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Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard‘s Season 2 Finale – “Farewell”

The ending of Star Trek: Picard season 2 wrapped up its major storylines and bid “Farewell” to several characters, but the finale also left behind some big questions, only some of which can potentially be answered in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his motley crew were able to fix the timeline divergence caused by Q (John de Lancie) in 2024 Los Angeles by saving the Europa Mission piloted by Renée Picard (Penelope Mitchell). After restoring Star Trek’s Prime Timeline, Q gave up his life to bring Picard and (most of) his friends back to 2401 where they met the new Borg Queen, Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill).

Time travel shenanigans aside, Star Trek: Picard season 2’s primary goal was to delve into Jean-Luc Picard’s unrevealed past and answer the crucial question of why he chose to remain without a romantic partner for his entire life. The answer lay in buried memories from when Jean-Luc was a young boy where he blamed himself for the suicide of his beloved mother, Yvette Picard (Madeline Wise). Q’s goal was to ultimately force Jean-Luc to face his past and absolve himself of his lifelong guilt. Now free, Jean-Luc was able to pursue his romantic interest in Laris (Orla Brady). Meanwhile, among the myriad intersecting stories going on in Star Trek: Picard, the most fascinating were Agnes Jurati bonding with the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching), while Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) underwent a profound personal growth in her brief time being fully human before she was restored as a Borg.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 juggled multiple characters, subplots, and concepts across two timelines and it all certainly got convoluted at times. The vaulting ambition of Star Trek: Picard season 2 somewhat overreached, yet the show clicked when it focused on its beloved characters and moved them in fascinating, emotionally resonant new directions. Star Trek: Picard season 2’s finale was also a poignant and satisfying conclusion filled with farewells to beloved TNG icons like Q and even several members of Star Trek: Picard’s main cast like Elnor (Evan Evagora) who won’t return for season 3. Here are the biggest questions Star Trek: Picard season 2 leaves behind, whether or not they will ever be answered.

How Did Q’s Time Travel And Powers Work In Star Trek: Picard Season 2?

Q’s final farewell to his favorite human, Jean-Luc Picard, was heartwarming considering their 35-year history together in Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, actually thinking about and tracking Q’s plan and his deeds throughout Star Trek: Picard season 2 is baffling because little makes sense. Q was dying and his power was limited throughout the season, yet he was able to time travel to the 25th century to give Picard all the exposition he needed about the Confederation of Earth. But Q lost his powers in 2024 so how did he manage to time travel to tell Picard he changed the timeline? Q recruited Dr. Adam Soong to kill Renée but what would Q have done if Soong killed Jean-Luc? Why go to such extremes to create an alternate reality with the possibility of it being permanent just to teach Jean-Luc a lesson about love? Getting Picard to forgive himself was Q’s ultimate goal but he went to absurd lengths that could have backfired at any time.

Was Adam Soong Khan’s Creator?

Arguably the biggest jaw-dropper in Star Trek: Picard season 2’s finale was Adam Soong’s folder marked “Project Khan” dated 1996. Soong retrieved this top-secret file as a last resort after his daughter, Kore (Isa Briones), deleted all of his eugenics files. What does “Project Khan” mean? Was Adam the creator of Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán)? Given Soong’s age in 2024 and the fact that he is a eugenics scientist, it’s possible he is indeed responsible for Khan. Will Star Trek: Picard season 3 tell Khan’s origin? Or will Adam Soong use the technology of “Project Khan” to make himself a genetically-engineered superman? Given that Brent Spiner will return in Star Trek: Picard season 3 but he isn’t playing Data, who is dead, it’s possible Adam Soong could be the next “Khan” in Star Trek: Picard season 3.

Is Seven of Nine The Captain of The Stargazer?

