Stewart, it seemed, didn’t know the above story yet, nor that Goldberg was a fan of “Star Trek” and an admirer of Nichelle Nichols. Stewart, ever the careerist, was only concerned with Goldberg’s current level of fame and the acting projects that fame afforded her. It hadn’t quite occurred to the actor that Goldberg was there because she passionately wanted to be. Note that this was the late 1980s, and television was still viewed by many in the industry as a “lesser” medium than film. A movie star stayed in the movies, and a TV star stayed down below on the lower tier. For a big movie star to appear on television was considered “slumming.” Stewart was still, like everyone else at the time, of that mindset. Hence his befuddlement.
Stewart directly asked Goldberg why she would be doing TV, and told the following story about her response:
“One day, they were lighting a scene or changing scenery, and she was sitting alone. […] So I sat beside her and said, ‘Whoopi, I don’t understand why you agreed to do this.’ And she told me the story of when she was a child, what the original ‘Star Trek’ had meant to her […] And she said, ‘There was also a Black woman in the cast. And it made me think, One of us must have made it.’ It was her presence not just in the role but in the future — ‘One of us is going to make it.’ I loved that. And we’ve become close friends ever since.”
Guinan appeared on 29 episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and was an invaluable presence. She returned for episodes of “Star Trek: Picard” as well.