LeVar Burton would not have been able to do Star Trek: Picard had he landed Jeopardy! gig

LeVar Burton may not have been able to do Star Trek: Picard had he landed Jeopardy! role.

Sometimes you fail upwards, at least that’s what seemed to happen to LeVar Burton. After the hosting duties for the popular game show Jeopardy! became available, many people, including Burton himself, were hoping the long-time host of Reading Rainbow would end up being the next host of the show.

Sadly for Burton at the time, he did not get the gig, though he did end up getting another shot at being on Star Trek with his debut on Star Trek: Picard. It was a role that not only got him back in front of the fans that loved him but also got him the rare opportunity to perform next to his actual daughter, Mica. Mica Burton was cast to play Alandra La Forge, the daughter of LeVar’s character, Geordi La Forge.

It’s a rarity that father and daughter play father and daughter on screen. It’s one of the reasons that missing out on Jeopardy! may have actually been a good thing, as LeVar tells People;

"Your failures are more important than your successes because you learn more from them. Everything happens for a reason, and it’s all purposeful and perfect. So where’s the perfection in ‘I didn’t get what I wanted’? I discovered that [it] wasn’t supposed to be mine, but the process that I went through led me to exactly where I needed to be."

People.com going further on to say;

"Had Burton landed the demanding game-show gig, the actor realizes he might not be in the place of “absolute bliss” that he’s in today: reprising one of his most beloved roles, Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Geordi La Forge, for the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+."

The Burtons got to do a once-in-a-lifetime thing on Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard will forever go down in the history of Star Trek as the one time when a family got to play an actual family on the show. It’s a wonderful and heart-warming moment in the history of the franchise, and the Burton’s got to be the ones to do it.

And to do it in what may be LeVar’s final appearance as Geordi La Forge may make the moment all the sweeter. Even if both LeVar and Mica return to the franchise, the odds of them coming back on the same show isn’t great. So it makes the moment all that much sweeter.