--- title: George Takei Disappointed Sulu Is Gay in Star Trek Beyond description: On Thursday, the Herald Sun revealed that Hikaru Sulu will be revealed to be gay in "Star Trek Beyond," which hits theaters July 22. canonical: https://time.com/4398071/george-takei-simon-pegg-sulu-gay-star-trek-beyond/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-08T14:25:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T06:34:44.000Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Simon Pegg Disagrees With George Takei About Sulu og:description: "Star Trek" writer responds to criticism over decision to make character gay og:url: https://time.com/4398071/george-takei-simon-pegg-sulu-gay-star-trek-beyond/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee54adb625014a00/69889b1ecf40a88140c43eb5/george-takei.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: George Takei attends the Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on June 30, 2016 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Simon Pegg Disagrees With George Takei About Sulu twitter:description: "Star Trek" writer responds to criticism over decision to make character gay twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee54adb625014a00/69889b1ecf40a88140c43eb5/george-takei.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Simon Pegg ‘Respectfully Disagrees’ With George Takei Over Sulu's Sexuality > Sponsored content. 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Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:34 AM UTCPublished: Jul 8, 2016 2:25 PM UTC  George Takei attends the Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on June 30, 2016 in New York City. George Takei attends the Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on June 30, 2016 in New York City.Noam Galai—WireImage  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 6:34 AM UTCPublished: Jul 8, 2016 2:25 PM UTC On Thursday, the _Herald Sun_ [announced](http://time.com/4396436/star-trek-lgbt-john-cho/) that the character Hikaru Sulu will be revealed to be gay in [_Star Trek Beyond_](http://time.com/4147710/star-trek-beyond-trailer/), which hits theaters July 22\. It was welcome news for many who have criticized the otherwise progressive franchise’s lack of LGBT representation since the initial show went on the air in 1966. But one person disappointed with the news is the person it was perhaps most aimed to please, or at least to honor. [George Takei](http://time.com/4389864/george-takei-blasts-donald-trump/), who played Sulu in the original show and who has been a prominent [LGBT activist](http://time.com/3943826/george-takei-donald-trump-marriage-equality/) since coming out as gay just over a decade ago, [told](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-takei-reacts-gay-sulu-909154) the _Hollywood Reporter_ that he has been against revealing the character as gay since he first heard it was under consideration last year. “I’m delighted that there’s a gay character,” Takei told _THR_. “Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it’s really unfortunate.” Takei is referring here to Gene Roddenberry, the creator of _Star Trek_, whom he says was painstakingly thorough in his character development, which included a vision for Sulu as heterosexual. Takei has been a proponent of LGBT representation in the franchise from early on, when, though he was still in the closet himself, he [discussed](http://time.com/3990410/george-takei-lgbt-star-trek/) the idea with Roddenberry. The latter, who had seen the show take a ratings hit after a 1968 episode featuring an interracial kiss, feared that too much boundary-breaking too soon might spell the end of the show. But Takei didn’t envision it would be his own character who would end the franchise’s streak of LGBT invisibility, and he said as much to John Cho, who plays Sulu in the new trilogy, when they discussed the idea last year. He believed it made more sense to create a new character who has always been gay, rather than bringing Sulu out of a presumed closet. He hoped _Star Trek Beyond_ writer Simon Pegg and director Justin Lin would take this direction and expressed disappointment upon learning that they had not. Pegg responded to Takei’s criticism Friday morning, [telling](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/08/simon-pegg-defends-gay-sulu-after-george-takei-criticism) the _Guardian_ that he respectfully disagrees with the actor’s position. He said that he comes from a place of utmost respect for Takei, and agrees that it’s disappointing that “the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character until now.” But he also expressed a concern, which he discussed with Lin and co-writer Doug Jung, that a new gay character may have been perceived by the audience as a token gay character, “primarily defined by their sexuality.” Pegg believes Roddenberry’s decision not to develop a gay character earlier was a product of his time, not of his vision. He continued that he, Lin and Jung “loved the idea of it being someone we already knew because the audience have a pre-existing opinion of that character as a human being, unaffected by any prejudice. Their sexual orientation is just one of many personal aspects, not the defining characteristic.” Based on the movie’s timeline, the decision to make Sulu gay does not necessitate his having been in the closet, Pegg explains, and it presumes that there has been an LGBT presence since the beginning of the franchise’s universe. _THR_ reports that Takei, who has not yet addressed Pegg’s response, isn’t necessarily done with Sulu, no matter the decisions around his sexual orientation. Pointing to Leonard Nimoy’s cameos in _Star Trek_ movies later in his career, Takei says he’s open to the possibility of appearing in the forthcoming reboot of the show, if invited. “There’s no reason why an ancient, wise Admiral Sulu can’t appear, or maybe an alien creature who sounds like me,” he says. “That should be fun.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4398071/george-takei-simon-pegg-sulu-gay-star-trek-beyond/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4398071/george-takei-simon-pegg-sulu-gay-star-trek-beyond/"},"headline":"Simon Pegg ‘Respectfully Disagrees’ With George Takei Over Sulu's Sexuality","datePublished":"2016-07-08T14:25:26.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T06:34:44.000Z","description":"The \"Star Trek Beyond\" writer responded to Takei's criticism over the decision to make his former character gay","url":"https://time.com/4398071/george-takei-simon-pegg-sulu-gay-star-trek-beyond/","keywords":["movies","LGBT","Star Trek","George Takei"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee54adb625014a00/69889b1ecf40a88140c43eb5/george-takei.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee54adb625014a00/69889b1ecf40a88140c43eb5/george-takei.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"George Takei attends the Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on June 30, 2016 in New York City.","caption":"George Takei attends the Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on June 30, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"Noam Galai—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4398071/george-takei-simon-pegg-sulu-gay-star-trek-beyond/","name":"Simon Pegg ‘Respectfully Disagrees’ With George Takei Over Sulu's Sexuality"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch George Takei Blast Donald Trump","description":"A man who spent part of his childhood in a Japanese internment camp has a few words for the candidate who wants to build a wall.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/t0o9n3cg/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-30T20:48:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t0o9n3cg.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4398071/george-takei-simon-pegg-sulu-gay-star-trek-beyond/","duration":"PT2M33S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4398071/george-takei-simon-pegg-sulu-gay-star-trek-beyond/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```