27 years after her Star Trek: First Contact debut, very little is known about the origins of Alice Krige’s Borg Queen, and it’s for the best.

Star Trek has never revealed the origins of the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) and that’s for the best. First introduced in Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg Queen was a nemesis to both Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) before finally being dispatched for good in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Picard season 2 depicted the origins of the benevolent hybrid of Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) and the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching). However, very little has been revealed about where the first Borg Queen came from.

The original idea for the Borg was an insectoid species, and the cyborg species’ hive-like Cube ship and shared mind taps into those initial intentions. So too does the idea of a Queen who is protected by her drones. Beyond the comparisons to ants and bees, not much else is known about the history of Star Trek‘s Borg Queen, although attempts have been made to expand her story. Thankfully, those attempts never came to anything, preserving the enigmatic origins of the iconic Star Trek villain.

Star Trek: Enterprise Wanted To Tell The Borg Queen’s Origin

Star Trek novelists Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens wrote or co-wrote five episodes of Scott Bakula’s Star Trek: Enterprise final season. Before Enterprise was canceled on 2 February 2005, various storylines were being prepared for season 5. One of these stories was the Reeves-Stevens’ pitch for a sequel to Enterprise season 2, episode 23, “Regeneration.” The couple wanted to bring back Alice Krige as a Federation scientist who came into contact with the rogue Borg drones left behind after the events of Star Trek: First Contact.

With no season 5, the plans were dropped for the Borg Queen origin story in Star Trek: Enterprise. It’s interesting to ponder how the episode would have worked in terms of the wider Borg continuity. If the Borg Queen was originally a 22nd century scientist, then surely her origins are a predestination loop. The Borg Queen only exists in the 24th century because she took the Collective back to the late 21st century and left behind technology that would eventually seed her creation. It’s a headache-inducing nightmare for Star Trek canon.

Why The Borg Queen Works Best Without An Origin Story

In the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Unimatrix Zero Part II”, the Borg Queen (Susanna Thompson) reveals that she was assimilated into the Collective as a child. However, because the exact nature of the Borg Queen is unclear, this could just be a reference to the origins of the organic body that is housing her consciousness. The ambiguity around the Borg Queen’s origins, and the lack of information about her creation made her a great Star Trek villain. There’s a tendency in modern media to provide audiences with too much information about characters, which can be detrimental to the storytelling.

If too much is revealed about the Borg Queen and her origins, it will inevitably contradict something that’s gone before. Although the original Borg Collective is now extinct after the events of Star Trek: Picard season 3, they still exist elsewhere in the franchise. Leaving the origins of the Queen, and the Borg themselves, gives writers much more latitude to reveal new information and keep the Collective fresh and interesting for future appearances in the Star Trek franchise. Once audiences know where the Borg actually came from and how they chose their Queen, they cease to be interesting.