Everything You Need to Know About the Borg Queen

“I am the beginning, the end, the one who is many. I am the Borg.”

The central locus of the Borg Collective is the amoral Borg Queen. Through her, like the queen of an insect colony, the Hive mind is granted order and common direction.

As the Villain Showdown enter its fourth week, pitting the Borg Queen against Gul Dukat, we’ve put together this handy guide on everything you need to know about the Queen.

Throughout the history of the Borg Collective, there have been a number of Queens. Only one Queen exists at any given time; when she is destroyed, a new Queen takes her place. In Star Trek: Voyager, it's revealed that the Borg Queen isn't a singular entity, but the name given to any that serves as its host, possessing all previous Queen's collective consciousness.

The Borg, a fusion of organic and synthetic matter, and their relentless pursuit of perfection brought fear to all quadrants of the galaxy. Residing primarily at Unimatrix One in the Delta Quadrant, the Borg Queen is the only one able to think independently from the Collective; possessing a unique personality and sense of individuality — traits not seen within the Borg.

The first Borg Queen (Alice Krige) made her debut with Star Trek: First Contact (1996) as the Borg sought to erase a historical moment in Starfleet history—First Contact Day—traveling back in time to prevent the creation and need of the Federation.

In her lair, the Borg Queen remains disembodied with just her head and spinal column — the epitome of perfection — with no remnants of her humanoid form. When she leaves her home base for assimilation efforts, she will reassemble herself into a predominantly artificial body.

The Borg doesn’t value the Federation’s belief in individuality – its mission is to add others’ biological and technological distinctiveness to their own, strengthening the Collective in its pursuit of perfection. Defeating their opponents isn’t enough; they sought to assimilate their enemies’ minds and flesh.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard still endures residual trauma decades later following his assimilation into the Borg. As Locutus of the Borg, selected to be their voice to facilitate their introduction into human society, Picard believed he never fully regained himself after they striped away his humanity and sense of self.

It is in Star Trek: Voyager where we learn that the Borg Queen, obsessed with power, didn’t create the Borg; she was just tasked with leading the Collective. The collective consciousness, where each drone is linked through the subspace network, allows for the Borg to adapt quickly and eliminate threats as they arise.

In the episode "Dark Frontier" of Star Trek: Voyager, the Borg Queen believes Seven of Nine's presence is vital to their path forward in their approach to assimilate Earth, seeing value in Seven's knowledge of humanity. The Borg Queen tries to lure her back to the Collective by "allowing" her to remain an individual instead of reverting to a drone. The Queen's seduction involved telling Seven she's "unique," and her experience will add to their perfection. However, she can't be selfish and only think of just her individual self.

When a Borg Queen is destroyed, another Queen is propped up. Susanna Thompson portrays the Borg Queen in Star Trek: Voyager’s two-parter, “Dark Frontier” and “Unimatrix Zero.”

Most recently, the Borg Queen was played by Annie Wersching in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard.

In Star Trek: Picard, the Borg Queen is cut off from the Borg Collective due the actions of Q and a divergence in time. As a result, she becomes wholly and fully obsessed with Agnes Jurati.

Seen as the last of the Borg, instead of finding the Collective, she sets her sights on Agnes in hopes of building out a new Borg collective.

Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

Star Trek: Picard streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed concurrently by Paramount Global Distribution Group on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave.

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