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Takei helped Abrams pick John Cho |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 01 May 2008
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 Japanese-American actor George Takei was cast as Lt. Hikaru Sulu aboard for the second Star Trek pilot episode in 1965. What most people don’t know is that Gene Roddenberry had envisioned the character of Sulu as being a ‘pan-Asian’ one, representing all of Asia. When it came time for JJ Abrams to recast the part of Sulu, he ran into a quandary: his leading choice was John Cho, a Korean-American actor.
Abrams was concerned that Star Trek fans might not accept Cho as Sulu, as he was not Japanese like Takei. Prior to finalizing his decision, Abrams and Takei met and discussed the casting. Takei helped the new Star Trek (2009) producer/director decide for Cho, saying:
 He was concerned because he was going to cast a Korean-American actor and he thought there might be some discussion by Star Trek fans. I told him Gene’s idea was to have Sulu represent all of Asia … Apparently JJ didn’t know that, so he was quite comforted by that background information and went ahead and cast John Cho. |
When Roddenberry envisioned his Asian helmsman, he wanted him to be representative of all of Asia, so he took a look at a map. Roddenberry found the Sulu Sea, which borders Malaysia and the Phillipines, as well as the South China Sea, and decided that it was Asian-sounding enough to be the name of his helmsman.
JJ Abrams has met will every remaining original Star Trek actor to discuss the casting of their predecessors. Contrary to rumor, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy do not own any rights to their characters, but out of respect they are expected to be consulted for any recasting.
[via: CinemaSpy]
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