LeVar Burton reveals he doesn't want to be the new 'Jeopardy!' full-time host

LeVar Burton sat down with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show Thursday night, where the legendary actor shared how he felt about all the support he received from his fans during his recent Jeopardy! guest host stint.

"You know, we did a Kickstarter several years ago," Burton explained. "I discovered then that the generation of adults now, who grew up on Reading Rainbow, they were down with whatever it is I wanted to do, and the same was true with this Jeopardy! thing. I made it public that I wanted it for myself, that it made sense to me, and they were all about it. 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."

Burton has been an overwhelming fan favorite to succeed Alex Trebek. In fact, there's even a change.org petition with nearly 300,000 signatures on it to make him the new host, and an endorsement from movie star Ryan Reynolds, following Mike Richards's exit. However, while TMZ reported that Sony never seriously considered Burton as a full-time host, on Thursday, the actor revealed that he doesn't want the job anyway.

"The crazy thing is that when you set your sights on something, you know, 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," revealed Burton. "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? And, so, the opportunities that have come my way as a result of not getting that gig, I couldn't have dreamt it up. 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."

Noah described it as "the shipwreck that leads you to the magical island," and Burton agreed.

"I never thought about hosting any other game show outside of Jeopardy! But now, they went in a different direction with their show, which is their right, and now I'm thinking, well, it does kind of make sense, let me see what I can do. So we're trying to figure out what the right game show for LeVar Burton would be."

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah airs weeknights at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central.

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