Star Trek’s Sulu is gay in upcoming 'Star Trek Beyond'

Sometimes art imitates life.

The Star Trek character Hikaru Sulu from will be gay in the upcoming Star Trek Beyond film, the Herald Sun reported Thursday, taking after George Takei, the actor and LGBTQ activist who originated the role in the 1960s television series.

The USS Enterprise helmsman, played by John Cho in the rebooted movie series, will have a husband and daughter in the film, according to the Herald Sun.

“I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out it, which is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicise one’s personal orientations,” Cho told the paper.

The Star Trek franchise has a history of inclusivity written into the series.

In addition to featuring an uncommonly racially diverse cast when it first aired in 1966, one of the show’s episodes also showed the first interracial kiss on American television. Writer Simon Pegg and director Justin Lin made the decision to make Sulu’s sexuality explicit in the film partly as tribute to Takei, Cho told the paper.

Takei publicly came out as gay in 2005 and has spoken out extensively on LGBTQ issues since, Vulture reported.

He and longtime partner Brad Altman were the first same-sex couple to seek a marriage license in California, according to Vulture, and married in May 2008.

Sulu had a daughter in previous iterations of the Star Trek universe, but did not have an identified spouse or partner until this film, which opens July 21.

This story was originally published July 7, 2016 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Star Trek’s Sulu is gay in upcoming 'Star Trek Beyond'."