‘Star Trek’: John Cho is Down for a Sulu Spinoff Movie

The future of the Star Trek film franchise may be in question, but at least one star wouldn’t object to getting a solo film of his own.

During an interview with CNET, it was brought to the attention of Star Trek star John Cho that Star Wars has been releasing spin-off movies like Solo: A Star Wars Story. Could there be room for a similar spinoff starring Hikaru Sulu?

“If Solo, why not Sulu?” Cho replied. “I don’t know if there is a day shooting Star Trek where Chris Pine did not call me Solo.”

Cho even went on to joke that an upcoming feature film he’s signed on for but can’t talk about could be “Sulu: A Star Trek Story.”

While Cho may be having some fun with the idea of a Sulu movie, he said in a separate interview that he doesn’t know much about what’s happening with Star Trek 4 and he likes it that way.

“I know very little about this,” Cho says. “I’ve heard we’re going to do one. But beyond that, I don’t have details. I’d rather not know; I don’t want to lie. The boring answer is to wait for the powers that be to make a decision.”

Star Trek 4 was initially delayed after Star Trek Beyond underperformed at the box office. Cho says he didn’t realize the film failed to live up to the studio’s expectations.

“I actually wasn’t aware it underperformed,” he says. “I thought it was a great movie. See how little I pay attention to these things? I don’t know what to say…maybe more webcam Sulu close-ups.”

Star Trek 4 was expected to be a father-son time travel tale involving Pine’s Captain Kirk meeting his dead father, Hemsworth’s George Kirk.

Recasting George would be relatively simple. Hemsworth is a big star, but he was only in the opening prologue of Star Trek.

On the other hand, Pine has been the leading man of the Star Trek films since 2009’s Star Trek. It is hard to imagine recasting Kirk now without rebooting the franchise again, but then it’s even harder to imagine a Star Trek movie without Captain Kirk.

Despite the contract struggles, Paramount is not slowing down development on Star Trek 4, which is expected to begin filming in early 2019 with SJ Clarkson directing.

The production is said to be eyeing Black Panther and The Walking Dead star Danai Gurira for one of two major new female characters in the film.

Contract negotiations are expected to go forward the rest of the returning Star Trek movie cast, which includes Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Simon Pegg.

Would you like to see Cho star in a Sulu spinoff movie? Let us know what you think in the comments!

The first three Kelvin timeline Star Trek movies – Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond – are all available now on home media. Star Trek 4 still does not have a release date.