Whoopi Goldberg was a huge Star Trek fan, with Nichelle Nichols being an important inspiration to her. When she learned that a new Star Trek television show was being made, she asked the producers if she could appear on it, however they thought she was only joking. Goldberg then asked her friend LeVar Burton (Geordi on The Next Generation), to put her request in again, which this time worked. In 1988, Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry, created the character Guinan specifically for Goldberg to play on the show Star Trek: The Next Generation.
