star trek whoopi goldberg character

The Untold Truth Of Star Trek's Guinan

Star Trek: The Next Generation doesn't boast as many recurring characters as other Star Trek shows , but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality.  TNG 's recurring characters are some of the most memorable of the franchise. There's the trickster Q , the cybernetic Borg, and one of the most intriguing characters in the history of  Trek  — Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan.

Introduced early in  TNG 's second season, Goldberg would reprise the role close to 30 more times during the series, as well as in the Star Trek movies Generations and Nemesis . In all that time, few recurring  Trek  characters proved as mysterious as the  Enterprise 's bartender. As much as we know about Guinan, there's so much we don't. Even though her official role on Starfleet's flagship doesn't go beyond serving drinks, time and again she not only proves herself capable of so much more, but it's hinted she knows and can do more than any of us have ever imagined. So let's do our best to chip away at the edges of this enigmatic figure and see how deep we can get into the untold truth of  Star Trek 's Guinan.

Guinan is part bartender, part therapist

As the Enterprise 's bartender, we usually find Guinan in Ten Forward, the bar/lounge where many of the ship's crew members go to relax and where Guinan sees what's troubling them, no matter how hard they try to hide it. After all, Guinan is part of a nomadic species called El-Aurians. Her people are known as listeners, and members of other species often find themselves compelled to unload their problems on any nearby El-Aurians. It's not a trait all El-Aurians value, but Guinan embraces her role and offers her centuries-won wisdom whether it's asked for or not.

Guinan somehow knows exactly what demons are at her patrons' doors, and she always knows what to say and exactly how to say it. When she sees Worf's (Michael Dorn) adoptive parents gazing out the window of Ten Forward in "Family," she knows they need a friendly stranger to tell them just how constant they are in their son's thoughts. In "The Measure of a Man," when Captain Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) fights to protect the rights of his synthetic officer Data (Brent Spiner) , it's Guinan's words about how Data's potential status as Starfleet's property could lead to "whole generations of disposable people" that help Picard realize what's at stake. 

Sometimes, Guinan's silence speaks louder than anything. In "Evolution," when Wesley (Wil Wheaton) confides in Guinan that a high-tech project of his may be wreaking havoc on the Enterprise  and asks her not to tell anyone, it's Guinan's silence that reminds Wesley that he already knows what he should do.

She's a woman of many years and many talents

We don't know how old Guinan is, but we know she's old —  very  old, by human standards. With a few noteworthy exceptions, at any given time she's likely  the  oldest person on the  Enterprise . In the two-part "Time's Arrow," Data finds Guinan in 19th-century America as an acquaintance of the famous author Samuel Clemens, better known as his alias Mark Twain. So she's at least 500 years old, and it's likely you can add at least 100 or so years on that since she's an adult when Data sees her while time-traveling. From her cameo in  Star Trek: Nemesis , we know she's been married 23 times, and while we don't know exactly how many children she has, towards the end of "Evolution," she puts the number roughly at "a lot." 

Guinan's many years have afforded her time to learn a lot of things you wouldn't necessarily expect of her upon first glance. For example, during  TNG , she proves that she's not timid about using firearms under the right circumstances. In "Redemption," when she interrupts Worf's shooting range program to remind him of his responsibilities to himself and his son, she first asks to join him in target practice. When Worf warns her that he practices at level 14, Guinan says, "I guess I could come down to that level for a while." She beats his score easily, before doling out some much-needed wisdom.   

Guinan has a mysterious sixth sense

Guinan has a mysterious sixth sense, and the members of the  Enterprise  crew have learned to trust it. For example, in "Q Who," when Geordi (Levar Burton) notices that Guinan seems preoccupied, he asks her if everything is alright. She says, "I don't know," and even though he's off-duty, that brief answer is all Geordi needs to hurry back to engineering to check on the ship.

Guinan's intuition is more important than ever in one of the very best TNG episodes , "Yesterday's Enterprise," when the arrival of the time-lost Enterprise -C changes the timeline so that, among other things, Starfleet is fighting a losing war against the Klingons and Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) — who was killed in the first season — is still alive. While all of the other characters react as if the events of their time are normal, Guinan is overcome with the sense that something is wrong. In particular, the presence of Tasha disturbs her, as Guinan intuitively senses Yar doesn't belong there. 

Some fans believe her sixth sense is explained by 1994's Star Trek: Generations . Early in the film, Guinan and other El-Aurians are beamed out of a place called the Nexus, in which time has no meaning. When Picard later enters the Nexus, he finds an "echo" of Guinan there. It's the existence of this echo that some people think allows her to sense when there's something wrong with the timeline.

For unknown reasons, she's an enemy of Q

More than any other scene in  TNG , an interaction in season two's "Q Who" hints that there's a lot more to Guinan than we know. When the trickster entity Q (John de Lancie) brings Captain Picard to Ten Forward, Guinan and Q recognize each other, and they're  not  buddies. Q calls Guinan "an imp" whom trouble follows. When he hears Picard use Guinan's name, Q asks if that's what she's calling herself now — suggesting she's used other names in the past. 

But arguably the most intriguing thing about the scene is that Q seems genuinely threatened by Guinan. He offers to remove her from the Enterprise ,   and Guinan raises her hands in response, suggesting she could somehow protect herself from Q. Considering the absolutely godlike things we've seen Q accomplish, the notion that Guinan could defend herself against such unthinkable power is very intriguing.

During her time on the  Enterprise , Guinan doesn't reveal darker feelings for many people, but Q is a definite exception. In the later episode "Deja Q," when Q says he's been de-powered by the Q Continuum, Guinan tests his claim by stabbing him in the hand with a fork. However, we never learn exactly how Q and Guinan first met or under what circumstances, though at the 2016  Star Trek  50th Anniversary Convention, Whoopi Goldberg suggested they may have dated, even joking one of her children could be half Q.

Her ties to Picard go 'beyond friendship, beyond family'

There's been a good deal of speculation about the nature of the relationship between Guinan and Jean-Luc Picard. And as most things go when it comes the enigmatic El-Aurian, we don't have any firm answers. 

A few hints are dropped here and there during  TNG  that Picard and Guinan's relationship might have at one point been romantic. After Picard is assimilated by the Borg in "The Best of Both Worlds," Guinan tells Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) that her ties to Picard go "beyond friendship, beyond family." Granted, that doesn't necessarily mean there's anything intimate going on. Guinan could just mean they have a very close friendship. However, in the earlier episode "Booby Trap," as she's talking to Geordi about his relationship woes, Guinan confesses she's attracted to bald men, and of course,  TNG  does have one pretty well-known bald guy.

But Goldberg has a different insight. The actress said Gene Roddenberry had suggested to her that, because of Guinan's age, she could be the ancestor of other characters on the show. At the 2016  Star Trek  50th Anniversary Convention,  she told the crowd , "I always assumed Picard was one of my great-great-great-great-great grandkids." Though never confirmed in any of the series or movies, it's an interesting idea, and were it to prove accurate, it opens up the question of whether or not Picard knows she's his ancestor.

Whoopi Goldberg was inspired by another Star Trek character

One of the main reasons Goldberg worked so hard to get a role on  TNG  was the inspiration she found in the form on Nichelle Nichols' Lt. Uhura. The communications officer on the first  Star Trek  series was a rarity in 1960s television — a black woman who wasn't only in space, but who was one of the most important members of the crew.

Nichols told NPR in 2011 that she had the chance to meet Goldberg for the first time while the latter was working on  TNG . She said Goldberg told her when the young actress first saw Lt. Uhura on TV, she happily ran through the house yelling that there was a black woman on TV, "and she ain't no maid." Nichols said, "And that did something to my heart, so I knew that I had made the right decision."

By "the right decision," Nichols referred to an encounter she had with Martin Luther King, Jr during which the historic activist insisted she could not — as she was considering — leave the cast of  Star Trek.  King told Nichols that because of her presence on the show, for the first time on television, African-Americans were "being seen the world over as we should be seen." He added because of her,  Star Trek  was the only show he and his wife allowed their children to watch. 

Guinan was one of Gene Roddenberry's last gifts to us

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of both  Star Trek  and  TNG , died in 1991, a little over a month before the release of the final original crew-only  Trek  film,  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .  TNG  continued on for three more years ,  and more regular series and films would be inspired by the utopian narrative Roddenberry forged in 1966. 

And on a 2020 episode of  The View , Goldberg and Patrick Stewart confirmed that the enigmatic alien bartender who gave so much of her wisdom to the  Enterprise  crew was the last recurring character Gene Roddenberry created for  Trek  before his passing. On The View ,   Goldberg said , "I think [Guinan] might have been the last character that Gene created. That he actually created. I think that might be mine." Stewart agreed, saying, "I would say the true lasting character that we saw again and again and again." And it's fitting that a man whose creative expression was so concerned with the future would create, for his final addition to  TNG , a character who would potentially see further into the future than any of his other  Trek  creations.

