Star Trek is going where no movie has gone before! Into Sulu’s personal life.
When Star Trek first aired back in 1966, it was way ahead of it’s time. Here was a diverse cast of people, living and working together in what Gene Roddenberry’s hoped was the future of humanity. In a time when interracial marriage was still illegal in many states, Star Trek dared to show the first interracial kiss on American television. But there were limits to what kind of ’shocking moments’ society was ready to see. So Sulu (George Takei) was a lot of things: a fencer, a senior officer, a gymnast. But he never had a love interest or a family.
John Cho revealed fans would get to meet Sulu’s husband and daughter in Star Trek Beyond. The description says we’ll get to see Sulu as a ‘loving father’ so I hope that means a scene of him at home with his family, just doing mundane things before it all hits the fan again. Cho also confirmed Sulu’s orientation was an homage to George Takei.
As we move onwards toward the 21st century, one can only hope the approach to LGBT families shown in Star Trek Beyond is once again prophetic of where we’ll be as a society in another 50 years.
Takei actually responded to this saying that it was unfortunate because of the divergent from Gene’s original character. I can love it for what it is in both ways, because the universe in themselves are separate, but I feel so torn.