Heroes Recruits Captain Sulu

Fri., Nov. 17, 2006 7:15 PM PST by Natalie Finn

Superman had Jor-El. Batman has Wayne Manor. And now Hiro Nakamura has Captain Sulu.

Figuring all great Heroes need to have come from somewhere, the hit NBC series has tapped Star Trek icon George Takei to play the father of Hiro Nakamura, the plucky Japanese office worker who happens to be able to bend the space-time continuum.

E! Online's Kristin Veitch reported Monday that a new character "who has been around a lot longer" was joining the serialized drama, which has become one of the few solid new hits of the 2006 television season, attracting more than 14.4 million viewers a week. (For more Heroes scoop, including more about the show's mysterious killer Sylar, check out E! Online TV columnist Kristin Veitch's blog.)

"This is absolutely brilliant," Masi Oka, who plays Hiro, told TV Guide. "Hiro's father is this big honcho who shows up in America with his bodyguard. He has this whole elaborate scheme to kidnap his son and take him back to Japan."

Which probably won't go over too well with Hiro, who, after traveling five weeks into the future just in time to see New York go boom, has journeyed to the States to save the world.

"I just hope I get to say, 'Dad! Sulu is my hero, not you!' The sci-fi fans would love it!" Oka said.

Takei, 69, a cult figure among Trekkies and currently the unlikely official voice of The Howard Stern Show, will show up on Heroes in a Jan. 29 cliffhanger episode.

"It was just one of those lightning-bolt ideas," series creator Tim Kring told TV Guide.

After his steady gig piloting the starship Enterprise came to an end after 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Takei busied himself with a host of voiceover work in TV, films and videogames and guest spots on shows ranging from The Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle to Scrubs and Will & Grace.

In fact, it was Takei's trademark deep voice and flair for enunciation that made him a favorite on The Howard Stern Show back when the morning shock-jock was still on terrestrial radio. After a few engaging interviews that proved just how open-minded Takei's sense of humor is, he was tapped to be the show's announcer when it made the jump to Sirius Satellite Radio.