We almost met one of her sons

If you've watched  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , you almost met one of Guinan's children. In the DS9  second season episode "Rivals," we encounter Martus Mazur (Chris Sarandon), an El-Alurian con artist. Mazur doesn't embrace his species' role as "listeners." For the most part, he uses his "listening" to con strangers out of as much money as he can get, but otherwise, he resents being the object of unwanted conversation. According to  The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion , Mazur was originally meant to be Guinan's son. Goldberg was going to reprise her role as Guinan in the 1994 episode, presumably to help clean up after the havoc Mazur wreaks. When scheduling prevented her from appearing, all mention of Guinan was removed from the script. 

It's possible Mazur was at least partly conceived much earlier than his DS9  appearance. In the 1989  TNG  episode "Evolution," when Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) asks Guinan if she had trouble relating to any of her children, Guinan says there was one who "wouldn't listen to anybody." She adds it took "several hundred years" before she "managed to bring him around." Maybe she didn't "bring him around" as well as she thought she did? The fact that Michael Piller is one of the two credited writers on both "Evolution" and "Rivals" adds at least a little fuel to the theory. 

She was named after an old-timey actress

Because of her reputation as a comedic actor, Whoopi Goldberg's early campaigning to join the cast of  TNG  wasn't taken seriously . When Gene Roddenberry realized Goldberg wasn't playing a practical joke on the Trek  crew, he chose a name for Goldberg's character that not only reflected Guinan's profession but had meaning for women in film.

The Enterprise  bartender Guinan is named after the real-life Texas Guinan , a vaudeville actress, film producer, and speakeasy hostess and singer. The real Guinan appeared in over 30 silent films between 1917 and 1921. She also appeared in a pair of sound films, 1933's  Broadway Thru a Keyhole and 1929's  Queen of the Night Clubs. In the 1929 film, she played a fictionalized version of herself. 

It's most likely that Roddenberry was tapping into her "queen of the night clubs" reputation when naming Goldberg's character. Texas Guinan's prohibition-era hostess work included her well-known catch phrase, "Hello, sucker! Come on in and leave your wallet on the bar." Goldberg's Guinan never got to use that line, though considering her different tone — and the fact that money apparently doesn't exist in  TNG 's Federation — it's probably for the best.

Guinan wants to be on Discovery

The 2017 premiere of  Star Trek: Discovery  began a new era for the franchise's television life, and that fact didn't escape Whoopi Goldberg. As early as a year before  Discovery 's release, Goldberg made it clear she wanted to be a part of this new age of  Trek  storytelling. At the 2016  Star Trek 50th Anniversary Convention, Golberg told the crowd she was campaigning for a spot on the new series, and that she was starting a new Twitter hashtag —  #BringBackGuinan  — to help her cause. Rod Roddenberry, the  Star Trek  creator's son and a producer on  Discovery , was there and seemed receptive to the idea. 

While Discovery takes place before the events of the original Star Trek series, there's no reason Guinan's appearance on Discovery would hurt continuity or need any kind of time travel to be facilitated. As Goldberg said, "The great thing that Gene did for me was he wrote a character that can appear anytime, anywhere." From  TNG 's two-parter "Time's Arrow," we already know Guinan was alive during Earth's 19th century. If that's the case, then she's  somewhere  in the galaxy during the events of  Discovery . Time will tell if we ever get to see the El-Aurian interact with Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) or anyone else on the  Discovery  crew.

Guinan will return in Star Trek: Picard

In January 2020,  Star Trek: Picard premiered on CBS All Access with Patrick Stewart reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard, now retired from Starfleet but called back to adventure after a mysterious young woman shows up at his home in France. The day before  Picard 's premiere, Stewart appeared on  The View  —  of which Whoopi Goldberg is a co-host —   and he didn't come just to promote but to recruit. 

Shortly after sitting down, Stewart said, "I have something I need to bring up, if that's okay. I'm here with a formal invitation." The invitation was for Goldberg to reprise her role as Guinan on the second season of  Star Trek: Picard . Goldberg's response was immediate and emotional. She shouted, "Yes, yes!" and embraced Stewart. During the rest of the segment, she seemed to be having trouble holding back tears. " Star Trek was one of the great experiences from the beginning to the end," Goldberg told the audience. "I had the best, best, best time. Best time ever."

As of the writing of this article, the first season of  Picard  has yet to conclude. So we'll have to wait and see how much time Guinan gets in season two and whether or not any of the many questions about Guinan will be answered. Considering the mystery surrounding the character is one of her more appealing traits, it's tough to decide whether we want any answers or not.

Whoopi Goldberg

• View history

Whoopi Goldberg ( born 13 November 1955 ; age 68) is an actor and comedian who portrayed Guinan on occasion from Season 2 through Season 6 of Star Trek: The Next Generation . She reprised the role (uncredited both times) in Star Trek Generations and Star Trek Nemesis and two episodes of Star Trek: Picard . She earned a Saturn Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for her appearance in Generations .

Goldberg was born in New York City, New York, as Caryn Elaine Johnson . As a young girl, she saw Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek: The Original Series and ran to her mother, shouting, " There's a black lady on TV and she ain't no maid! " She was eager to appear in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and there was some discussion about her possibly portraying a Klingon princess, though the idea was declined by Leonard Nimoy . ( The View from the Bridge , hardcover ed., p. 211) Goldberg is a "huge fan" of The Next Generation and was eager to star in the show. She was later responsible for getting Dwight Schultz his role as Reginald Barclay on The Next Generation , having co-starred with Schultz in the 1990 film The Long Walk Home . [1] (X)

Director Les Landau recalls, " Whoopi is a pleasure to work with. She's very, very creative and inventive. From a personal point-of-view, what was really thrilling was that I was the first director in Hollywood to work with Whoopi after she won the [Best Supporting Actress] Oscar for Ghost . Whoopi is enthusiastic. Whenever she gets on the set, she knows how to approach the scene. And her instincts are generally right. " ( The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 21 , p. 46)

The writers of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine second season episode " Rivals " intended the character of Martus Mazur to be a son of Guinan who was also to appear in the episode, but Whoopi Goldberg was unavailable. ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion  (p. 109)) Both she and Chris Sarandon , who was cast to play the rewritten character, appeared in the 1996 motion picture Bordello of Blood . DS9 guest star William Sadler also starred in the movie.

Goldberg dated and lived with DS9 guest actor Frank Langella for five years, from 1996 through 2000. The two met on the set of the 1996 comic film Eddie . [2]

• 2 Appearances as Guinan
• 3 Additional appearances
• 4 Star Trek interviews
• 5 External links

Goldberg trained under famed acting teacher Uta Hagen at the HB Studio in New York. A comedic and acting talent since the 1980s, Goldberg made her first screen appearance in the 1981 ensemble film Citizen: I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm Giving It Away , opposite Darryl Henriques . In 1983, she conceived her own one-woman play, The Spook Show . The play was brought to Broadway in October 1984, simply titled Whoopi Goldberg , and ran for 156 performances through March 1985. The production won Goldberg a Theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One Person Show.

Goldberg's breakthrough film role came with her portrayal of Celie Johnson in Steven Spielberg 's 1985 drama, The Color Purple opposite Leon Rippy . She earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in this film. Also earning Oscar nominations for their work in this film were set designer Linda DeScenna and music adaptor Fred Steiner .

In addition to her Oscar nomination, Goldberg won a Golden Globe, an Image Award, and a National Board of Review for her role in The Color Purple . She followed this film with an Emmy Award-nominated guest appearance on Moonlighting . In the latter half of the 1980s, Goldberg starred in six feature films, including Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986, co-starring Stephen Collins and Carol Kane , with cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti ), Fatal Beauty (1987, with Brad Dourif and Harris Yulin ), and Homer and Eddie (1989, featuring Tony Epper , Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr. , Nancy Parsons , Jimmie F. Skaggs , Vincent Schiavelli , and Tracey Walter ; production management by Marty Hornstein ).

Since the 1980s, Goldberg has been hosting the Comic Relief HBO specials with fellow comics Billy Crystal and Robin Williams . The fourth show featured actress Pam Pruitt-McGeary . The three of them shared an Emmy nomination for hosting 1995's Comic Relief VII . During one of the Comic Relief specials, the bridge crew of the USS Enterprise -D finds an old VHS cassette of the special, including a screen capture of the three hosts, mispronouncing her name as "Whoo-pie" and noticing, but dismissing, the resemblance to Guinan.

