Star Trek's George Takei says making Hikaru Sulu gay is 'really unfortunate'

US actor George Takei has said it is “really unfortunate” that his Star Trek character will be revealed as gay in Star Trek Beyond.

Takei, 79 – who played Hikaru Sulu in the 1960s television series – said he “urged” director Justin Linn to “honour” Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and instead create a new LGBT character.

"I'm delighted that there's a gay character,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “Unfortunately, it's a twisting of Gene's creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it's really unfortunate."

Takei’s comments come a day after John Cho – who plays Sulu in the big screen adaptation – announced that the character will be the first openly LGBT character in the sci-fi franchise.

Takei – who is openly gay and a prominent campaigner for LGBT rights – said Cho called him to break the news.

"I told him, 'Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted’,” he said.

Cho said the decision to make Sulu gay was made by Lin and screenwriter Simon Pegg as a nod to Takei.

Speaking to Australia’s Herald Sun he said: “I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out of it, which is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicise one’s personal orientation.”

JJ Abrams - who directed the first film in the revamped franchise - said he was “frankly shocked that in the history of Star Trek there have never been gay characters in all the series”.

Star Trek Beyond is released in UK cinemas on July 22.

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