Star Trek: Picard season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas wanted Data to meet Soji, and Isa Briones says “It would have been a beautiful scene to have.”
Summary
- Isa Briones, who played Soji in Star Trek: Picard, talks about a potential season 3 meeting between Soji and Data that was scrapped.
- Briones expresses her excitement at the idea of a scene between Soji and Brent Spiner’s Data, as it would have fulfilled Data’s desire for a daughter.
- While fans speculated about the possibility, Briones believes it would have been a beautiful moment.
Isa Briones, who played multiple roles in Star Trek: Picard, talks about a potential season 3 meeting between Soji and Data (Brent Spiner) that didn’t happen. Soji was a principal character in Picard season 1, although Briones only made a brief appearance as Soji in Picard season 2. However, Soji and her deceased twin sister Dahj were essentially Data’s daughters, as they were human-like synthetics built from a positronic neuron recovered from the then-late Data.
Speaking to Bleeding Cool about her hit Disney+ and Hulu series Goosebumps, Isa Briones was asked about Star Trek: Picard season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas’ plan to have a scene where Soji meets Data, at last, which was reportedly scrapped due to time and budget. Briones explains what she was aware of in terms of Soji meeting Data in Picard season 3. Read her quote below:
I would say that’s a little more of a rumor mill thing. We would have loved to do that. I would have loved to do a scene with Brent because that’s one thing we and the fans are missing: Data always wanted a daughter, and there would have been a beautiful opportunity for Data and his daughter to meet. I’ve heard people talk about that. That was maybe something people wanted to do, but I was never told about it [making it a reality]. That would have been a beautiful scene to have.
Isa Briones Played Multiple Roles In Star Trek: Picard
4 androids and a clone.
Isa Briones took on a difficult acting challenge in Star Trek: Picard seasons 1 and 2. Introduced as Dahj, whose murder kicked off the main story of Picard season 1, Briones then portrayed Dahj’s twin sister, Dr. Soji Asha, whom Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) seeks to protect from the Romulans. Arriving on Soji’s homeworld of Coppelius, Picard learned Soji is just one of numerous synthetics built from Data’s positronic neuron. Briones also appeared as Dahj and Soji’s malevolent predecessors, the golden-skinned Sutra and Jana. In Picard season 2, Briones played Kore Soong, the daughter of 21st-century geneticist Dr. Adam Soong (Brent Spiner), who was revealed to be a clone and was recruited into the Travelers by Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton).
Soji only had one scene in Star Trek: Picard season 2’s premiere that showed she is now an ambassador for the synthetics on Coppelius.
Isa Briones, along with Picard season 1 and 2 series regulars Allison Pill, Santiago Cabrera, and Evan Evagora, were written out of Star Trek: Picard season 3 to make room for the reunited cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Terry Matalas hoped to include a scene where Soji finally made Data, who was resurrected as a human-like synthetic, in Picard season 3, which was filmed back-to-back with season 2, but that scene couldn’t be realized due to budgetary concerns. Perhaps the best hope to finally see Soji meet Data would be if Star Trek: Picard season 3’s proposed spinoff, Star Trek: Legacy, is greenlit by Paramount+.