Goldberg with Patrick Stewart on the set of "The Child" in 1988

She received her second Academy Award nomination – and her first win – for her supporting role as psychic Oda Mae Brown in the 1990 film Ghost , which also starred Stephen Root and Vincent Schiavelli. Other awards she won for this role include a Golden Globe, an Image Award, a Saturn Award (from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films), and a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award. Goldberg later received an Emmy Award nomination (her second) for a 1991 guest appearance on A Different World .

Among Goldberg's best known starring roles is that of Delores Van Cartier, aka "Sister Mary Clarence", in the 1992 comedy Sister Act , for which she won an Image Award and received nominations from the Golden Globes and the MTV Movie Awards. She reprised the role for Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). Her other film credits during the early 1990s include Soapdish (1991, with Teri Hatcher ), Made in America (1993, co-starring Clyde Kusatsu ), and Corrina, Corrina (1994, featuring Brent Spiner ). She also had a cameo at the beginning of Loaded Weapon 1 (1993, starring William Shatner ).

Goldberg hosted the Academy Awards ceremony in 1994 and again in 1996. She received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for both occasions.

Goldberg was among the many Star Trek performers to appear in Ghosts of Mississippi (1996, with Bill Cobbs , Spencer Garrett , Jerry Hardin , Thomas Kopache , Jordan Lund , Virginia Madsen , Terry O'Quinn , Brock Peters , Richard Riehle , Bill Smitrovich , and Susanna Thompson ). Goldberg followed this with supporting roles in such films as How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), and Girl, Interrupted (1999, starring Winona Ryder ) and Rat Race (2001, featuring Lanei Chapman Peggy Jo Jacobs and Andrew Kavovit ). That same year, Goldberg made a cameo appearance in The Hollywood Sign , starring Dominic Keating .

Goldberg has also lent her voices to a number of projects. Perhaps most notable among these is her voice role as Shenzi the hyena in The Lion King (1994, with Madge Sinclair voicing Sarabi). She also voiced Gaia on the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers , working with her Next Generation co-star LeVar Burton .

In The Pagemaster that same year, Goldberg and her Next Generation co-star Patrick Stewart and voice artist Frank Welker were heard as a trio of talking books. Christopher Lloyd starred and voiced in this film, as well, while George Hearn , Robert Picardo , and Leonard Nimoy also had voice roles; Ed Begley, Jr. had an acting role in the film. More recent voice credits include as a ranger in 1998's The Rugrats Movie and the voice of the title reindeer in LeVar Burton's Blizzard .

From 1998 through 2002, Goldberg was the producer of the popular game show Hollywood Squares . She also regularly occupied the famous "center square" on the show. Goldberg received four Daytime Emmy Award nominations as the show's producer.

Goldberg shared a Tony Award as one of the producers of the Broadway play, Thoroughly Modern Millie . She also won a Daytime Emmy Award as host of the 2001 TV documentary Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel . She earned her latest Emmy nomination for a 2005 televised broadcast of the revival of her one-person play entitled Whoopi: Back to Broadway – The 20th Anniversary .

In August 2007, it was announced that Goldberg will become the new moderator on the ABC talk show The View , replacing the controversial Rosie O'Donnell . Goldberg joined the show on 4 September. [3] [4]

Goldberg hosted the 62nd Annual Tony Awards at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City on 15 June 2008. Her TNG co-star, Patrick Stewart, was a 2008 nominee for his performance in the Broadway production of Macbeth . [5] [6]

Goldberg appeared in the 2010 film For Colored Girls written and directed by Tyler Perry .

Appearances as Guinan [ ]

• " The Child " ( Season 2 )
• " The Outrageous Okona "
• " The Measure Of A Man "
• " The Dauphin "
• " Shades of Gray " (archive footage from "The Dauphin")
• " Evolution " ( Season 3 )
• " Booby Trap "
• " Yesterday's Enterprise "
• " The Offspring "
• " Hollow Pursuits "
• " The Best of Both Worlds "
• " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II " ( Season 4 )
• " The Loss "
• " Galaxy's Child "
• " Night Terrors "
• " In Theory "
• " Redemption "
• " Redemption II " ( Season 5 )
• " Ensign Ro "
• " Imaginary Friend "
• " Time's Arrow "
• " Time's Arrow, Part II " ( Season 6 )
• " Rascals "
• " Suspicions "
• Star Trek Generations (uncredited)
• Star Trek Nemesis (uncredited)
• " The Star Gazer "
• " Farewell "

Additional appearances [ ]

Star Trek interviews [ ]

• TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Two" ("Whoopi Goldberg", " Gene Roddenberry "), interviewed on 20 September 1988
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Three" (" Guinan Returns"), interviewed on 6 December 2001
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry" ("Gene Roddenberry Building Dedicated to Star Trek's Creator", "Gene's Final Voyage"), interviewed on 6 June 1991 and 6 December 2001
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Six" ("Resolving the Cliffhanger"), interviewed on 6 December 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Starfleet Moments & Memories Year Seven" ("A Unique Legacy", "A Unique Family"), interviewed on 6 December 2001

External links [ ]

• Whoopi Goldberg  at Instagram
• Whoopi Goldberg at the Internet Broadway Database
• Whoopi Goldberg at the Internet Movie Database
• Whoopi Goldberg at Wikipedia
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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See Whoopi Goldberg reprise her beloved Star Trek role as Guinan on Picard

The cohost of The View originated the role on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Editor at Large for Entertainment Weekly, host of Outlander Live! on EW Radio, and Mark Harmon enthusiast. Yes, I know the guacamole is extra.

The latest trailer has dropped for the upcoming season of Paramount+'s Star Trek: Picard , and it comes with a visit from an old friend. Somebody prep the Earl Grey!

Whoopi Goldberg is back as Guinan, the role she originated on Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1988 to 1993. But before she helps Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) understand the change in time, she's going to need some piping hot tea.

"Your answers are not in the stars," she says to Picard. "And they never have been."

The trailer also features a lovely view of downtown Los Angeles and a little boy who gets an unwanted face massage. And what's in that ampule, Q ?

Goldberg's starring role on Picard seems to hearken back to a 2020 appearance by Stewart on The View . "I'm here with a formal invitation, and it's for you, Whoopi," Stewart said at the time. "Alex Kurtzman, who is the senior executive producer of Star Trek: Picard , and all his colleagues, of which I am one, want to invite you into the second season."

"I've said this on the show before, but Star Trek was one of the great experiences, from the beginning to the end," Goldberg said, who appeared to choke up. "I had the best, best, best time ever."

The season 2 cast of Picard includes Alison Pill, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera, Annie Werschling, Jeri Ryan, Isa Briones, Evan Evagora, Michelle Hurd, Orla Brady , and Brent Spiner. On the season, Picard and his crew will travel to the past in an attempt to solve the ills of the 21st Century.

Picard will begin its second season on Thursday, March 3. New episodes will drop weekly on Thursdays. The series is already in production on the third season.

Watch the season 2 trailer below.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly 's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• Watch Whoopi Goldberg lose it as Patrick Stewart asks her to join Star Trek: Picard season 2
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‘star trek: picard’ season 2 trailer shows return of whoopi goldberg as guinan.

Check out the first look at the beloved character's return to the franchise.

By James Hibberd

James Hibberd

Writer-at-Large

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Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg returns to the Star Trek universe in the official season two trailer for Star Trek: Picard .

Below is a first look at Goldberg’s Guinan as she counsels Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) after he’s plunged into an alternative timeline by the powerful Q (John de Lancie):

In the new season, Picard and his crew take a “bold and exciting new journey: into the past. Picard must enlist friends both old and new to confront the perils of 21st century Earth in a desperate race against time to save the galaxy’s future — and face the ultimate trial from one of his greatest foes.”

Guinan was first introduced as a recurring character in Star Trek: The Next Generation .

The series is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment. For season two, Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, Terry Matalas, Patrick Stewart, Heather Kadin, Aaron Baiers, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Doug Aarniokoski and Dylan Massin serve as executive producers. Goldsman and Matalas serve as co-showrunners.

Other castmembers include Alison Pill, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Orla Brady, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera and Brent Spiner.

Picard season two premieres Thursday, March 3, on Paramount+. New episodes of the 10-episode season will drop weekly.  

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Patrick Stewart Invites Whoopi Goldberg to Join ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2

By Adam B. Vary

Adam B. Vary

Senior Entertainment Writer

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In an emotional moment on Wednesday’s episode of “ The View ,” Patrick Stewart invited Whoopi Goldberg to appear on the second season of CBS All Access’ “ Star Trek: Picard ,” reprising her character of Guinan from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Goldberg — who quickly and gladly accepted — appeared to be totally surprised by Stewart’s offer, which he said was a “formal invitation” from himself and “Picard” executive producer Alex Kurtzman.

