Trekkies, rejoice! It looks like Guinan will be returning to the Star Trek universe.
The beloved El-Aurian bar hostess played by Whoopi Goldberg was a recurring character who appeared on the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the films, Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: Nemesis.
Goldberg can now add Star Trek: Picard, which debuted Thursday on CBS Access, to the list.
Patrick Stewart was a guest on The View on Wednesday and personally invited the show's co-host to join the second season of Picard.
By the look of her face, the actress was beaming up.
The ask occurred when Stewart, who plays the eponymous retired admiral, interrupted co-host Joy Behar to make his surprise announcement.
"I'm here with a formal invitation, and it's for you, Whoopi."
"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."
The surprised TV personality hugged her future co-star as the studio audience cheered over the exciting news.
Twitter rejoiced as well.
Her emotional response clearly indicated how special her involvement in the franchise has been.
"I've said this on the show before, but 'Star Trek' was one of the great experiences, from the beginning to the end. I had the best, best, best time ever."
Stewart said he was looking forward to working with Goldberg again.
"It was wonderful having you and we cannot wait to have you with us again one more time."
Goldberg's cohorts pointed out her emotional reaction as the actress sat speechless and held back tears.
Meghan McCain commented about Goldberg's sentimental reaction.
"It never happens. It's very rare."
Stewart's character, Jean-Luc Picard – captain of the starship USS EnterpriseEnterprise (NCC-1701-D) – has appeared in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; and in the feature films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).
He was last seen in Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002.
When asked how Stewart was able to revisit a character 18 years later, he said:
"It's easy…. Picard has aged 18 years, fictionally, and Patrick Stewart has aged 18 years actually."
"And I don't have to work at it because it's just me, it's who I am now!"
"We have such a team of writers on this show, it's astonishing, and I wanted to show that Picard's world had changed because Patrick's world has certainly changed, and we are no longer now living in the same kind of society we lived in 18 years ago."
Go Whoopi!
