It’s a whole new world for Hikaru Sulu. John Cho, the actor who plays Sulu in the J.J. Abrams film reboots of Star Trek, says the helmsman will be revealed as gay in the upcoming Star Trek Beyond. “I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out it, which is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicize one’s personal orientations,” Cho told Australia’s Herald Sun. The paper reports that the decision to give Sulu a husband and a daughter was a nod to George Takei, who played the original Hikaru Sulu.
John Cho’s Sulu will be the first gay canonical Star Trek character.