The news that Hikaru Sulu’s got himself a man at home has been flying around the internet at Warp 8. In recent conversations, John Cho, Simon Pegg, and Doug Jung revealed that Sulu’s spouse plays a significant role in Star Trek Beyond, and we even have a glimpse of the character in a recently released still picked from the Korean-language trailer for Beyond.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Doug Jung, who co-wrote the script with Pegg, revealed that he plays the iconic Enterprise helmsman’s spouse. After the original actor backed out immediately before filming, Doug Jung offered to step up and fill the role. His biggest hesitation? Being a convincing mate for the admittedly dashing John Cho. Jung says the Sulu clan relocated to Yorktown to be closer to Hikaru Sulu as he ventures “off into the unknown parts of space.”
Pegg, Jung, and Cho revealed that they felt adding a personal stake for at least one of the Enterprise crew members would make the defense of Yorktown more urgent and personal for the crew. The character is unnamed in the film, but in the script, he’s known as Ben. Hilariously, Ben Sulu is only two vowels away from another character from a famous sci-fi series.
Star Trek has a checkered past when it comes to family relations. In the original film series Klingons murder Kirk’s son on the Genesis planet, and in the reboots both Kirk and Spock have each lost a parent. Following the announcement that the fourth Star Trek film set in the Kelvinverse will focus on Kirk’s relationship with his father, it sounds like the vagabond crew is on track to make up for lost time with their loved ones. Star Trek Beyond, directed by Justin Lin, is out in theaters this Friday, July 22.
Check out more of our Star Trek Beyond coverage below.
http://fandom.wikia.com/videos/star-trek-beyond-justin-lin-interview
