The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 9, "Hide and Seek," streaming now on Paramount+.
One of the most terrifying threats in the entire Star Trek Universe is the Borg Collective. Introduced in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the techno-organic civilization has mercilessly assimilated all organic life they encounter into their cybernetic hive mind. After enduring a defeat that left the Collective in a tailspin, the Borg are back in Star Trek: Picard Season 2 and just as dangerous as ever. However, as the Borg Queen’s plans to rewrite history and subjugate the galaxy are countered by Jean-Luc Picard and his friends, a bold new future for the techno-organic Collective has been laid out.
The Borg were presumed defeated for good at the end of Star Trek: Voyager, infected by a virus that seemingly killed the Queen and spread throughout the Collective. By the start of Picard Season 1 years later, Borg drones and spacecraft around the galaxy were still inactive from the apparent loss of the Queen. This all changed when the resurrected Queen returned at the start of Picard Season 2, traveling back to the 21st century to stop the timeline tampering caused by the omnipotent Q, where she revealed her true colors.
While restrained on board La Sirena, the Queen took an unhealthy interest in Agnes Jurati, partially assimilating her to repair the ship’s systems after the arduous time-travel journey. The Queen admitted to Jurati that she felt fundamentally alone in the galaxy before fully transferring her consciousness into Jurati’s body. As the Queen’s assimilation of Jurati progressed, she began building a new Borg Collective, intent to take advantage of her head start in the timeline by seizing control of La Sirena.
As the Queen gravely wounded Seven of Nine, Jurati reasserted control over her own body and forced the Borg to stand down. Jurati and the Queen worked out a compromise: The Queen would indeed take La Sirena but she and Jurati would share control of the same body while reinventing the Collective to provide second chances for the galaxy’s lost rather than forcibly assimilate anyone in their path. As a show of good faith with this new direction, the Queen heals Seven from her life-threatening injuries, saving her life through new cybernetic implants.
.jpeg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5)
This development does raise the question of what exactly this means for the Collective’s place in the timeline. The Borg Collective and their Queen from the prime timeline remain in the galaxy’s Delta Quadrant, centuries away from their eventual introduction during TNG. With the Queen departing from Earth with La Sirena, they could intercept and take control of the Collective to bring it under this new direction or avoid it to prevent further disruptions to the timeline.
The Borg were once the most feared force in the Alpha Quadrant, putting Starfleet on high alert whenever they surfaced in the cosmos. With Jurati convincing the Borg Queen to take on a more merciful path, the Borg now stand the chance of changing their own history for the better. Picard and Seven have particularly seen the Borg as their most hated enemy. Now with Jurati influencing the Queen to go a different way, the Borg Collective could become the galaxy’s greatest force for good.
Created by Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer and Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek: Picard releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.