Do you know what is perhaps the biggest tragedy of The Next Generation? It’s lost potential. Whoopi Goldberg herself, at the height of her superstardom, specifically requested to be on Star Trek after years of being an avid fan of The Original Series.

What drew Goldberg to Star Trek in the first place was Lt. Nyota Uhura. In many interviews she’s explained the reason for her admiration of the show. “Well, when I was nine years old, Star Trek came on. I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, ‘Come here, mom, everybody, come quick, come quick, there’s a black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!’ I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be.” See, prior to Gene Roddenberry casting Nichelle Nichols, no black person had been portrayed in space before. For people of color, this was more than a lack of representation; it meant that people of color had no place in the future. Goldberg commented on the cultural significance of Uhura’s character saying, “You could see black people on television, but you never saw black people in the future until Gene Roddenberry put a beautiful black woman on that show. And not just a beautiful black woman, but a beautiful black woman who was the communications officer. She wasn’t cleaning houses.”

Whoopi Goldberg could have been similar. But sadly the writers missed their chance.

The character Guinan was created specifically for Goldberg. Her wise advice paired with the signature trait of listening that all good bartenders must possess make Guinan the perfect recurring character. She could be written into any episode, bringing several millennia of knowledge, mystery, and power to the show. However, that was about as far as Guinan’s character development went. The only “backstory” we get is from the episodes “I, Borg” and “Time’s Arrow” where it is revealed that her race was scattered throughout the galaxy by the Borg and that they have unusual powers of long life, empathic abilities, and a mysterious sense of the flow of time and dimension. While the mystery surrounding Guinan keeps viewers curious, it also creates glaring plot holes the writers never bother to fix, especially pertaining to the close friendship Guinan shares with Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Thankfully, Goldburg has plenty of theories of her own about her character. Good humored and glad to be a part of the show that impacted her childhood and the lives of many other people of color, Goldberg has an enduring love for Guinan. She has even tried to petition to appear in different Star Trek series with #BringBackGuinan. Regardless of the failure of the writers to develop a dimensional character, Whoopi Goldberg is happy with her role in the Star Trek universe, and we are happy that the Queen is happy.