Star Trek alum pushing petition to get LeVar Burton as the next Jeopardy! host

For many, LeVar Burton is the man behind the visor of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Geordi La Forge. To others, he’s the voice of a million’s children’s book as the host of the long-running and highly popular Reading Rainbow series. A series Burton himself helped guide as an executive producer, which served as a way to help kids get into reading.

Now, fans and colleagues are trying to keep Burton in the edutainment game, with many now pitching for him to take up the hosting duties of the hit trivia show, Jeopardy! The show is without a recurring host after the passing of Alex Trebek and many have filled in for him. Former guests like Ken Jennings and former NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers have filled in.

For Burton though, he has some heavyweights backing him, like Stephen Colbert and his former crew-mate on The Next Generation, Jonathan Frakes.

Frakes, who’s no stranger to hosting duties, has launched a petition to get Burton the gig as the new permanent host of Jeopardy! While it’s no guarantee that it works, many are optimistic of the idea, mostly due to Burton’s long engrained relationship with most of the adult viewing audience these days. For many, Burton went from a star-making role on the mini-series Roots, then to Reading Rainbow, and then to Star Trek.

For many who grew up in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, Burton was a major part of their childhood and adolescence. For him to get the role would be huge for a lot of fans of his work, regardless of when and where they discovered him.

If Burton were to get the job, he would join Frakes as a television host. Frakes was a big part of the Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction series that aired from 1997 to 2002.