As Harold and Kumar prepare to escape from Guantanamo Bay later this month, star John Cho is already feeling the heat of the spotlight for his next role: he portrays Sulu in the upcoming Star Trek remake.

In a recent interview with TV Guide, Cho said: “I’m discovering how much of a basic building block of American citizenship it is. Everyone knows something about Star Trek.”

With all the Trekkies clamoring for the next feature and analyzing every leaked spoiler regarding it, Cho’s trying not to let the legacy of the role stress him out.

“You don’t want to become paralyzed by that,” he said, adding that Sulu “was a pioneer character,” for Asian-American actors and that “was definitely part of why [getting the role] was so important to me. I wanted to participate in it. I wanted to be a part of that legacy.”

Cho takes the chance to showcase himself as an Asian-American actor seriously. He said it was also central to his views on the role as Harold in the original film and now in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, as well.

“In doing Harold,” Cho said, “the biggest burden is worrying about what Asians think…. It is something I always fret over when I take a role. I try to say no to things that I feel are not going to be good for Asians. Comedy is particularly tough.

You want to be able to make fun of race and you don’t want to exclude yourself and your own race from the equation. So you want to make yourself vulnerable, but you don’t want to cross a line, either.”

It’s a pretty good time to be John Cho right now.

The actor is playing the role of Sulu in the new Star Trek movie, but recently focused on another follow-up film with IGN.com: Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

Cho said reuniting with Kal Penn for the film was “really easy. There’s absolutely a period, initially, where you’re kind of feeling everybody out and feeling how things will be.

I remember on the first one Kal and I went up to Toronto where we shot and we tried to hang out as much as possible, get to know each other, and try to develop something and become friends, essentially, in time for the movie, so that it felt a little bit more real.

And this time it was just slipping on an old, dirty pair of socks.”

The actor didn’t want to give too much away, but did say How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris would reprise his role from the original as, well, himself.

“Instead of giving anything away, let me assure everyone that Neil Patrick Harris is gonna blow your minds again. You thought he wasn’t going to be able to do it. You thought you’d seen it.

You thought ‘Ah, I know what that’s about.’ No. No. Neil Patrick Harris is gonna get into some business and it’s gonna be dirty. But it’s gonna be funny.”