LeVar Burton Said The ‘Jeopardy!’ Hosting Saga Led To The ‘Absolute Bliss’ Of Working On ‘Star Trek: Picard’

Despite riding on the wings of a fan campaign that saw celebrities like Ryan Reynolds back his efforts to become the next host of Jeopardy! following the death of Alex Trebek, LeVar Burton did not land the highly-coveted gig. In a controversial move, Jeopardy! executive producer Mike Richards named himself the new host, but exited the position after just three weeks following the unearthing of sexist remarks.

While Burton has spoken candidly about the Jeopardy! ordeal, which he described as “humiliating” and not a competition because “the fix was in,” the beloved actor is at peace with the outcome. He recently had a chance to work with his daughter, Mica Burton, on Star: Trek Picard, which wouldn’t have happened if he was the new Jeopardy! host.

Via PEOPLE:

“Your failures are more important than your successes because you learn more from them,” he tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “Everything happens for a reason, and it’s all purposeful and perfect. So where’s the perfection in ‘I didn’t get what I wanted’ I discovered that [it] wasn’t supposed to be mine, but the process that I went through led me to exactly where I needed to be.”

In an example of art imitating life, Mica plays the daughter of LeVar’s character, Geordi La Forge, on The Next Generation revival series. The actor called the working experience “absolute bliss” and he also relished the chance to reunite with his old TNG co-stars.

“Mica’s grown up with them all,” Burton told PEOPLE. “We have spent so much of our lives with each other.”