When John Cho admitted to an Australian newspaper that his character in Star Trek Beyond would have a gay storyline, there was backlash almost immediately. Sulu’s sexuality was never fully developed in older films or the TV show but George Takei, who played the role originally was very candid about his opposition.
After watching Beyond, it seems like it was much ado about nothing. The scene Sulu and his husband, played by co-writer Doug Jung, share together was very short. There was no sex scene, not even a kiss shared between them.
Cho was interviewed by Vulture for a cover story and he admits that a kissing scene was shot and later was edited out.
“It wasn’t like a make-out session,” Cho said. “We’re at the airport with our daughter. It was a welcome-home kiss. I’m actually proud of that scene because it was pretty tough.”
The 44-year-old also discusses why it was important to him that Sulu’s husband also be Asian.
“Basically, it was a little Valentine to the gay Asian friends that I grew up with. This may be presumptuous, but I always felt the Asian gay men that I knew had much heavier cultural-shame issues. This is probably more so for my generation than for yours, but I felt like those guys didn’t date Asian men because of that cultural shame. So I wanted it to seem really normal in the future. I thought that would be the most normal thing, that there was zero shame in the future. I don’t know if that hit or not, but it was something that I felt in my gut and asked for that.”
Star Trek Beyond is in theaters now.
