For millions of fans around the world, LeVar Burton is loved and admired for portraying Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Throughout the seven seasons of the series and through the slew of movies that came after, Burton brought the character to life with an authority and compassion that few are able to pull off so completely.

For millions of other fans, who may or may not know the difference between a phase coupler and a Horga'hn, Burton's ease at playing a confident, caring, thoughtful commander on television will come as no surprise.

As host of Reading Rainbow, generations of children grew up watching Burton as he tried to instill his love of learning and books to young minds across the world. So intent was his audience to keep Reading Rainbow in their lives, a 2014 Kickstarter campaign raised almost $5.5 million dollars to bring the show into classrooms across the US.

When Jeopardy host Alex Trebek announced his illness and departure from the show in 2019, fans of the cerebral game show immediately started calling on Burton to step up and throw his hat in the ring. What many of them knew was that Burton encapsulated many of the qualities that made Trebek such a successful host, and they had every intention of making sure the showrunners at Sony Pictures knew this as well. Their petition on Change.Org has garnered almost 250,000 signatures, and many are certain their efforts led directly to the announcement Wednesday, that Burton would finally get his shot.

On April 21st, 2021, Jeopardy announced on Twitter, the hosts for the remainder of season 37. Executive producer Mike Richards said to reporters, “Our goal has been to present a wide variety of guest hosts with different skill sets and backgrounds on our path to finding a permanent host. Our passionate fans are telling us what they like, and we are listening. All of the guest hosts have brought individualism, energy and an authentic love of our show to each of their episodes. We look forward to sharing the rest of the season with our viewers.”

For his part, no one has seemed to be a bigger fan of hosting the show than Burton himself. Burton has maintained a low key, fun social media campaign to gather support, telling the Black News Channel earlier this month that this wasn't just a sudden interest. When Trebek signed his last contract there were some signs that he might retire when it was up. Burton told BNC, "I said then, 'I've had my eye on that job for a long time. And that when Alex is ready to give it up, I want to stand behind that podium,'”.

Talking to Entertainment Weekly last week, Burton said, “I don't believe there is anyone out there who is better suited for this job than me. I think my whole career is an advertisement for being the host of Jeopardy!”

The fan's hard work, and maybe more than just a little self campaigning, has seemed to pay off as Burton finds himself as one of the five remaining guest hosts to close out season 37, before a permanent host is expected to be announced. Burton responded to the news as many knew he would, with excitement and gratitude.

Taking to Twitter, Burton responded, “THANK YOU... to all y’all for your passionate support! I am overjoyed, excited, and eager to be guest-hosting Jeopardy!, and will do my utmost best to live up to your faith you in me. YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE! Go ahead and take my word for it, this time.”


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WRITTEN AND EDITED BY Silek
IMAGES SOURCED FROM LEVAR BURTON TWITTER AND NBC NEWS