Director JJ Abrams has called George
Takei's opposition to the decision to make Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of
the USS Enterprise, gay in Star Trek Beyond “preposterous.”
In the film, Sulu is seen raising a
daughter with his same-sex partner. John Cho, who plays Sulu in
Beyond, said that the decision to make the character gay was a
nod to Takei, who played the character in the original NBC series and
came out gay in 2005.
Takei told The Hollywood Reporter
that he had encouraged the cast and crew of the film to “create a
character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who has
been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being
closeted” and called the decision “unfortunate.”
Abrams, who rebooted the movie
franchise in 2009 and has a producing credit in the new film, told
The Huffington Post that he has “nothing but respect for”
Takei but thinks “it's a preposterous thing for, of all people, a
Star Trek actor – who's come out himself – to say that
[creator] Gene Roddenberry wouldn't have wanted this.”
He called the revelation “classic
Roddenberry.”
“I don’t know what or why George
Takei would take issue with it,” Abrams
added. “I understand he’s backtracked a little bit. But I
love the way [writers] Simon Pegg, Doug Jung and [director] Justin
Lin did it. Doug Jung, who’s the co-writer, actually plays the
husband of Sulu. I think it’s something I’m really proud of.”