Star Trek: Picard: Brent Spiner Comments on Premiere’s Big Data Reveal

Today, Star Trek: Picard debuted on CBS All Access and brought with it a big revelation about Commander Data and his legacy. During the press junket that took place before Star Trek: Picard debuted, ComicBook.com had the chance to ask Brent Spiner, the actor who plays Data, how he felt about this surprising new wrinkle in Data’s story. The actor shared his thoughts on the first episode’s big reveal, but be warned that SPOILERS for the first episode of Star Trek: Picard, titled “Remembrance,” which is now available to stream via CBS All Access, will follow. Watch the episode first if you don’t want the ruin the reveal.

Star Trek: Picard reveals that the character Dahj, played by Isa Briones, is a synthetic lifeform. It also reveals that she has a twin sister, Dr. Soji Asha. What’s more, Picard’s conversation with Dr. Agnes Jurati reveals that the twins were created using from Data’s programming, making them Data’s “daughters.”

ComicBook.com asked Spiner how he felt when he first learned about this big reveal. He was light-hearted in his response.

“Well, I didn’t really have a say,” Spiner said, laughing. “I’m happy just for the saga of Data to continue. If it’s through his progeny… then I’m pleased.”

Longtime Star Trek fans will remember that Data once built an android daughter, Lal, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Offspring,” but Lal needed to be shut down. “Remembrance” reveals that Data never stopped wanting a daughter. He created two paintings of a young woman that he titled “Daughter.” Dr. Bruce Maddox, the researcher who studied data in Star Trek: The Next Generation, used a special regenerative process he engineered to create Dahj and Soji from Data’s programming and based their physical appearances on Data’s painting. It seems he also programmed them to instinctually seek out Jean-Luc Picard if they were ever threatened, which is what Dahj does in this episode after being attacked in her home by Romulan agents.

Dahj dies before the end of the episode. Only by further investigating her existence does Picard discover that her twin exists. Picard doesn’t know it, but Soji is working on the Romulan reclamation project aboard a derelict Borg cube. The episode ends with the Romulan Narek introducing himself to her, though his intentions are not clear.

What do you think about the introduction of Data’s daughters? Let us know in the comments. New episodes of Star Trek: Picard become available to stream Thursdays on CBS All Access.