“‘Star Trek’ was one of the great experiences from the beginning to the end,” Goldberg said with an enormous grin. “I had the best, best, best time. Best time ever!”

“Well, it was wonderful having you, and we cannot wait to have you with us again one more time,” Stewart replied.

Goldberg’s first joined “The Next Generation” in 1988 for the show’s second season as Guinan, the bartender of Ten Forward, the social nexus of the Enterprise, and the character quickly became a regular fixture on the show. Goldberg appeared in 29 episodes over the seven-season run of “TNG,” including some of the most beloved “TNG” episodes of all time — “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” “The Best of Both Worlds” and “I, Borg” — as well as the feature films “Star Trek: Generations” and “Star Trek: Nemesis.”

The series premiere of “Picard” debuts on CBS All Access on Thursday, but last month the streamer renewed the show for a second season. Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera, Michelle Hurd, Alison Pill, Harry Treadaway and Evan Evagora also star on the show, and “Star Trek” alums Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Jeri Ryan and Jonathan Del Arco will all reprise their roles on Season 1.

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When “The View” co-host Joy Behar asked Stewart if Goldberg would have to lose the blonde twists in her hair, Stewart made clear the terms of Goldberg’s appearance.

“She can do whatever the hell she wants,” he said.

You can watch the full exchange below.

. @SirPatStew officially invites @WhoopiGoldberg to join season two of #StarTrekPicard : “It was wonderful having you, and we cannot wait to have you with us again one more time.” https://t.co/f8u2wbJuik #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/mxOtyJxF63 — The View (@TheView) January 22, 2020

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Star Trek: Picard : Whoopi Goldberg to Return as Next Generation ‘s Guinan in Season 2 — Watch a New Trailer

Keisha hatchett, staff editor.

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Another familiar face is headed to Star Trek: Picard in Season 2.

Paramount+ has dropped the official trailer for the upcoming season, which you can check out above, featuring Whoopi Goldberg reprising her Next Generation role as Guinan.

The sneak peek finds Picard turning to his longtime friend for advice after Q presents him with one of his signature enigmatic tests.

See below for a full photo of Guinan back in action.

Goldberg recurred as the beloved bartender in Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 2-6, and appeared in the films Star Trek: Generations  and Star Trek: Nemesis .

New episodes of Picard , premiering Thursday, March 3, take the legendary captain and his crew on a journey into the past. Picard must “enlist friends both old and new to confront the perils of 21st century Earth in a desperate race against time to save the galaxy’s future — and face the ultimate trial from one of his greatest foes,” per the official description.

The upcoming season will see John de Lancie reprise his role as Q, the omnipotent shapeshifter who reveled in testing Picard. Plus, Annie Wersching ( Bosch , The Vampire Diaries ) will recur as the Borg Queen, the infamous villain first introduced in the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact (played then by Alice Krige).

The Season 2 cast also includes Alison Pill (back as Dr. Agnes Jurati), Isa Briones (Dahj and Soji Asha), Evan Evagora (Elnor), Michelle Hurd (Rafaella “Raffi” Musiker), Santiago Cabrera (Cristobal “Chris” Rios), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Orla Brady (Laris) and Brent Spiner (Data/Dr. Altan Inigo Soong).

Are you excited for Whoopi Goldberg’s return in Star Trek: Picard ? Sound off in the comments.

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51 comments.

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Oh boy, a full-on time travel plot. Ambitious, but risky. Some of Trek’s most memorable moments have been time travel adventures, but also its least scientifically plausible. We’ll see how the concept holds up under modern storytelling sensibilities. I suppose it helps that Q is involved. That really lets them do whatever they want and then just literally hand-wave it away.

I like that Q has always had a soft spot for humanity and that his tests always have a purpose.

I had always liked Guinan on the original TNG series but Goldberg’ss acting in this new trailer was stiff and felt uninspiring. I just remember some of Guinan’s memorable speeches to Picard, especially in the episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise”. It’s painfully obvious that the new writers for these rebranded ‘Star Trek’ streaming shows are just as uninspiring as their writing and the acting. They should have left these legacy characters where they were and not have brought them back. Least STD doesn’t use legacy actors who portrayed their characters.

Worst mistake ever to bring Goldberg on to the show. Lost me as a viewer.

Worst mistake ever? You make it sound like they cast Bill Cosby or something. I feel like most true TNG fans have a soft spot for Guinan, and for good reason.

Guinan was everything to the crew that Troi should have been. . Loved her and can’t wait for this.

Why do I get the feeling that WD doesn’t realize that Whoopi has been a part of Star Trek since 1988?

Either that, or whatever grudges he has against her (whether they are racial, gender, or politics-based) would also apply to half of the other actors in Hollywood too, but he’s chosen to focus his prejudices on Ms. Goldberg for whatever reason?

Star Trek is based on tolerance and diversity. If you’re not a fan of those, you really don’t understand the franchise.

Not to mention her character has a timeless friendship with Picard. Wasn’t it something like 18th Century England when they first encountered one another?(At least to her?). She waited a generation to be aboard his ship and for him to be born and reunite with him. Time stuff works so weird haha.

as it was mentioned she recurred from seasons 2 to 6 and also was in the first and last next generation

Would bet cash that his issue is that she’s liberal.

The entire cast of Star Trek shows are liberal which is true to the characters they play too.

I’d be careful with that whole “entire cast of Star Trek shows are liberal” comments. Marina Sirtis (Troi) showed her true colors on twitter last year when she came out in defense of not only Piers Morgan, but defended Prince Andrew against the s** trafficking allegations. I would hardly call a royalist who defends a man’s rantings, railings, & attacks against a black woman AND defends a pedo****, a liberal.

Sirtis has been very vocal about her anti-Trump and anti-Brexit feelings. The only thing she agreed with Piers Morgan about was Harry & Megan—and she prefixed that agreement with “What is the world coming to? I agree with [Piers Morgan]” So yeah, she’s pretty unabashedly liberal.

For whatever reason I can’t reply to Simon’s comments so my follow up goes here:

She agreed with a man when he said a woman was lying about her mental health. She defended a pedo****. Being anti-Tump and anti-Brexit does not automatically equate to liberal. JKR is very vocally anti-Trump and she is most certainly NOT a liberal.

“Hey ⁦⁦@tedcruz⁩, lefty liberal here holding her OWN Bible. Didn’t have to borrow one like the president.” -@Marina_Sirtis Jun 2, 2020 . But sure, @Web you *definitely* know her politics better than she does herself. SMH.

The husband is a HUGE fan of Whoopie’s daytime show, only him and he never misses an episode, but he never watches scifi stuff. I am the one that read every scifi short story and novel since the beginning of the genre way back when up to the 80’s and a real scifi tv junkie. There might be other things at play with that comment, here. Peace, Man/Everyone! Super cool the Guinan character is back. With everyone rushing around, it was always fun for a take-a-deep-breath character.

OP doesn’t like Whoopi Goldberg and you basically call him a racist. Newsflash: people are allowed to dislike actors without it being about race. People like you who make unsubstantiated claims of racism are as big a problem as racists themselves.

@Ellen – The OP has not provided any explanation for why tons of other former ST actors have returned to Picard but somehow Whoopi doing so is “the worst mistake ever.” You may theorize it’s a simple matter of “dislike,” but there’s no particular reason why that guess should be any more accurate than other explanations offered—especially given the OP’s evident rancor.

People often hide racism under thinly veiled criticism because they don’t want others to see them for what they are.

@Snow: So very true. You see it here quite often. There is one female poster here who gets bent out of shape if there is one gay character or if an interracial relationship is depicted. I don’t understand these people. But hey, I have given up trying to do so.

And u were the most important viewer according to you .. LOL

Seven of Nine looks like she kicks serious butt this season

“Video not available”.

check youtube

Thanks – found it😀

Aahhh! That just made me more excited than I thought I would be

Love that Guinan will be back! Whoopi playing Whoopi? Looks like it will be a great season.

❤ EGOT winning Whoopi… anywhere is always better with her unparalleled talents on display!

She’s not really an EGOT. Her Emmy is actually a *daytime* Emmy. Those are a joke and don’t really count.

Bitter, party of one!

Apparently those ‘joke awards’ matter to show biz historians (and every performer/crew talent who was ever nominated and/or won). But thanks for your condescending opinion, Amanda. How is it up there in the ivory tower?

Happy to see Guinan again. Let’s learn more of Guinan’s past and give her some powers. She was supposed to have powers in the original.

Whoppi back as Guinan? I’m in. I loved the first season of “Picard.” Looking forward to this season.

Awesome, can’t wait!

Didn’t Patrick Stewart appear on The View and invite Whoopi to appear on Picard? IIRC, she quickly said yes to him.

