Following a fan petition, LeVar Burton will be a guest host on 'Jeopardy!'

Stephen Battaglio
·2 min read
LOS ANGELES, CA-MAY 9, 2016: LeVar Burton is photographed in Los Angeles on May 9, 2016. The History Channel is premiering the four-hour miniseries, "Roots," a new version of the groundbreaking 1970's miniseries about author Alex Haley tracing his ancestry of his relatives back to slavery and Africa. LeVar Burton, who played the captured African slave Kunta Kinte, is a producer of the new project. which premieres Memorial Day. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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LeVar Burton's fans are finally getting their wish as the actor has been tapped to guest host "Jeopardy!" before the game show ends its current season.

Sony Pictures Television, which produces the quiz show, announced Wednesday that Burton will be among the hosts filling in at the program's lectern before the end of the TV season.

Other upcoming guest hosts named include Fox sportscaster Joe Buck, CNBC host David Faber and "Good Morning America" co-anchors George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts.

Burton, 64, had been touted on social media as potential successor to the late Alex Trebek, who died last year. The TV show has been using guest hosts since the final Trebek episodes aired in December and has not publicly set a timetable for naming a permanent replacement.

Younger audiences grew up watching Burton on the PBS series "Reading Rainbow." He also starred in the 1977 TV miniseries "Roots" and was in the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Longtime fans had circulated a petition supporting Burton, who has expressed interest in taking the "Jeopardy!" host role permanently.

"THANK YOU... to all y’all for your passionate support!" Burton tweeted shortly after the news was announced. "I am overjoyed, excited, and eager to be guest-hosting Jeopardy!, and will do my utmost best to live up to your faith you in me."

Other upcoming guest hosts include actress Mayim Bialik, "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta and "60 Minutes" correspondent Bill Whitaker. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is the guest host this week.

Aaron Rodgers on the "Jeopardy!" set.
Aaron Rodgers at the lectern for his guest host sting on "Jeopardy!" (Carol Kaelson / Jeopardy Productions, Inc.)

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers recently finished a two-week stint as guest host and has made it known that he covets the full-time job. Rodgers is a "Celebrity Jeopardy!" champion and an obsessive fan of the program.

TV news journalist Katie Couric and talk show host Mehmet Oz have also done fill-in stints, as have "Jeopardy!" executive producer Mike Richards and the show's winningest contestant, Ken Jennings.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.