Power to the people! After a hugely-backed petition has spurred LeVar Burton to finally be installed as a host of Jeopardy!. 

As per CBS, it was announced on Wednesday that the Star Trek: The Next Generation star is joining the rank of Jeopardy! guest hosts.

The show’s former host, Alex Trebek, sadly passed away last year, leading everyone to wonder who could fill his iconic shoes (I personally was holding out hope for Will Ferrell to reprise his incredible SNL impression of Trebek on a weekly basis but he must be busy).

A rotating cast of celebrities, including an NFL quarterback (Aaron Rodgers) and a sitcom star (Mayim Bialik), took over. As the former host of Reading Rainbow for 23 years, the beloved educational children’s show, LeVar Burton just made way more sense to replace Trebek.

And so a petition was launched all the way back in November 2020 on Change.org to get Burton hired as the show’s new host. Endorsed by the legend himself, it ultimately amazingly amassed almost 250,000 signatures.

Now it’s finally all paid off. Burton is part of the next slew of temporary hosts alongside the likes of TV hosts George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts.

“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,” executive producer Mike Richards said in a press release shared by the game show.

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Burton was quick to share his absolute delight at the news on Twitter, including thanking the person who started that petition all those months ago.

And other Twitter users showed their love and appreciation for the appointment. “We must all watch this as a family to make sure the ratings show who needs to be the new host” said one person, telling you all you need to know about Burton’s popularity online.

He’s set to host Jeopardy! from July 26th to July 30th. Although it’s just a one-week stint just now, don’t bet against another petition appearing on Change.org backing the literary advocate to be made permanent host.

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