Star Trek: Picard came and went with three seasons, each increasing the stakes and each one had something to do with the Borg in one way or another. The first season saw the characters wander around a disabled Borg cube as the Romulans picked it apart for technology. Picard's second season saw a Borg queen play a significant role and help everyone time travel. Meanwhile, the Borg played the biggest role in Picard's third season, prompting the Star Trek: The Next Generation band to get back together.
However, the use of this cybernetically superior alien species in season three countered the events of season two. By the end of Picard's second season, the Borg were friendlier, going so far as to protect an entire fleet of Starfleet ships. In fact, the third season introduces a completely different queen than the one the show introduced at the end of its previous season. One would think Star Trek would have used the new Borg or at least explained their existence before bringing back old-school Borg.
Star Trek: 10 Ways The Post-TNG Novels Diverged From Star Trek: Picard
After the end of The Next Generation, the cast's adventures continued in books. But Star Trek: Picard doesn't always line up with the novels.
What Are The Jurati Borg?
Agnes Jurati was a Starfleet scientist before she allowed a Borg Queen to assimilate her. Jurati played a significant role in Picard's first two seasons, but she was solely responsible for keeping the Borg Queen under control in season two. That whole story is all sorts of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. Q, the omnipotent alien being from the Q Continuum, decided Picard and humanity needed one last test before he died and sent Jean-Luc and his little team to an alternate reality. In this reality, the Federation was the Confederation of Planets, a xenophobic and fascist organization.
Once the team gets past the fact that Seven of Nine is the President of the Confederation, Dr. Jurati discovers the last Borg Queen stashed away in a lab and quickly formulates a plan to bring her and the crew to the 21st century. After a series of misguided decisions, Agnes and the Queen eventually shared Agnes' body until the Queen took over completely and refused to relinquish control. Luckily, Jurati was still in there somewhere.
In the climactic moments of their time in the 21st century, Jurati manages to convince the Queen to share her body equally and create a more cooperative, consensual Borg, one where they ask if stranded travelers or weakened people want to join the collective instead of forcing it upon them. When the Queen agrees, Jurati takes possession of La Sirena and travels to the Delta Quadrant. There, she and her new collective forge a new existence, separate from the original Borg.
Picard Season 3 Borg, Explained
So, what about the Borg from season three? Were they not part of Jurati's collective? Did Jurati and her new Borg not take the place of the Borg fans learned about throughout The Next Generation and Voyager? According to the co-showrunner for Picard season two, Terry Matalas, Jurati's Borg (Borgati?) are an offshoot from an alternate timeline who stayed out of history's way. It's easy to see why this is so frustrating to fans.
Season three saw a wonderful story involving an alliance between the Borg and Changelings that brought in a full-on nostalgia trip featuring legacy characters from TNG and Voyager. Because of Admiral Janeway and the events of Star Trek: Voyager's finale, the Borg Queen is all that's left of the Borg. She no longer has any drones to do her bidding, and is clearly suffering from Admiral Janeway's contamination. Instead, this Queen uses Changelings and their animosity toward Starfleet to infiltrate them and create sleeper agents. Anyone under 25 years of age become Borg drones through nanites infecting their bloodstream.
However, the season three Borg don't negate the existence of Jurati's group. Even Captain Shaw makes mention of "That weird sh*t on the Stargazer." While the original Borg were doing their thing, terrorizing countless civilizations across the galaxy, Jurati and her Borg stayed tucked away in a little corner of their own. Jurati, being the scientist that she was and having the knowledge of the Borg Queen from season two, she most likely knew interfering would alter the course of time, which would negate her existence.
Picard Season 2 Threads That Need Rectifying
Jurati and her collective weren't the only aspect from season two that failed to return in season three. There's the matter of the trans-warp conduit, which threatened billions of lives when it first appeared. Thanks to the new Borg, those lives continue on. Queen Jurati told Picard that the trans-warp conduit was just a piece of a larger puzzle. Nobody knows where it came from or who put it there. The good Borg likely made the area around the trans-warp conduit their new home while also taking on the role of its protectors, determining that a more important cause than helping Starfleet against the old Borg Queen.
As good as Picard's third season was, it doesn't do a good job explaining these two major plot points. In fact, it doesn't even mention the trans-warp conduit, and goes on pretending it doesn't exist. If Sir Patrick Stewart gets his way and fans see a Picard movie (hopefully directed by Jonathan Frakes), it needs to address these two plot threads. Tie them up, or at least progress their story and make way for another series to deal with them. A new series that takes place on a space station like Deep Space 9 near the trans-warp conduit could be entertaining and exactly what Star Trek needs.