RIP, My Queen...

Annie Wershing, the Borg Queen from "Star Trek: Picard," dies at age 45

Jan 30, 2023

Editor's Note: I want to apologize for the recent hiatus in publishing Subspace Chatter while I dealt with some personal and health issues from that thing we call “real life.” We resume regular publication with this edition. And thank you for your ongoing interest and support.

I'd been looking for just the right time to return to publishing Subspace Chatter, after some personal and health issues, and this sad news finally compelled this moment.

Annie Wershing, the amazingly able and talented actress who brought a new version of the Borg Queen to life in the second season of Star Trek: Picard, has died.

She was just 45 years old.

TrekMovie.com @TrekMovie

We are sorry to report the passing of Star Trek Picard’s Borg Queen, the talented Annie Wersching. Her publicist has confirmed that she died of cancer today.

Granted, I understand that that second year of Star Trek: Picard proved controversial among fans with some applauding the season and others panning it.

But it's impossible, I think, to say that Annie Wershing gave any less than her full measure in stepping in and becoming just the third actress in franchise history to inhabit the role of the Borg Queen.

Wershing was so dedicated to the part that it came out that in shooting the entire season, that — save for co-star Alison Pill — the cast and crew never saw her out of her Borg makeup.

“Truth! No one except Alison ever saw me out of makeup. The. Whole. Season. 😱 #Picard” Wershing tweeted last spring.

And just as Alice Krige and Susanna Thompson before her, Wershing imbued the Borg Queen with her unique spin on the character.

(And, quite frankly, I found Wershing's take — much more malevolent and less sensual than past Queens — to be not only more terrifying individually but honestly it restored some of the fear in the Borg overall after much of their villainy had been blunted from overuse.)

Annie Wersching @Wersching

You will never see these two smiling together like this. I can promise you that. An honor and a privilege to work with @SirPatStew 🙌🏻 💫 The first episode of Star Trek Picard season 2 is NOW streaming on @paramountplus! 👑👽🤖 #BorgQueen #Picard #startrekpicard

And more than that, she put in what was a demanding role emotionally, mentally and physically, after having been diagnosed with the cancer which finally took her life Sunday.

That realization just leaves my jaw on the floor.

Wershing was literally fighting for her life in the midst of a demanding shooting schedule for Picard which required physically difficult stunts in full Borg costume.

If she doesn't win some kind of posthumous recognition for that, there is no justice in the universe.

Playing the Borg Queen in Picard was not Wershing's introduction to Star Trek. Her first credited TV appearance was as Liana in the Star Trek: Enterprise first season episode “Oasis.”

Wersching's husband, actor Stephen Full, penned a tribute to the wife he clearly loved, saying:

“There is a cavernous hole in the soul of this family today. But she left us the tools to fill it. She found wonder in the simplest moment. She didn’t require music to dance. She taught us not to wait for adventure to find you. ‘Go find it. It’s everywhere.’ And find it we shall. As I drove our boys, the true loves of her life, down the winding driveway and street, she would yell BYE! until we were out of earshot and into the world. I can still hear it ringing. Bye my Buddie. ‘I love you little family…'"

Plans are in the very early stages to put on some kind of remembrance or memorial during the next Star Trek Cruise, according to the Twitter account of Chase Masterson, who played Leeta on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Whatever one might think about the creative choices, and ultimate success, of Star Trek: Picard's second season I think that we can all join tonight in mourning someone who was an eager and valued member of the Star Trek family.