Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Surprisingly Killed A Lot Of TNG Characters

Star Trek: Picard season 3 was lauded for reuniting the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the final season also killed off some notable TNG characters. Star Trek: Picard season 3 saw Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D save the galaxy from a deadly alliance between the Changelings and the Borg. Aboard the USS Titan-A, Picard and his friends mainly faced off against Vadic (Amanda Plummer) before the Borg Queen (Alice Krige, Jane Edwina Seymour) revealed herself as Picard season 3's ultimate villain.

Star Trek: Picard seasons 1 and 2 included some major deaths of Star Trek legacy characters. Picard season 1 killed off Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco), the former Borg who at least got a reunion hug with Admiral Picard before he died. Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales), who built a new race of synthetics from the positronic neuron of the late Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), also died in Picard season 1, along with Icheb (Casey King), one of Seven of Nine's (Jeri Ryan) Borg 'children' from Star Trek: Voyager.

Q (John de Lancie) died at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 2, although the reports of his demise were exaggerated since the omnipotent being came back at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3. Although Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neill) of the USS Enterprise-C died decades prior, Vadic added insult to injury by destroying her Red Lady statue on M'Talas Prime. Elsewhere in Star Trek: Picard season 3, the following familiar faces from Star Trek: The Next Generation returned, but not for long.

4Commander Ro Laren

Played By Michelle Forbes

Commander Ro Laren made a surprise return, and died an equally surprising death, in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 5, "Imposters." An operative from Starfleet Intelligence, Commander Ro boarded the USS Titan-A to investigate the Changeling infiltration aboard the starship. However, Ro's real agenda was to warn and reconcile with Admiral Picard, who she betrayed decades earlier in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Ro Laren died heroically to protect Admiral Picard and the USS Titan-A from the USS Intrepid, which was under Changeling control and about to fire on the Titan. Changeling agents planted a bomb on Commander Ro's shuttle, but Laren piloted it into the Intrepid's nacelle, causing enough damage to allow the Titan to escape.

Although Star Trek: Picard season 3 showrunner intended for the finale to include a scene where Commander Ro Laren was alive and imprisoned by the Changelings, it wasn't filmed. Therefore, Ro Laren's death in Star Trek: Picard season 3 remains canon. Still, Ro redeemed herself in Admiral Picard's eyes, and Star Trek: Picard season 3 closed the circle and concluded Ro's open-ended story from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

3Lore

Played By Brent Spiner

Data's evil brother, Lore, perished in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 8, "Surrender." During Captain Vadic's invasion of the USS Titan-A, Lore attempted to assert full control of the synthetic body he shared with his brother, Data. Dr. Altan Inigo Soong (Brent Spiner) had built a human-like synthetic form to house the combined psyches of Data, Lore, B-4, Data's daughter Lal (Hallie Todd), and Soong himself. But Lore wanted to be the one true consciousness.

When Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) lowered the partition in Data's brain, Lore attempted a hostile takeover of their shared Soong hybrid body. However, Data tricked Lore by using his memories of his former life on the USS Enterprise-D to override Lore and delete him, giving Data complete control over their synthetic form. Lore has plagued Data since Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, and remained a threat long after his android form was destroyed. Presumably, Lore is now gone for good.

2Admiral Elizabeth Shelby

Played By Elizabeth Dennehy

Admiral Elizabeth Shelby died in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 9, "Vox." Shelby was the Starfleet flag officer in command of the USS Enterprise-F on Frontier Day. However, the Borg mounted their mass assimilation of every Starfleet Officer aged 25 and under. Shelby soon found herself surrounded by hostile Borg-fied crew members, and Shelby was murdered in the Captain's chair as the Borg took control of the Enterprise-F and the assembled Starfleet armada to attack Spacedock and Earth.

Commander Elizabeth Shelby was a memorable force in Star Trek: The Next Generation's classic two-parter, "The Best of Both Worlds." The ambitious and career-minded Shelby became First Officer to Acting Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) after Captain Picard was assimilated into Locutus of Borg. After leaving the USS Enterprise-D, Shelby headed up Starfleet's Borg task force. In Star Trek: Lower Decks, Captain Shelby was seen at a Starfleet gala event.

1The Borg and Borg Queen

Played By Alice Krige & Jane Edwina Seymour

The Borg Queen finally met her end in Star Trek: Picard season 3's finale, "The Last Generation." Emaciated and dying from a neurolytic pathogen administered by an alternate future Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) in Star Trek: Voyager's series finale, "Endgame," the Borg Queen and her Borg Cube hidden in the eye of Jupiter were destroyed by Admiral Jean-Luc Picard and the USS Enterprise-D. Star Trek: Picard season 3 concluded the story of the original Borg Collective that began in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In Star Trek: Picard season 3, the Borg Queen enacted a long-range plan to assimilate Admiral Picard's son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), who was born with organic Borg DNA passed to him by Picard from when he was Locutus. Turned into Vox of Borg, Jack emitted the signal that led to the mass assimilation of every Starfleet Officer under the age of 25, creating a new version of the Borg Collective. However, the Borg Queen and the remains of her Collective failed in their bid to be reborn. The Borg Queen's death in Star Trek: Picard season 3 saw Admiral Picard defeat his greatest enemy, at last.