The Borg have been referenced so often in the Paramount+ era of “Star Trek” that it’s easy to forget the concept of a Borg Queen doesn’t date back to the earliest days of the franchise. Instead, we met the being who’s a bit like the Borg’s central nervous system for the first time in the 1996 film, “Star Trek: First Contact,” with Alice Krige in the role. In her first introduction, the Borg Queen is creepy and ethereal, presented as a bifurcated humanoid form — exposed spinal cord and all — floating down toward Data (Brent Spiner) on tendril-like metal coils.
Krige gives a great performance in “Star Trek: First Contact” as the Borg Queen attaches to her body and ends up in a geeky-flirtatious conversation with Data after giving him the power of sensation for the first time. Later, when she confronts Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), that exchange has a surprisingly romantic charge, too. He discovers she wanted to craft him into Locutus to be “a counterpart” to her, and the Borg Queen comes across as surprisingly human when she grows angry with him and, later, sweetly strokes his face.
Since “Star Trek: First Contact,” the Borg Queen’s persona seems to have gotten less, well, seductive. She appeared on “Star Trek: Voyager” and was referenced throughout season 2 of “Star Trek: Picard,” only for a bait-and-switch plot to reveal that the late actor Annie Wersching’s alternate timeline version of the Borg Queen merges with Alison Pill’s Agnes Jurati to become a hybrid version of the cybernetic leader. By the time Krige’s voiceover appears in Jack’s head, however, it’s not whispering seductions but prompting him to return to the collective where it says he belongs. “Hear me. Find me,” the voice whispers. “We will be together soon, Jack.”
