Star Trek: Picard cast on the Borg and why this isn't just a TNG rehash

[MUSIC] Sir, what convinced you to come back to this character and particularly to revisit the Borg story? Everything was different. It was not the same world. It was not the same man. Star Fleet was changed, the Federation was changed. And the encounters that I was to have with other characters in the series was a transformation of where we had been before the next generation. And it was that more than anything else that convinced me that this was something that I must do. The first instinct that we had And in coming up with who Picard would be dealing with this was the Borg because of his relationship to them because he was locutus because he was always haunted by it because he never really got over it Patrick in His Infinite Wisdom. Did not want to repeat the things he had played already. So he didn't just want to do that again. And he was really resistant to doing the Borg for a long time because he didn't just want to make them the bad guys you've seen not only the shows but in the movies. And it ended up leading us to a new version of the Borg that you haven't seen. And it's not, they're more advanced this time and they have new technology, it's actually about their vulnerabilities. And people forget that the Borg were assimilated species, you know. They used to be humans, they used to be aliens. There's a humanity, for lack of a better word, that was taken away from them. And there's a new perspective on the Borg from that point of view. Seven has been through a lot in the last 20 years. The universe has kind of gone to hell in a hand basket. And she holds the Federation in Star Fleet in at least some part responsible for that. So she's been working with a group of sort of freedom fighters called Fenris Rangers, trying to bring a semblance of order to what's left. And so she comes in not so much sort of worshipping Picard, who she knows by reputation but kind of looking at him as a representative of this organization that she kinda thinks it **** things up with her. He was spent pretty much his life his last, you know, 20 years in a way as a protector of those have been disconnected from the collective. And he finds himself again in a very difficult world where he is a bit of a Having to be a bit of a politician just to keep things good and keep his people safe. So he's had to make a lot of compromises in order to do that, but has held on to that moral center of that, I think, has always made the character really important to Star Trek. I think our trajectory is logical in that We became more and more human as time passed. So we've had, as human beings do, have experiences. I can't speak to the collective. You're seeing it in a more sympathetic light. Your'e seeing a different aspect of them I think, and Picard. And That resonates with a lot of what we're seeing in society now. But no you definitely do, you see them in a much more sympathetic light. [LAUGH] Well it's not the Federation that people expect or have known I think now. There's been a fallout. Specifically for my character, I mean it's people doubting, not trusting institutions anymore, and kind of taking matters into their own hands, and It become a different it's a different it's in a different place now in a different space. So that's, that is yeah, like you say it's a big theme of the season for sure. I play Rafi and she had a past working relationship with partner Picard after next generation They had a bit of a falling out. I have a very challenging, complicated relationship with the Federation. She's a security analyst and a hacking genius. She's a bit sarcastic, which, hey, what can you say? And she's absolutely haunted by Decisions that she'd made in the past which has led her to reliance and vices to help her get through the day. Our synthetics are our marginalized population, and I think Star Trek has always been able to speak to the Segmenting of society, the alienation that people feel when perceiving those who they see as different. I think that is particularly acute today, and the synthetics allow us the opportunity to explore that question. In a way that may sneak up on some audiences, or at least that is though. You do see everyone. I think a lot of the characters come into the story, having lost a lot of hope, having lost hope in a higher power and institution and straying from that, but. You're in terror, aren't you? Yeah, I'm quite frightened. [LAUGH] But I think the whole point is finding hope for camaraderie and through people which has always been a story line for Star Trek is trusting in your fellow men, that is how you fight [UNKNOWN]. [MUSIC]