Yes, I watch The View every weekday and remember that episode well. Whoopi was giggling while the audience (they had one in studio that day) applauded wildly and chanted in encouragement. Whoopi and Sir Pat are longtime genuine buddies in real life, too.

Yes, I was watching that day as well.

They already had me sold on Season 2 with Q. I’ve always loved his character. :D I needed nothing else. Guinan is a bonus. Huzzah!

Agree completely.

So excited! Both Q and Guinan are back!

I hope they will expand on the relationship between Guinan and Q. The two have an unspoken history I would love to see explored.

I’m hoping we learn about their history as well as more about Guinan’s past. I’m truly excited to see her again with Picard.

I’ll admit this looks intriguing. I just hope it’s better than the disappointing first season.

to each hir own I guess….with the exception of that ‘Casino Boogie Nights’ episode, I thought S1 was solid…it was definitely JEAN-LUC 2.0 without being TNG 2.0 (which I wouldn’t have minded)

Yay for more Laris! What about Zhaban? Be good to see both of them featured more prominently in season 2.

Agreed! I loved Laris & Zhaban together. Laris & Picard have a special friendship as well, like chosen family. Here’s hoping they’ll be around for more than one episode.

Heck yes..What took so long? Guinan has always been a mystery character in the Star Trek universe. From a wise, long living race of star seekers forced to do so when their homeland was destroyed. Not to mention the mysterious connection that is still unspoken between Picard and Guinan. How are they related? She has always been like his physical subconscious mind in order to reach a solution in a crisis. An unspoken language between the two of them. Bravo! Brava! Writers hop to it. “Make It So!”

Much more excited about Guinan than Q! . And you can never have too much of Seven of Nine kicking ass.

Thrilled! LOVE Whoopi & Guinan was my favorite character on TNG after Picard. They work together so well, especially the mystery element of their past. Look forward to see where Picard 2 goes with this.

Star Trek Picard season 2 it’s not about race.

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Whoopi Goldberg Talks About Joining ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Season 2

| January 4, 2021 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 32 comments so far

Last January when appearing on The View to promote the first season of Star Trek: Picard , Sir Patrick Stewart formally invited Whoopi Goldberg to appear in season two, reprising her Star Trek: The Next Generation role of Guinan. Now the EGOT -winner is talking a little bit about doing just that.

Goldberg excited about joining Picard

The latest issue of SFX Magazine includes a brief interview with Goldberg promoting the CBS All Access mini-series The Stand where she talked about how Star Trek was her entry into genre fiction, and how thrilled she was to get the opportunity to join TNG as Guinan. Goldberg then brought up Picard in response to a follow-up question on if she was watching Star Trek: Discovery:

No, I haven’t seen [ Discovery ] – but I did watch the first season of Picard , which was great. From time to time, I talk to Patrick [Stewart] about Star Trek. Hopefully, I will be joining their cast for a little while next year. I’m very excited about that.

Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail in The Stand

The Goldberg interview was conducted in 2020 so her “next year” comment is actually this year and we’ve recently reported that production on Picard season two is planned to start on February 1st . Goldberg talking about joining the cast “for a little while” is intriguing. This could indicate a more substantial role than just a single episode.

As for her comment about “hopefully” returning, perhaps Whoopi is just playing it safe with her NDA, but season one showrunner and season two writer Michael Chabon talked about preparing to write scenes for Goldberg’s Guinan last March:

“It’s amazing,” Chabon tells  THR  about the prospect of writing scenes between Picard and Guinan. (He’s currently in the early days of writing season two episodes now.) “I’ve gone back to rewatch some of the more key Guinan episodes from  Next Gen , the major Picard and Guinan moments. She’s such an amazing actor; I can’t wait.”

Patrick Stewart as Picard and Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan in Star Trek: Generations

Guinan’s role in Picard could be something personal or to do with her history with Jean-Luc Picard.  It was established on Star Trek: The Next Generation that Picard and Guinan were very close. Picard once described their relationship as “beyond friendship and beyond family.”

There could also be a story related to her race, the mysterious and long-lived El-Aurians. They had been almost wiped out by the Borg, and former Borg played an important part in season one, including Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) who is returning in season two. Guinan also demonstrated some special abilities, such as being able to detect changes in timelines and even some kind of defense against the god-like Q. It was also established that Guinan and Q had some adversarial history, and John de Lancie recently hinted he may be returning to Star Trek, so seeing them together again is a possibility.

Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan and John de Lancie as Q in “Deja Q”

ICYMI: Patrick invites Whoopi to join Picard S2

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WB, Disney and CBS have all apparently extended Holiday filming breaks on in production LA based TV shows and delayed the start dates of up coming productions because of the strain on the county’s hospital system from the current COVID-19 surge. So, that February start date might be a little soft now, unless Sir Patrick has changed his mind about filming in LA.

Yeah, that’s pretty optimistic. California is an absolute hot zone right now and all production is suspended for now.

For some asinine reason, we in the film industry were classified as ‘essential’ workers. Productions are still going all over the place. Unless there is an outbreak in the cast/crew, you can be sure they’re going ahead with production.

California is in a bad situation.

Many other places as well — rough times are still very much at hand, and I suspect we haven’t quite managed to rock bottom yet.

I say No Chance. Stewart is would be classed as very high risk from this virus. And even if he has been vaccinated I doubt that he would still be allowed to film with fellow cast members who are not vaccinated. There is still a small element of doubt on if the vaccines are even working as well as scientists are hoping they will.

I love Guinan, but I am deeply skeptical they will do anything worthwhile with her on this show. Sure would love to be wrong.

I’m tipping they’ll turn her into an android also. It’s only logical.

I share your skepticism.

I actually thought she worked quite well in Generations the film even though lots of fans hated the Nexus as a concept. She at least helped to add a little bit of punch and mystery to it being the excellent actress she is, as a lesser actress would have just totally compounded the concept into a ditch even bigger than what it already is as we know it to be.

She could have been used more in Nemesis when you think about it, considering the confrontation Picard was having to deal with. She could have been utilised in a similar fashion to how she was used in I, Borg from S5 of TNG.

Forced to disagree. She is a weak character but she worked in Generations. Mainly because Soran was of her race. And it she was in and aware of the Nexus. Nemesis would have been very difficult to squeeze her in. In fact, I think she would have just gotten in the way. The main issue in that film was nature vs nurture. The Picard clone and the Data clone. I honestly do not see how she would have fit.

Well, every character on Picard was well-used and explored (except perhaps poor Icheb), so I have little doubt that Whoopi’s character will be well incorporated. You don’t cast a multi-award-winning actor and then not use her skills.

I love Guinan, too, and I’m hoping she’ll inspire Chabon to write something wonderful for her. The part in “The Measure of a Man” where she counsels Picard gave me chills.

Whoopi does wise so very well; I hope they keep that aspect of her character and don’t turn her return into some sort of angstfest.

When she was playing the trope of the “wiser than she appears” bartender it really wasn’t a good role for her. She couldn’t pull it off. She felt very forced doing it. In fact, she came across as monumentally restrained.

I don’t know man. I always thought she came across as a much better and more insightful counselor than the actual counselor on the ship. To me Troi always seemed pretty amateurish and much more “forced” by comparison.

Too bad that she did not incorporate some of those “wise” attributes into her real life.

Yes, well, there is that, too.

Personally I will stop watching if they bring her back. Did not see any purpose in her character when the series aired and certainly do not now. Now I do not even like her as a person so for me its quits if she joins the show.

Good riddance to you too!

Oh, I don’t think I’m the one being told goodbye today…

I’m looking forward to it.

I’m just hoping that having been obliged to write it all well in advance of preproduction, let alone production, will lead to a more polished and coherent product.

I’m also hoping that the writers will have restrained the gore and fridging of characters as quick hits for intensity and character development.

They’ve already lost one member of our household to the series (and very nearly to the franchise). I’m pretty unhappy with them for that.

Great, now all Trek alumni octogenarians can croak at each other in turgid and dull ‘adventures’ about this and that.

I think you mean “formally invited…” not formerly invited. :)

Anywho, I’m excited for season 2. It’s their chance to actually expand the El-Aurian race and why they’re so long lived, or their interactions with the Q Continuum. Will their relationship change now that Picard is now a golem?

One thing that might be nice for stories taking place post-PICARD (and even earlier, come to think of it), would be pulling a BABYLON 5 shadows/vorlons resolution and removing the Q Continuum from our realm altogether, letting them explore the mirror universe or some other reality or state of being, so that we would be on our own without semi-omnipotent beings to use as deus ex machina plot crutches. No Qs, no Organians or Melkots as they evolve beyond ever interfering with the lower forms. Genuinely, childhood’s end.

Not feeling it.

Transcendent beings are baked into the universe. So is the idea that humanity will encounter a diverse range of sentient species at various stages of development.

