Cho, will be Star Trek's first on-air LGBT character. In Star Trek Beyond, the third in the rebooted franchise, Sulu is shown to be gay and in a same-sex relationship. He and his partner are also parents to a daughter.

Cho revealed the news in an interview published in the Australian newspaper The Herald Sun Thursday. He said director Justin Lin and co-writer (and co-star) Simon Pegg had made the decision to have Sulu be a gay character and that it was a nod to George Takei and was a sign of what he hoped were changing times. Takei, who came out as gay in 2005 and is married to a man, played the part in the original '60s Star Trek series and movies.

"I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out [of] it, which is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicize one's personal orientations," Cho told the newspaper. 

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LGBT Characters in Movies
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Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures

Sulu's partners were never revealed on Star Trek before. However, in the 1994 movie Star Trek Generations, the first in the Star Trek: The Next Generation film franchise, his daughter Demora was shown as an adult.

Star Trek, known for boldly going where no one has gone before, has often showcased what were once considered daring plot lines with regard to gender identity and representation of the LGBT community.

Many minor characters are members of the LGBT community in Star Trek novels and comic books. In addition, androgynous species have been introduced on TV shows such as Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Also, on the '90s series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Terry Farrell's Jadzia Dax played a joined Trill, a humanoid with a symbiont, a parasite-like being, implanted in her body that possesses the memories of past, deceased Trill hosts. In one episode, Jadzia and another joined female Trill whose symbionts once inhabited the bodies of a male and female couple make Star Trek history by exchanging the franchise's first romantic same-sex kiss.

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Star Trek Beyond is set for release on July 22. The movie also stars returning actors Chris PineZachary QuintoZoe Saldana, Karl Urban and Anton Yelchin, who died last month at age 27Idris Elba makes his debut as a villain named Krall.

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