Throughout the many additions to the Star Trek universe, one key element remains at its core: a fundamental drive to explore topical difficult subject matters, like racism, sexism, and even fascism, all through futuristic allegory. Star Trek: The Next Generation took these philosophical and ethics based quandaries to the next level, often the subject tackled by the fan favorite Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but one character embodies the idea of striving for a better future unburdened by discrimination. That character is the ship's chief engineer Geordi La Forge (played by LeVar Burton, who might be appearing is Picard season 3).