The Big Picture
One Paramount executive thought the Borg were boring, resulting in the creation of the Borg Queen as an iconic character.
The Borg Queen appears in multiple Star Trek series, using manipulation and vulnerability to become a compelling villain.
In the third and final season of
Star Trek: Picard
, the Borg Queen returns with manipulative tactics to assimilate humanity through Picard’s son, Jack Crusher.
The Star Trek franchise has so many iconic villains that it might be difficult for some fans to choose their favorite. Starfleet’s crews are constantly encountering both new and old enemies while exploring the galaxy and meeting new civilizations. The Next Generation’s Q (John De Lancie) is one of the biggest tricksters in the galaxy, while Deep Space Nine’s Cardassian war criminal Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) is constantly stirring up something, and Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Maltabán) simply wants to take over the world. Time and time again, the bad guys that always seem to pop up are the Borg. Although they seem like a simple hivemind collective, their recurring presence in the franchise reveals them to be so much more, and viewers have seen what can happen when they’re given their individuality or how they react under pressure. During the filming of the Next Generation movie Star Trek: First Contact, however, one Paramount executive thought a particular change was needed to give the Borg a specific face — and it was a change that made an impact on the franchise moving forward.
Star Trek: First Contact
The Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth’s first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.
Release Date November 22, 1996
Runtime 111
Tagline Resistance is futile.
According to The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams, edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Paramount’s Jonathan Dolgen thought the Borg were boring and amounted to little more than zombie robots; they needed some kind of voice other than being mindless drones, and what’s a hive without its Queen? So, screenwriter Brannon Braga did a substantial rewrite to include a character that would come to be known as the Borg Queen (Alice Krige). Dolgen, it’s been reported, was a huge Star Trek fan and often put in his two cents about which episodes he liked, which apparently paid off big time. His suggestion spiraled into the creation of this iconic character who always has a habit of popping up when we least expect her.
Where Have We Seen the Borg Queen in Star Trek Before?
Image via Paramount Pictures
In First Contact, the Borg travel back in time to stop scientist Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) from discovering warp speed, which leads to humanity’s first encounter with the Vulcans, which in turn allows for the deeper exploration of space and the eventual founding of the Federation. As a villain, the Borg Queen, played by Alice Krige in First Contact, is so different from other Borg introduced in The Next Generation; she is sexual and emotional, making her prone to trickery and manipulation, even though she is a master at both herself. She brings a sense of vulnerability to the Borg, despite being a slinky, devious monster, which makes her the perfect foil for Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), first in First Contact and then later on when the character reappears in Star Trek: Picard. She toys with people around her and convinces them to join her Hive. She has this special fondness for Picard and will do anything to convince him to join the collective. He’s like a trophy she needs to collect for her mantle. Even though we thought she perished at the end of First Contact, she has this nasty habit of popping up again and again.
She’s also a notable villain in Star Trek: Voyager, after Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is liberated from the Borg. As a power-hungry leader obsessed with finding perfection and evolving the Borg into the ultimate race, Queen can’t stand that a Borg drone has escaped and been disconnected from the Hive and does everything in her power to manipulate and bring Seven of Nine back to the collective. After Voyager blasts some severe hits on the Borg, they also deliver a neurolytic pathogen they believe kills the Borg Queen — but that’s proven wrong when she appears once again in Star Trek: Picard.
‘Star Trek: Picard’ Introduces Another Side of the Borg Queen
The Borg Queen returns in Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard (voiced by Krige and portrayed physically by Jane Edwina Seymour) in an attempt to create a new collective after she cannibalizes her drones to sustain herself. While she’s clearly become a more narcissistic, manipulative, and conniving villain with many puppets, she’s especially good at getting under Picard’s skin. In a new twist, she has been grooming Picard’s only son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speelers) — who is connected to the Borg because of Picard’s connection to the Hive during his brief time as Locutus — seducing him to help assimilate all humanity and become a weapon of mass destruction. Jack is the key to the Borg’s evolution as an unintended consequence of what happened to Picard when he was briefly assimilated.
This looming threat to his son leads Picard on an emotional journey where he must figure out how to get Jack back before it’s too late. By working with the Enterprise crewmates he’s been reunited with, he also discovers what it means to be a father and how much of a connection he wants with his son. In Picard’s final season, the crew’s mission becomes about rescuing Jack Crusher, who the Queen has assimilated as Vox of Borg, and finally thwarting her once and for all.
However, despite Starfleet’s repeated attempts to eliminate her, the Borg Queen always returns. Her resilience and persistence are critical aspects of her character, making her a formidable and compelling antagonist. She embodies everything Starfleet opposes, presenting a constant threat and a significant element in the franchise. While her ability to endure, even after seemingly insurmountable setbacks, is a testament to her strength and tenacity, her relentless pursuit of perfection ultimately becomes her downfall as she plunders the galaxy, looking for the next race to add to her collective.
Star Trek: First Contact is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
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