It’s not just about deus ex machina plot devices, it’s about dealing with intelligences that are more advanced than we are but who have their own interests and agendas which may or may not make sense to us.

Getting rid of them would mean that humanity and the other aliens that rely on warp and other FTL hacks would become the apex of development in the Star Trek Prime Universe. It’s arrogant and humanocentric.

Clarke’s Childhood’s End was about recognizing that there is a continuum of development in sentient species not that sentience in itself is godhood.

We don’t agree often here, but I wholeheartedly support this comment. The supreme brings and time travel (edit:mine) crutches should have been kicked out of the Trek writing rooms decades ago.

I would certainly like to see Guinan again, but I’m wary this Picard series will go to their standard setting of ‘oh look how dark, sad or miserable this character is now.’

Well, except there was Hugh. He seemed well adjusted– wait, oh, aaand now he’s murdered.

Well, that’s what aging is for a lot of people. You lose touch with someone for two decades they’ll have had a lot of ups and downs over the years.

Sure. But they went overboard with the misery, to the point it became a drinking game. New character… tragic backstory coming up… get that glass ready…

Nerd voice…. I believe Guinan, not Picard, was the one that described their relationship as beyond friendship, beyond family…… in the episode Best of Both World’s Part II

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The Legendary Saloonkeeper Who Was the Real-Life Inspiration for Star Trek’s Guinan

Whoopi goldberg’s character was based on texas guinan, a larger-than-life texas girl turned power player in prohibition-era new york.

A 1919 advertisement in  Moving Picture for films with actress Texas Guinan. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons .

by Carol Stabile | April 9, 2020

In an emotional scene , earlier this year actor Patrick Stewart stopped by “The View” to ask co-host Whoopi Goldberg to join the cast of “Star Trek: Picard” for its second season, and reprise the role she had played in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” back in the 1980s. Goldberg hadn’t been an original member of that cast either, although she was a longtime fan of “Star Trek.” In fact, she credited the series with sparking her interest in acting , mainly because it was the first time, she had not only seen “a beautiful black woman who was the communication officer” of a ship and not a housekeeper, but “black people in the future.”

If Goldberg was drawn to “Star Trek” because its cast included a powerful black woman of the future, in crafting a character for Goldberg on “TNG,” creator Gene Roddenberry conjured a name from the past. He named the bartender who blended mysticism with shrewd wit “Guinan,” after the once legendary Texas Guinan, a larger-than-life Texas girl turned emcee of some of the most exclusive speakeasies in Prohibition-era New York City.

Although Guinan may be forgotten today, her name was once as familiar as Whoopi Goldberg’s. Born Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan in 1884, Guinan took vaudeville by storm in her 20s, she starred in silent films in her 30s, and in her 40s, she was an influential impresario. An entrepreneur and a business woman, who ran nightclubs considered hubs of political and cultural power in New York City, Guinan alleged she was once thrown out of France for being too hot to handle.

Guinan grew up in Waco, Texas, where her parents ran a grocery before turning their hands to running a horse and cattle ranch. Her childhood consisted of riding horses, roping cattle, and shooting guns, skills that prepared her for a world of entertainment—Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, pageants, and spectaculars—that was already beginning to disappear, just as she mastered it.

Promotional picture of Texas Guinan. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons .

After a brief stint in Colorado, Guinan moved to New York City, where she quickly found work in vaudeville. When a get-rich quick scheme involving a weight-loss scam went sour in 1913, Guinan left for Hollywood, performing in two-reelers, generally of the Roman-riding, gun-toting variety. Buxom, outspoken, already in her 30s, and by the standards of the day, old, it was hard to imagine Guinan as a damsel in distress. Judging from the look on her face and the set of her jaw in films and photos from the era, it was more likely that Guinan would make the outlaws rue the day they’d set eyes on her.

Guinan emceed in L.A. before returning to New York City, where she partnered with bootlegger Larry Fay, conducting business in their speakeasies perched at the center of the room, armed with a clapper and police whistle. While rumrunners sold pricy pints of whisky from back hallways, Guinan’s patrons listened to “her girls” sing and dance. Guinan, meanwhile, greeted customers with her trademark “Hello, suckers” or zippy one-liners like “You may be all the world to your mother, but you’re just a cover charge to me.”

Guinan flaunted Prohibition-era laws. Busted for violating the Volstead Act on more than one occasion, she defiantly wore a necklace made of tiny gold padlocks around her neck, an in-your-face statement against federal investigations and harassment. After she was found not guilty of violating the Volstead Act in 1927, federal agents—who had already condemned her as a “moral pervert”—dogged her footsteps, arresting her again the next year for violating a new curfew law.

Like many professional women, Guinan hungered for financial independence. Ambitious and independent, she refused to play by the rules of her era. And she wasn’t shy in expressing this desire. Of an actor she was involved with in Hollywood, Guinan recalled: “I should have taken him like Grant took Richmond. … I was the one woman who could take [him] and leave him where I found him. I was out to take not be taken. He taught me one thing, though, that the sweetest things in this life are obtained by the work of one’s own hands.”

At the time, men who were creating and curating media legends only saw the boobs and the busts and the bucks. But there was far more to Guinan’s story than that. An animal lover who refused to eat meat, Guinan was a teetotaler who never drank alcohol, preferring coffee. Despite her risqué reputation, she only married once, to newspaper cartoonist John J. Moynahan. When she wasn’t on the road, Guinan lived with her mother, father, brother, and pets in Greenwich Village.

To be sure, Guinan was no saint, but she was no “ blonde bombshell ” either. She was a New Woman, not in a Mary Pickford, girl with the curls kind of way, but with the moxie of a devoted New Yorker. Until Guinan broke into the nightclub business, emceeing was pretty much the exclusive province of men. Guinan opened doors for other women in burlesque and vaudeville, admiring women who also struggled to control their images and make headway as managers and owners. Guinan met Mae West in the teens, when they were struggling performers in New York’s vaudeville stagehouses, and they remained friends for the rest of Guinan’s life. She was frenemies with evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, alternately admiring and antagonizing her, and wanted to play McPherson on the big screen.

At a time when few women stood up to theater owners and producers, Guinan fought for pay equity. In 1928, she won a $26,000 award from Duo Art Productions, when the company was ordered to pay her the difference between the wages promised her for starring in the revue Padlocks of 1927 and the amount they actually paid her. When Guinan joined protests against the Mastick Law in 1930, which eliminated overtime for women working in factories and department stores, she told the crowd “the law was intended to keep women out of jobs in which they competed with men.” At 46, Guinan knew a thing or two about laws intended to exclude women from jobs reserved for men. When Guinan died unexpectedly of dysentery in 1933, 12,000 funeral goers came to the Campbell Funeral Church on Broadway. Women who came from very different walks of life but shared the experience of being paid less than men gathered to comfort each other.

Because of her outsized reputation and early death, there were some halfhearted efforts to turn her life into the stuff of legend. Shortly after she died, Guinan served as the basis for the character Maudie that Mae West played in Night After Night (1932). A film biography of Guinan’s life, starring Betty Hutton and titled Incendiary Blonde (1945), characterized her as a rough and tumble starstruck tomboy, enamored by the prospect of wearing a white gown with a sequined head dress, with two silver pistols at her side. Martha Raye starred in a musical flop based on Guinan’s life— Hello, Sucker! —in 1969. In 1995, Bette Midler said she’d been cast in “a star vehicle directed by Martin Scorsese about the legendary New York saloonkeeper Texas Guinan.” Mostly, these versions made Guinan’s story fit into one Hollywood loved to tell about women caught in its hungry star machine: they loved the sexism of Hollywood, they’d sell their very souls for stardom, they wanted it, they asked for it, even if what they were said to want ended more like Sunset Boulevard than It Happened One Night .

But in the mid-1950s, Guinan’s story had a chance at a different kind of telling when Vera Caspary began shopping a project based on the Texas girl turned emcee of some of the most exclusive speakeasies in Prohibition-era New York City. If Caspary’s name also has you scratching your head, that’s because hers is another that few other than film buffs or historians would recognize today. In the 1940s and 1950s, however, Caspary enjoyed successes of her own, as a bestselling novelist and prolific screenwriter. In fact, one of her trademark novels about independent-minded working girls was made into the Academy Award-winning film Laura .

Caspary was drawn to stories about women who had come before her, whose struggles had in part paved the way for her own successes. That made Guinan a natural choice for a project. Caspary, a fan of live entertainment, had, in fact, been a regular at Guinan’s clubs in the late 1920s, where she watched as Guinan “bawled at patrons to give each little girl a big hand.”

