Star Trek Almost Answered a Decades Long Borg Mystery (But the Genius Pitch Was Rejected)

April 6, 2026, 6:41pm

We’re currently in an odd part of Star Trek history – a sort of reflective “holding pattern” enforced by the cancelation of several shows and a distinct lack of tangible information on the franchise’s future at Paramount. As fans wait for the next generation of stories to be set in stone, there has been a sudden surge of interest in the missed opportunities and rejected pitches of this and previous eras. Andy Weir’s now notoriously rejected idea is one thing, but there’s a lot more, including the unrealized potential of Star Trek: Legacy or Star Trek: United. They might never lead anywhere, but such unproduced concepts offer a compelling glimpse at what might have been. And another new what-if has just turned up.

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It turns out that a scrapped plan for Star Trek: Enterprise Season 5 could have filled in some gaps in the mythology of the Borg. At the time of its cancellation, showrunner Manny Coto was steering the prequel toward the Romulan War and the founding of the Federation, but writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens had another idea. During a panel at Trek Talks 5 with fellow creatives Brannon Braga, Andre Bormanis, Michael Sussman, and Phyllis Strong, the pair revealed a rejected pitch to bring Alice Krige back to play the Head of Starfleet Medical in the 22nd century, who became the Borg Queen by her own choice:

“One [pitch] we thought would be really intriguing was to have another Borg show, but bring in the head of Starfleet Medical, which would be played by Alice Krige. And we would see someone choosing [to be assimilated]. She, of course, goes on to become the Borg Queen, but we would see what goes through the mind of someone choosing to join the Collective. And we thought that would be intriguing.”

Why The Borg Queen Origin Was Rejected (& What We Lost)

Braga countered to say “that’s a cool idea… We should’ve done that” and Garfield Reeves-Stevens revealed the reason for the rejection: “Manny felt that Enterprise has to stand on its own, so let’s not reach back to the other shows too often.” As Braga rightly said, the “idea of seeing Alice Krige in some capacity before she became the Queen is fascinating,” not least because the storyline would have tackled several particularly compelling untold parts of Trek lore.

First, we could have got a different, definitive answer to the Borg Queen’s biological origins. Rather than being a member of “Species 125” as later hinted, this version would have tied the Queen directly to the dawn of Starfleet. It would have offered the interesting idea that the Federation’s greatest ever enemy was actually born of one of its own founding minds. That could also have added further depth to the later point in the timeline where the Queen targets Picard to join the Collective. And crucially, we could have discovered the answer to the age-old chicken and egg quandary: whether the woman who became the Borg Queen was merely a chosen vessel and the Collective already had a figure-head, or if there was much of her left from before she joined the Collective and she basically took control of it.

Secondly, and perhaps more provocatively, the story would have explored the psychological allure of the Hive Mind in a way we’ve not seen. Star Trek usually portrays assimilation as an essential violation, but the origin would have examined the perspective of a brilliant mind choosing to trade her individuality for the supposed “perfection” and order of the Collective. The Borg’s entire brand is the futility of resistance, and this spins that completely differently. By following the Head of Starfleet Medical through to her fatal decision, we would have got a completely different take. Admittedly, you have to consider whether humanizing another iconic villain would have come at a cost, but the fact she would have chosen her own fate rather than being forced into it through deception or trauma, like Darth Vader, is different enough too.

While Manny Coto was hesitant to over-rely on re-raking over the past, this definitely remains one of the franchise’s great missed opportunities. Enterprise could have given fans the chance to see the Borg not just as a relentless force of nature, but as a choice made by a woman who wanted something else.

You can watch the entire 9-hour Trek Talks 5 fundraiser event below: