LeVar Burton Says He Will No Longer Pursue ‘Jeopardy’ Hosting Job

While on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Thursday night, LeVar Burton talked about why he is no longer pursuing the hosting spot for Jeopardy and where he hopes his career goes from here.

“The crazy thing is that when you set your sights on something…they say be careful of what you wish for, because what I found out is that it wasn’t the thing that I wanted after all,” Burton told Noah. “What I wanted was to compete. I mean, I wanted the job, right, but then, when I didn’t get it, it was, like ‘Well, okay, what’s next?’”

The Reading Rainbow host explained how despite not getting the job, more doors opened for him because of the attention he received from seeking it out in the first place.

“The opportunities that have come my way as a result of not getting that gig, I couldn’t have dreamt it up,” Burton added. “If you had given me a pen and paper and said, ‘Well, so what do you want this to really look like?’ If it doesn’t include Jeopardy, I wouldn’t have been this generous to myself.”

Burton was one of several candidates to replace the late-great Alex Trebek after he passed away late last year. Burton also cited during the interview that the heavy fan support for him kept his spirits high.

“I made it public that I wanted it for myself, that it made sense to me, and they were all about it,” he said. “It made as much sense to them as it did to me. And, so, they wanted it for me as much as I wanted it.”

The show’s executive producer Mike Richards was recently fired, shortly after he stepped down as the new permanent host. Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings have since taken on hosting duties.