Though Guinan had been dead for nearly 25 years when Caspary started working on her story, she remained a touchstone for women eager to tell stories about women who had opened doors before them. In Caspary’s script, Guinan figures as a boss who refuses to let her “girls” be sexually harassed—“In my club no gentleman pulls a girl’s fringe without a license.” She wants love, but on her own terms. And she’s a “hard-headed business woman” who, when asked why she “can’t be a normal woman,” launches into a tirade:

Normal, huh! Listen, Mister, where I grew up the neighborhood was full of normal women. Good , normal women. Worked like dogs seven days a week. For what? On Saturday night a kick in the teeth from the drunken bums that called themselves normal husbands. No, thank you.

But by 1957, Caspary was forced to give up on the project. All her efforts to get a formal contract for “the Texas Guinan story,” she told producer Hal Stanley, “have been in vain.” At a time when film and television were narrowing the definition of what counted as a normal woman, it would hardly have done to have someone like Caspary—who held unorthodox views of her own—make a film celebrating another woman who had refused to put up with someone else’s definition of normal.

It’s a shame Caspary never had the chance to make her version of Guinan’s story. And while Roddenberry’s shout-out to Guinan in 1987 was a sweet Easter egg of a tribute for those who got the reference, this oblique nod to a hidden figure doesn’t really satisfy those who’d like to see more stories appear on the screen about those who struggled against sexism in the industry and onscreen in the past and who—even if it was for a fleeting moment—enjoyed some measure of success.

So when Guinan appears, perhaps behind the bar of the Ten Forward, on the next season of “Picard,” raise a glass in tribute to Texas Guinan and Vera Caspary and tell the person next to you about them. And while you’re at it, think about why—nearly a century later—we still know so little about Guinan, Caspary, and women like Gertrude Berg , Gypsy Rose Lee , Hazel Scott , Fredi Washington , Lois Weber , and others who worked to transform media industries and, in doing so, change the stories we tell about the past and the future.

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Whoopi Goldberg Returns As Guinan in new Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Trailer

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 Trailer

Hot on the heels of this week’s Star Trek: Picard season two premiere announcement , Paramount+ has unveiled a brand new trailer for the series — featuring none other than Whoopi Goldberg , as she returns to the role of Guinan.

Along with the new trailer, Paramount+ made the following statement via press release:

Season two of STAR TREK: PICARD takes the legendary Jean-Luc Picard and his crew on a bold and exciting new journey: into the past. Picard must enlist friends both old and new to confront the perils of 21 st  century Earth in a desperate race against time to save the galaxy’s future – and face the ultimate trial from one of his greatest foes.

Two years ago, Stewart invited Goldberg to join the series , during an appearance on The View , saying “I’m here with a formal invitation… it’s for you, Whoopi. Alex Kurtzman, who is the senior executive producer of Star Trek: Picard, and all of his colleagues — of which I am one — want to invite you into the second season.”

Season 2 key art:

Star Trek: Picard season two will premiere on Thursday, March 3rd and new installments of the 10-episode-long second season will drop weekly on Thursdays. The cast includes Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Orla Brady, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera and Brent Spiner. This season’s cast also includes Annie Wersching and special guest stars Whoopi Goldberg and John de Lancie.

The first trailer for Picard season two premiered back in September , during the Paramount+ Star Trek Day event. The series has already been picked up for a third season.

Stay tuned to TrekNews.net for all the latest news on  Star Trek: Picard ,  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ,  Star Trek: Discovery ,  Star Trek: Lower Decks ,  Star Trek: Prodigy , and more.

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January 21, 2022 at 6:47 pm

If you wanna see the new trailer in 4K Quality check out this link: https://youtu.be/ro4zXbm-3-o 🙂

January 26, 2022 at 10:42 am

So disappointed that we can’t watch this amazing series in Canada.

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Whoopi goldberg perfectly described the importance of uhura in star trek: tos.

Whoopi Goldberg's story of how she became a Star Trek fan perfectly describes the importance of Nyota Uhura's inclusion in The Original Series.

Lieutenant Nyota Uhura from Star Trek: The Original Series was an important character for many reasons, but Whoopi Goldberg's story of how she became a fan perfectly sums up why the character meant so much to so many. TOS was the first series in what became the Star Trek franchise , airing between 1966 and 1969 before being canceled after three seasons. Despite this, the show gained a cult following in syndication and paved the way for the franchise to be reborn with Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 1980s.

TOS was created by Gene Roddenberry, who sought to use it as a way to explore a variety of socio-political issues that were relevant to the time. One of the ways Roddenberry accomplished this was by casting a diverse group of people as series regulars, including Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura, the USS Enterprise's communications officer. As a black woman depicted in a position of power and respect on a television show in the 1960s, Uhura was unprecedented, and the character's positive legacy cannot be overstated. Uhura served as an inspiration to many, including Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. , who famously encouraged Nichols to continue with the role when she considering quitting after the first season. However, the story of how Nichols' portrayal inspired a young Whoopi Goldberg is perhaps the best summation of Uhura's legacy.

Related: How Star Trek's Actors Have Influenced The Real World

Goldberg, who went on to have her own  Star Trek career as Guinan on TNG , was nine years old the first time she saw an episode of TOS . In one of her first meetings with Gene Roddenberry, Goldberg recounted to the creator how the first time she saw Uhura onscreen she went running through her house calling " Come quick, come quick, there's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid! " Roddenberry later told this story to Nichelle Nichols herself, who then recounted it during an interview for the 1997 documentary Trekkies . Since then, Goldberg's statement has been disseminated widely online and is quoted often by fans as a way to celebrate the incredible legacy of the franchise.

Whoopi Goldberg has corroborated the story of her first TOS viewing in other interviews and expanded upon it, saying that seeing Nichols on TV made her realize she could be anything she wanted to be. In an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson for National Geographic , Goldberg explained  TOS was the first time she had ever seen a black person depicted in a version of the future, showcasing just how little black people were included in the science fiction genre up until Star Trek . Uhura inspired Goldberg to want to continue Star Trek's tradition of positive representation, and this desire was mainly what incentivized her to campaign for a role on  TNG . 

Because of this, both Nichols and Goldberg have now become important parts of  Star Trek  history, contributing to a legacy that has paved the way for more and more diversity in the franchise. Black characters and other characters of color have played extremely important roles in subsequent series, and Trek continues to get better at depicting other minority groups, such as members of the LGBTQ+ community. Without Star Trek: The Original Series and Nichelle Nichols' groundbreaking performance as Lieutenant Uhura, however, people like Whoopi Goldberg might never have been inspired to push things further, and the show's diversity legacy would never have been the same.

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New Star Trek Drink Details Confirmed By Discovery Writer

• Commander Rayner's favorite drink, Kellerun citrus mash, is a moonshine-like liquor made from local citrus fruits on Kellerun.
• Captain Burnham connects with the USS Discovery's new First Officer by learning about Kellerun culture, including their indulgence in citrus mash.
• Co-writer Carlos Cisco clarified Memory Alpha's data entry about Kellerun citrus mash.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5's Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) promised his bridge crew casks of Kellerun citrus mash, and writer Carlos Cisco confirms what that alcoholic drink is made of. Rayner is a Kellerun , a species first introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) has made a point to learn about Kelleruns to connect with the USS Discovery's new First Officer. Along with boiling their cakes, Kelleruns like to indulge in a concoction called citrus mash.

Carlos Cisco (@carlos_cisco), who co-wrote Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5 , "Mirrors" with Johanna Lee, replied to an X post by Memory Alpha (@memoryalpha) explaining what Kellerun citrus mash is . Check out Cisco's post defining Kellerun citrus mash below:

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Kellerun citrus mash joins list of star trek adult beverages, star trek likes to get its drink on.

Relaxing with an alcoholic drink has been a staple o f Star Trek since its original pilot , "The Cage," when Dr. Phil Boyce (John Hoyt) fixed Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) a martini. Commander Rayner's Kellerun citrus mash on Star Trek: Discovery joins a long list of fictional and real-life alcohol enjoyed throughout the Star Trek franchise, from the scotch preferred by Scotty (James Doohan) to Pavel Chekov's (Walter Koenig) vodka to Klingon bloodwine to Romulan ale, which has been illegal for centuries. Cardassians like their kanar and Saurian brandy is always a favorite.

It sounds like there will be plenty of Kellrun citrus mash hangovers on the Discovery.

