CALGARY, AB (CinemaSpy) -- Speaking at the recent Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, Star Trek actor George Takei expressed satisfaction over the casting of John Cho as U.S.S. Enterprise helmsmen Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek XI. Takei won the hearts of Trek fans for his portrayal of Sulu in the original series of Gene Roddenberryís space opera, as well as the subsequent animated series and movie spin-offs. Like all of the characters from the original Star Trek series, Sulu has been recast for the big screen reboot of the franchise, which is being directed by J.J. Abrams.

"I am very happy with that casting," Takei said. "I knew of John's work from way before. I've been Chairman of the Board of Governors of the East West Players, which is the oldest minority theatre company in the U.S. ... and John appeared in about five or six of our productions. He was impressive in all of those productions."

Takei said that he met with the star of the recently released Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and the young actor was not sure if he could pull of the iconic character of Sulu. Takei put his mind at rest, though.

"He was very excited, but also nervous about taking on this project and he asked me to have lunch with him," Takei said. "I told him, Don't worry. You're going to be fantastic. It's going to be a great career boost for you, as if you needed a boost, and before too long I'll be known as the old guy who played John Cho."

Takei also indicated that the met with Abrams before John Cho was cast. At that meeting Abrams expressed concern over how fans would respond if a non-Japanese actor was cast in the role of Sulu.

"I did have breakfast with J.J. Abrams," said Takei. "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 Geneís idea was to have Sulu represent all of Asia ... Apparently J.J. didn't know that, so he was quite comforted by that background information and went ahead and cast John Cho."

The pan-Asian symbolism of Sulu's character is exemplified in his name, Takei said. He explained that the name Sulu was chosen by Roddenberry for the very reason that it is not Japanese.

"Gene Roddenberry was a real visionary and he incorporated a lot of his own personal philosophy into Star Trek," said Takei. "He felt that the Starship Enterprise was a metaphor for Starship Earth and the strength of this starship lay in its diversity coming together and working as a team in concert, each contributing his or her unique talents, unique vantage points and unique experiential background ... That's what made the Enterprise that much stronger and more competent at solving problems and challenges. We [the characters] would represent different parts of the Earth ... He wanted my character to represent Asia."

"However, Asian names are all nationally specific," Takei adds. "Tanaka is Japanese, Wong is Chinese, Kim is Korean and Asia has a very turbulent history of warfare and oppression and colonization and so forth. He didn't want to have any nationally specific name for [my] character. He was looking at a map of Asia trying to figure out how to solve that problem and he saw in the South China Sea the Sulu Sea ... He thought, 'Ah, the waters of that sea touch all shores, and that's how my character came to have the name Sulu.'"

Star Trek XI is scheduled to open in May 2009.