LeVar Burton on why Geordi belongs in Star Trek: Picard, and why America has a long way to go on race relations

LeVar Burton as Geordi and Jonathan Del Arco as Hugh in Star Trek: The Next Generation “I, Borg”

LeVar Burton has once again teased his theoretical involvement in Star Trek: Picard. No spoilers here - he didn’t give anything away - but it’s clear that the possibility is still open.

Burton was speaking by phone to The Georgia Straight, a weekly entertainment magazine out of Vancouver, British Columbia, ahead of his appearance at this weekend’s Fan Expo Vancouver. In the interview, Burton talked about his time on Star Trek, and implied that there’s hope for us seeing his character, Geordi LaForge, on the small screen once again.

“I’m not a betting man,” he said. “But I would wager good money that you’ll probably see all the Next Gen cast at some point or another, just not all at the same time.” He went on to point out that Geordi had some very strong ties to one rather prominent Picard character. “I understand that Hugh Borg is very, very prominent in Picard,” he said. “And, you know, Geordi gave him his name. I think we’ll have to explore that at some point.”

The Georgia Straight interview wasn’t all Star Trek, though; Burton also discussed his early role in the made-for-TV movie Roots, and America’s role in the slave trade. Based on Alex Haley’s novel of the same name, Roots told the story of Kunta Kinte, a young African captured and sold into slavery in North America. It was Burton’s first ever film, and he played the lead role.

“As black people in the cast,” he said, “we knew how important it was to get it right, because the story of slavery had never before been told in America from the point of view of the enslaved. This was brand-new—it was unprecedented storytelling. I had no idea at the time that it would be as big a success as it was, and no one anticipated it becoming the cultural phenomenon that it did, in this country, or worldwide.”

He added that America still has a long way to go. “We're only just now scratching the surface on the institutional nature of racism,” Burton said, “the endemic amount of injustice that still goes on in this country based on the color of one's skin.”

While it may be an indeterminate amount of time before we see LeVar Burton back in costume as Geordi LaForge, while you wait, you can listen to Burton on his podcast LeVar Burton Reads. You can also watch his recent 6-part YouTube video, This is My Story, which explores racism through first-person narratives.

Of course, you can also see Burton in person at this weekend’s Fan Expo Vancouver, at the Vancouver Convention Center.