Well, that's surprising!
George Takei, who played the original Mr. Sulu on "Star Trek" in the '60s, expressed his disappointment over the news that the character will be revealed to be gay in this month's "Star Trek Beyond" film.
On Thursday, actor John Cho, who plays Sulu in the new "Star Trek" movie franchise, told Australia's Herald Sun that the character will be portrayed as a father in a same-sex relationship.
"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 news outlet.
But Takei, who is openly gay and an LGBTQ activist, told the Hollywood Reporter that he's against the decision to change Sulu's sexuality because it goes against "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry’s original version of the character.
"I'm delighted that there's a gay character," Takei said. "Unfortunately, it's a twisting of Gene's creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate."
According to the 79-year-old actor, he would have preferred "Star Trek Beyond" director Justin Lin and the other filmmakers and writers to have created a new gay character. He also said he expressed this opinion several times in the past few months.
"I told [Cho], 'Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted,'" Takei said.
Cho said the decision by Lin and co-writer and star Simon Pegg to make Sulu gay was intended to honour Takei, who kept his sexuality a secret during the making of the original "Star Trek."
"If I wanted to work as an actor I had to keep it a secret," Takei said last year, of his experience being a closeted gay actor.
Takei came out in 2005 and married husband Brad Altman in 2008.
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