LeVar Burton’s Daughter To Play Geordi’s Daughter On The Next Star Trek: Picard Episode
LeVar Burton's real-life daughter Mica and actress Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut will play Geordi La Forge's daughters on Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek just became a family business. Mica Burton, daughter of Star Trek: The Next Generation legend LeVar Burton tweeted that she will be guest-starring on season 3, episode 6 of Picard. “The La Forge sisters will finally be re-united! I love you @AshleiSC” burton tweeted.
Mica was referring to herself and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut as the La Forge sisters. The actress posted a picture of herself standing next to Ashlei, along with a Beyonce quote about sisters. The actress on the left is LeVar Burton’s real-life daughter, while the one on the right is his Star Trek daughter.
Mica Burton is still relatively new to acting. Her IMDb page only shows 11 credits to the actress’s name. Mica’s role opposite her father, LaVar Burton, on Star Trek: Picard brings an interesting angle to the whole nepo baby discussion currently dominating entertainment news.
Does LeVar Burton acting alongside his real-life daughter count as nepotism when she’s playing his daughter on TV as well? It’s a question that could be answered in two ways. On one hand, it’s not really nepotism because she’s playing a part she was literally born to play.
On the other hand, as Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut’s presence points out, you don’t need to be related to an actor to play their child. Judging by fan reaction to the tweet, Trekkies don’t care whether Mica is a nepo baby or not. They just want to see LaVar Burton playing Geordie La Forge in Star Trek again, opposite his two in-universe kids.
Geordie isn’t the first time a Star Trek character has participated in Bring Your Child to work day. Captain Kirk‘s son David was a vital part of both Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. When it comes to television, both Worf and Deep Space Nine‘s Commander Sisko had their sons hanging around, causing mischief.
The most famous example, however, has got to be Doctor Beverly Crusher’s son Wesley. Wesley Crusher, while annoying to some, made Will Wheaton geek royalty. LeVar Burton does hold the distinction of being the first Star Trek actor to have their actual child play their pretend one.
Micah Burton and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut play Alandra and Sydney La Forge, respectively. LaVar Burton did his best to make Ashlei feel like his actual daughter when the Star Trek actor invited Chestnut to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Hopefully, that real-life camaraderie will translate to Geordie’s relationship with Alandra and Sydney’s on Picard.
Fans of the Paramount+ show were saddened to hear that season 3 would be Picard‘s last. Equally sad is the thought that the La Forge sisters only got to make one appearance on the show before it was canceled. If fans react well to the chemistry between LeVar Burton and his daughter, maybe Micah could return in one of the other Star Trek spinoffs.
Paramount could even fill the hole left by the recently canceled Discovery with a La Forge sisters series. Two sisters exploring the galaxy would be a new frontier for the Star Trek franchise.
The best part about a series starring Geordie La Forge’s daughters would be when LeVar Burton inevitably guest stars on the hypothetical Star Trek spinoff. Trekkies can always use more Geordie.
