Star Trek Just Introduced a Whole New Borg

While Star Trek: Picard takes place decades after Star Trek: The Next Generation, it has seen Jean-Luc Picard having to deal extensively with his old foes, the Borg. Captain Janeway and the USS Voyager crew weakened the Borg Collective during Star Trek: Voyager's run. However, Picard still carries the scars from when the Borg assimilated him into Locutus in the classic episode "The Best of Borth Worlds." In Star Trek: Picard's first season, Picard and his new crew had to visit a derelict Borg Cube and reunite with Hugh, a Borg set free by the Enterprise crew in "I, Borg," forcing Picard to reckon with trauma. The second season has forced Picard to work with a Borg queen to travel back in time and undo Q's changes to the timeline.

There have been some unexpected consequences, including what appears to be the creation of a whole new type of Borg. SPOILERS follow for Star Trek: Picard Season 2, Episode 9, "Hide and Seek."

Dr. Agnes Jurati has spent time alone with the Borg Queen since the La Sirena crash-landed in 21st century France. The Borg Queen has used this opportunity to prey on Agnes' loneliness. After fatally wounding the Borg Queen's body, Agnes allowed the Queen to take up residence in her mind not to lose the crew's way home. The Borg Queen has since manipulated Agnes and taken near-complete control of her body.

That has led to "Hide and Seek." The Borg Queen lays siege to the Picard château to take La Sirena for herself, imagining all the power she can accrue for the Collective with a 400-year head start. The battle ends on La Sirena's bridge, with Seven of Nine wounded and bleeding out.

Agnes has enough influence left to stay the Queen's killing blow. They have a conversation in which Agnes convinces the Queen that there's another way. Assimilation doesn't have to be by force. The Borg could offer connection to the lost and lonely, the desperate, and those in need of aid. At first, it's a tough sell, but the Queen eventually sees value in Agnes' pitch. She heals Seven, and, in return, the crew turns La Sirena over to the Queen.

Agnes fully merges with the Borg Queen, becoming one. They leave with La Sirena, intent on starting a new and different type of Borg Collective.

With one more episode of Star Trek: Picard Season Two left, what does this mean for the season finale? We can only speculate, but it seems likely that -- through time loops and paradoxes -- Agnes' new Borg Collective are the ones who reached out to Picard in the season premiere. If this is the case, it would explain why the Borg ship that emerged from the signal's point of origin isn't a traditional Borg Cube. That strange Borg Queen that transported onto the Stargazer could be Agnes. But if it is Agnes, why was she so forceful about taking control of the fleet? For that answer, we'll have to wait and see.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Star Trek: Picard debuts new episodes on Paramount+ on Thursdays.