Patrick Stewart's sweet 'Star Trek' invitation brought Whoopi Goldberg to tears

When Whoopi Goldberg sat down with her friend and former Star Trek: The Next Generation co-star Patrick Stewart on an episode of The View on Jan. 22, she had no idea that Stewart had motives other than promoting the premiere of Star Trek: Picard (Thursday, 9 p.m. ET, CTV Sci-Fi Channel). But sure enough the Sir had something else up his sleeve: a formal request for Goldberg to join him in the recently announced second season.“I’m here with a formal invitation, and it’s for you, Whoopi,” Picard said. “Alex Kurtzman, who is the senior executive producer of Picard, and all his colleagues—of which I am one, want to invite you into the second season.”[video_embed id='1880567']RELATED: Sir Patrick Stewart says this was the biggest challenge in reprising his 'Picard' role[/video_embed]You could see the grin instantly appear on Goldberg’s face as soon as the words were out of Stewart’s mouth—the actress and host has spoken in the past about what being on a Star Trek series has meant to her, and how she even campaigned to be on the show in the first place. As fans may remember, the actress played the savvy bartender Guinan from 1988 to 1993. And she rocked that purple costume like it was nobody’s business.

 

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#StarTrekPicard Season 1 Premiere tomorrow on @cbsallaccess and globally on Amazon Prime Video. @theviewabc

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So it was no real surprise when—instead of answering—she just got up and hugged Stewart. Actually, hug may be the wrong word for it. Picture a Whoopi Goldberg bear hug, and then multiply that by 10.“Yes. Yes,” she said nodding, grinning, and crying while the audience clapped from their feet (and some even bowed). Of course Goldberg’s View co-stars were very much into it, commenting on how emotional she was getting, and how rare a sight that was for them to see.“She’ll have to get rid of that hair though right?” Joy Behar piped up as everyone began settling back into their seats. “She can do whatever the hell she wants,” Stewart said with a smile. Because he obviously gets it.“I’ve said this on the show before, but being on Star Trek was one of the great experiences from the beginning to the end. I had the best, best, best time. The best time ever,” Goldberg said.It seemed like it would only be a matter of time before Stewart asked Goldberg to join in on the fun; when we caught up with him earlier this month at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., he told us in a roundtable that part of Star Trek’s continued success is its optimism and representation, and he “loves to quote Whoopi Goldberg” in why.“I said to her, ‘You just won an Academy Award [for Ghost]. Why would you want to join a syndicated sci-fi series?’ And she told me her story of watching the original series and there was this African-American woman in a position of significant authority and command, and she said, ‘Well in my head a voice said one of us made it.’ That’s a very Whoopi comment, but she’s absolutely spot-on.”Star Trek: Picard debuts January 23 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV Sci-Fi Channel.