As Paramount maps out the future of Star Trek, a new film will be released in 2026. The sci-fi franchise has been going strong since The Original Series debuted in 1966 with William Shatner as Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, DeForest Kelley as McCoy, Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura, and George Takei as Sulu.

Several of the original cast members returned to the franchise in movies like Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country.

Now there’s a new documentary called Beam Me Up, Sulu, being released on digital platforms on February 17, 2026. The film will explore Takei’s iconic and groundbreaking character through the lens of a student film from 1985 that was seemingly lost to history, according to THR.

Timour Gregory and Sasha Schneider, who directed Beam Me Up, Sulu, wanted to create a documentary to figure out why “people care so much” about Star Trek. They realized that the common denominator is “infinite diversity in infinite combinations,” which is an essential element of the entire Star Trek franchise since the start.

“We were interested in figuring out what it is about Star Trek that makes people care so much — what made these student filmmakers spend 35 years making a fan film, what made George participate in it, what makes all of the fans so passionate. We found that it really comes back to this idea of ‘infinite diversity in infinite combinations’ that’s been baked into the show from the beginning and resonates now more than ever.”

The students who created the fan film spent 35 years working on their project, and Takei himself ended up appearing in it. Echoing the documentary directors, the actor who brought Sulu to life beginning in the 1960s said in a statement that Beam Me Up, Sulu is about “the importance of diversity and inclusion.” Takei went on to say that in the “current political climate,” diversity and inclusion in pop culture are more important than ever.

“This documentary is about so much more than a student film I appeared in. It’s about the importance of diversity and inclusion — something that Star Trek pioneered on television and has excelled at for nearly 60 years. Given the current political climate, we need to see more of that reflected in our popular culture.”

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry purposefully hired a diverse cast for Star Trek: The Original Series. It was a groundbreaking show for several reasons, including Takei and Nichols signing on as Sulu and Uhura, respectively. A Japanese-American man and a Black woman on a high-profile series like Star Trek was pretty much unheard of at the time, not to mention the fact that their characters were in prominent roles on the show.

Each subsequent Star Trek TV show has included a racially diverse cast to continue Roddenberry’s mission of diversity and inclusion.

Takei isn’t the only person associated with Star Trek who will be featured in Beam Me Up, Sulu. Roddenberry’s son, Eugene Roddenberry, is also participating, as is Alexander Siddig, Christina Chong, Garrett Wang and Ian Alexander.

Gregory and Schneider aren’t just the directors; they also produced Beam Me Up, Sulu with Matthew Drake and Ashu Rai.

Tribeca Films already debuted the Star Trek documentary at the 2025 Raindance Film Festival back in June in London. Now a wider audience will get the chance to hear directly from Takei about a profound moment that changed his life.

Beam Me Up, Sulu will be released on digital platforms on Tuesday, February 17, 2026.