Starships in Star Trek often have bars where officers can unwind at the end of their duty shifts. Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) slung synthehol at Ten Forward on the USS Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation and she had her own bar in Los Angeles in Star Trek: Picard . The USS Cerritos in Star Trek: Lower Decks has a bar, and so does the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , known as a the Port Galley. The USS Discovery has a bar where Commander Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) sips Vesper martinis ice-cold. After Star Trek: Discovery season 5's successful mission, it sounds like there will be plenty of Kellrun citrus mash hangovers on the Discovery.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 stream Thursdays on Paramount+

Cast Blu del Barrio, Oded Fehr, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Wilson Cruz, Eve Harlow, Mary Wiseman, Callum Keith Rennie

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Writers Alex Kurtzman

Directors Jonathan Frakes, Olatunde Osunsanmi

Showrunner Alex Kurtzman

Where To Watch Paramount+

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‘The View’: Whoopi Goldberg Reveals Her Mom Got Shock Treatments For Two Years After “Nervous Breakdown” And Couldn’t Remember Her Or Her Brother

Where to stream:, joy behar tells ‘the view’ audience to “shut up” after they applaud her ectopic pregnancy, ‘the view’s whoopi goldberg questions what gov. kristi noem is capable of after she admitted to killing her dog: “what will she do to a person”, ‘the view’s whoopi goldberg “enraged” after donald trump claimed america is “anti-white”: “nobody in your family was hung”.

Whoopi Goldberg opened up to her co-hosts during an intimate conversation on this morning’s episode of The View about her childhood and her family.

The longtime moderator was the one sitting in the hot seat today as she promoted her upcoming memoir, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, And Me . Goldberg fully committed, even emerging from backstage for her interview as View guests typically do.

Once she was seated at the table again, Goldberg didn’t waste any time opening up, sharing information even her co-hosts never knew about her.

While Goldberg said she was lucky to have a mother who exposed her to arts and culture and wanted her and her brother to “be filled with wonder,” she also detailed some of the hardships her mom suffered while she was young.

After Joy Behar asked about the passage in Goldberg’s book in which she writes about her mother’s “nervous breakdown,” The View moderator explained what happened and how the incident affected her.

Goldberg said she “must have been around eight,” when her mother was taken to the hospital, while her brother, Clyde, was in his teens. While Goldberg’s mother was hospitalized for her mental health struggles, she said her dad and her aunt took care of her and Clyde.

“You know, in those days, kids were told nothing. Parents just disappeared,” Goldberg said. “Things happened, and for me, it was really kind of like, oh, so they’ve taken her to this hospital and nobody is gonna tell me anything and I can’t go see her.”

When Sunny Hostin asked, “They didn’t even tell you, ‘She’s getting better,’ nothing?” Goldberg replied, “No. They just never mentioned it.”

Goldberg also told her co-hosts that her mother didn’t remember her or her brother after her hospitalization because she had undergone “shock treatments.”

“There was a time in this country where your husband or your brother or any man involved in your life could make medical decisions for you, so my mother’s father — my grandfather — and my dad OK’d it. They OK’d that my mother get the shock treatment for two years,” she said.

The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.

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Shelf Life: Whoopi Goldberg

The actress and author of Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me takes our literary survey.

Bits and Pieces by Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg has always loved telling stories, and her latest book, Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me (Blackstone) is about the 2 people who knew her best: her late mother, Emma Johnson, a Head Start teacher, and late older brother, Clyde Johnson. She also has a graphic novel, about a menopausal superhero, called The Change (Dark Horse Publishing) out in July, and she has written 4 other adult books and 8 children’s books, including the Sugar Plum Ballerinas series .

The New York-born and -raised Goldberg is one of 19 EGOT winners : Emmy for co-hosting The View ; Grammy for a self-titled comedy album; Oscar for Ghost , (Patrick Swayze championed her for the role of medium Oda Mae Brown); and Tony for producing Thoroughly Modern Millie . She was also nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for her debut as Celie in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple . She has hundreds of film, TV, and Broadway credits, including the Sister Act franchise ( #3 has been announced, co-produced by Tyler Perry, who named a sound stage after her at his Atlanta studio) and recently, friend Tony Goldwyn’s (they did Ghost together) Ezra , which Julia Roberts raved about as a guest on The View . (Roberts’s husband was the film’s cinematographer.) She’s given career advice to Octavia Spencer, was championed by Mike Nichols, and once found Marlon Brando at her house playing “Stardust” on the piano.

The great-grandmother is multiple Oscar ceremony host (as a kid she wrote pretend acceptance speeches), producer ( Till ), UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador , Mark Twain Prize for American Humor recipient , former Fresh Air Fund camper, and morgue beautician . She is also an entrepreneur behind Whoopi Prosecco and equity partner of new Black-focused family streaming platform Blkfam , steering creative development of curated diverse content. She helped highlight the AIDS/HIV epidemic as a guest star on A Different World , sent flowers to her mother on her own November 13 birthday every year, repaid the state of California for welfare she was on as a young single mother, was on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Henry Louis Gates’s family lineage show, Finding Your Roots, and in a Pirelli calendar , inspired Otessa Moshfegh ’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation. She also has a cat named Twilight.

Collects: Art, after Elizabeth Taylor suggested she ask for a gift from a studio every time she agreed to a film, something she did herself.

Good at: Entertaining (she wrote a book called The Unqualified Hostess and records homemaking videos as the Bougie Bitch); making turkey, which she cooks at low temperature for 9 hours, as her mom used to.

Causes she supports: The environment , voting , education.

Likes: Christian Siriano , Thom Browne , and Etsy ; VW Bugs and Porsches; shoes and white shirts; comic books, superheroes, and horror films; artist Maxfield Parrish; Sardinia, where she owns a home; Christie’s real estate; The Muppets (as a teen, she babysat for an actress on Sesame Street ).

Dislikes: German chocolate cake and eggs. Crack open one of her book recs below.

The book that…

…kept me up way too late:.

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. It’s the scariest book ever, and I had no business reading at night. I got what I paid for.

…made me weep uncontrollably:

Roots by Alex Haley. It was the first time I got an idea that maybe we did have a history somewhere, that somebody knew something.

…I recommend over and over again:

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. It’s fun to listen to it being read by Lenny Henry. (Editor’s note: She is starring in the Amazon adaptation of the work.)

…shaped my world view:

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. I understood Peter’s groove. I didn’t want adults around, just wanted to live with your people and when you’re a kid, other kids are your people. And I understood wanting to live that way. You have to grow up, but I did it reluctantly.

…I swear I’ll finish one day:

Ulysses by James Joyce. I’m trying really hard.

…I read in one sitting, it was that good:

Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I drink Stephen’s King’s books. He scares me, and he makes me laugh. Those are things I love. [Editor’s note: She starred in the most recent adaptation of the author’s The Stand on Amazon Prime.]

…I’d give to a new graduate:

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. I give it to graduates because Rilke is being asked to read someone’s poetry and to tell the man if he’s a poet, and his response to that is magnificent. I say, If you’re not sure, just read this, this will help.

…made me laugh out loud:

Toddlers are A**holes by Bunmi Laditan. I give it to lots of parents, but I give it to my friends as well because everything she writes happens, and it’s so great to see it on the page. You just kind of go, Oh my God, yes, they are. They are strange little beings who get up in the middle of the night because they want a cookie so you bring them a cookie but then they don’t want the cookie and they cry about not getting the cookie they said they didn’t want. It makes me so happy every time I read it.

…features a character I love to hate:

Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell. All of them. None of them made sense.

…should be on every college syllabus:

The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

…I first bought:

Peter Pan .

…I last bought:

I bought An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin this morning.

…I consider literary comfort food:

Another Neil Gaiman book called American Gods .

…I never returned to the library:

Never happened. I returned everything [because of] my mother.

…sealed a friendship:

I have no friends. [ Laughs ] I’d go back to The Color Purple . I made lots of friends because of that book.

…makes me feel seen:

Bits and Pieces .

…everyone should read:

…fills me with hope:.

Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney. She’s amazing.

…surprised me:

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix.

…I’d want signed by the author:

Every book I own. [But] I listen to everything on Audible, so it’s not really possible.

…I asked for as a kid:

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I asked for it every holiday/birthday/whatever came up, and then I got to be a grown woman and someone got it for me. Finally.

…holds the recipe to a favorite dish:

Ten Restaurants That Changed America by Paul Freedman. It goes into Delmonico’s being the first restaurant, the first restaurant to allow women to sit by themselves to eat, the first restaurant to put a tablecloth on the table. It’s a fantastic book. I liked all the food they were talking about.

Read Goldberg’s Picks:

The color purple by alice walker, the exorcist by william peter blatty, roots by alex haley, anansi boys by neil gaiman, peter pan by j.m. barrie, ulysses by james joyce, salem’s lot by stephen king, letters to a young poet by rainer maria rilke, toddlers are a**holes by bunmi laditan, sex and the city by candace bushnell, an unfinished love story by doris kearns goodwin, american gods by neil gaiman, oath and honor by liz cheney, the southern book club’s guide to slaying vampires by grady hendrix, tarzan of the apes by edgar rice burroughs, ten restaurants that changed america by paul freedman.

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