George Takei recalled Gene Roddenberry wanted the character to represent all of Asia, which symbolized the peace of the Trek universe in spite of the numerous wars in the continent.

[16] An early Paramount press release described this initial conception of his character as follows: "Physicist Sulu is the trim, soft-spoken chief of the Enterprise's Astro Science Department.

[3] He is promoted to captain and given command of the USS Excelsior three years before the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Cho also portrays Sulu in the 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness, taking up the role of acting captain on the USS Enterprise when both Kirk and Spock were absent.

[24] Takei disliked the idea, and attempted to persuade the filmmakers to create a new gay character rather than revealing Sulu as closeted, saying, "Unfortunately, it's a twisting of Gene's creation, to which he put in so much thought.

Pegg also said that Sulu had never been closeted, but that his sexuality had simply never come up, and suggested that Roddenberry would have explored LGBT themes in the original series if he had had the opportunity.

In the episode, Captain Sulu appears in Tuvok's flashbacks of his time serving aboard the USS Excelsior, during events depicted in Star Trek VI.

[citation needed] Grant Imahara portrayed Hikaru Sulu in all 11 episodes of the fan film web series Star Trek Continues.

The novel Forged in Fire[30] depicts an earlier USS Excelsior mission prior to Sulu's assuming command of the ship.

Simon & Schuster Audioworks released three non-canon Captain Sulu Adventures, featuring voice acting by Takei and various others, in the mid-1990s: Transformations,[32] Cacophany,[33] and Envoy.

In the William Shatner Star Trek novels, it is revealed that Sulu is elected to an unprecedented three terms as President of the United Federation of Planets.

In scientific illustrator Jenny Parks' 2017 book Star Trek Cats, Sulu is depicted as a Japanese Bobtail.

"[This quote needs a citation] In 2017, Screen Rant ranked Hikaru Sulu the 15th-most attractive person in the Star Trek universe.

[41] In 2016, Sulu was ranked as the 18th most important character of Starfleet within the Star Trek science fiction universe by Wired magazine.