Simon Pegg and Zachary Quinto stood by the decision to reveal a Star Trek character to be gay in the new movie to the displeasure of the original actor.
The character is Sulu, played by John Cho in the new films and by George Takei in the original TV series that ran from 1966-69. Takei, who is homosexual, said he would rather have the character remain similar to the vision of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and instead “honor him and create a new character.”
"Unfortunately, it’s a twisting of Gene’s creation, to which he put in so much thought," Takei said to The Hollywood Reporter. "I think it’s really unfortunate."
Star Trek Beyond co-writer and actor Simon Pegg said that he was disappointed by Takei’s comments, but is happy with the character's change.
“He’s right, it is unfortunate, it’s unfortunate that the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character until now,” Pegg said to The Guardian.
He also said while it was an option to create a new character who was gay, “he or she would have been primarily defined by their sexuality, seen as the ‘gay character’, rather than simply for who they are, and isn’t that tokenism?”
Pegg also said having a gay character be a pre-existing one is a great way to ease the audience into it.
“[Director] Justin Lin, [co-writer] Doug Jung and I 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,” Pegg said. “Their sexual orientation is just one of many personal aspects, not the defining characteristic.”
Spock actor, Zachary Quinto, also homosexual, is in favor of the character's change and cited the audience's enthusiastic response as an amazing reason for the change.
"I get it. [Takei] has had his own personal journey and has his own personal relationship with this character but, you know, as we established in the first Star Trek film in 2009, we've created an alternate universe."
He also stated in an interview that he was hoping to see Takei "strengthened by the enormously positive response from especially young people who are heartened by and inspired by this really tasteful and beautiful portrayal of something that I think is gaining acceptance and inclusion in our societies across the world, and should be."
Quinto ended it by calling him out saying, "Come on, George."
Cho revealed his character to be homosexual to the Herald Sun on Thursday.
Star Trek Beyond, the 13th Star Trek film celebrating 50 years since the original series premiered, hits theaters on July 22.
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