Thanks to Admiral Picard giving Seven of Nine a field commission, she is finally a member of Starfleet. Picard authorized Seven to follow the Borg Queen’s lead to command the USS Stargazer and the rest of Starfleet in order to stop the newly-forming transwarp conduit from destroying the Alpha Quadrant. But what does Seven’s Starfleet field commission actually mean? What rank is she in Starfleet? Did Picard officially make her a Captain? If so, would Starfleet actually allow her to be Captain of the Stargazer? Earlier in Star Trek: Picard season 2, Seven confessed to Raffi that Admiral Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) nearly quit Starfleet in protest after they rejected Seven. Star Trek: Picard finally made Seven a part of Starfleet, which she always deserved to be. Since Jeri Ryan is reprising Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Picard season 3, her ultimate rank and the definition of Seven’s Starfleet career are bound to be addressed.

What Will Become Of The Borg Queen In Star Trek: Picard Season 3?

The merger of Dr. Agnes Jurati and the Borg Queen was an incredible story that paid off both characters and turned them into something new and compelling. As a result of being Picard’s “friend” and helping save the galaxy, the Borg Queen earned Jean-Luc’s trust. The Queen also requested a provisional membership in the United Federation of Planets to serve as the “guardian at the gates” and watch over the new transwarp conduit and the potential “threat” that created it. Yet this promising new development for the Borg Queen is belied by the fact that Alison Pill is not returning for Star Trek: Picard season 3, which leaves the hybrid Queen and her new, better Borg in limbo. It’s possible a sci-fi means could be contrived so that Annie Wersching physically embodies the Borg Queen once more but does that mean “Agnes Borgrati” will simply vanish or be killed off in Star Trek: Picard season 3?

Are There Now Two Borg Collectives In Star Trek?

The Borg Queen from 2024 re-emerging in 2401 makes the status of the Borg extremely confusing. Picard and his motley crew repaired the timeline in 2024 and set everything back the way it was, presumably. But Jurati and the Borg Queen left Earth before this happened to build a better Borg Collective together. Does this mean the original Borg and Queen are still out there, and the Agnes/Borg Queen hybrid was making their new Collective concurrently? Are there now two Borg Collectives, with one of them now allies of the Federation? Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas retweeting a fan who asked this very question hints that this may indeed be the case. If so, is Star Trek: Picard season 3 building to a Borg vs. Borg conflict? (And how will that work if Alison Pill isn’t reprising her version of the Borg Queen?)

How Does World War III Affect Rios’ Choice To Stay In 2024?

Cristobal Rios (Santiago Cabrera) fell in love with Dr. Teresa Ramirez (Sol Rodriguez) and chose to stay with her in 2024. Rios’ decision is understandable, except for the fact that he must be aware that history (which Chris helped assure by fixing the timeline) records that World War III is about to happen in 2026 and lasts for 30 years. In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) vividly showed the horrors that World War III inflicts on Earth. Yet Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) painted a rosy picture for Picard that Rios and Teresa had a long and happy life together, which is hard to believe if they’re going to live in a world shattered by a nuclear holocaust for the next three decades. Either way, Rios’ Star Trek story has ended since Santiago Cabrera won’t return for Star Trek: Picard season 3.

What Was The Microorganism That Renee Picard’s Europa Mission Found?

One of the most intriguing, but underdeveloped, new ideas presented in Star Trek: Picard season 2 is that Renée Picard discovers a sentient microorganism during the Europa Mission and brings it back to Earth. This microorganism is heretofore unknown to Star Trek and it was never actually seen in Star Trek: Picard season 2. However, Guinan tells Jean-Luc that the adult Ricardo Ramirez (Steve Guiterrez), Dr. Teresa’s son, uses the microorganism to clean the skies and the oceans of pollution, which must have happened after World War III left the Earth devastated and radioactive. This must mean that Ricardo survives World War III, and so do Teresa and Rios if they lived to old age as Guinan said. But what, exactly, was this microorganism, and will it ever be fully revealed or explained?

Will Traveler Kore Soong Return In Star Trek: Picard Season 3?

Isa Briones bid farewell to her character Soji on her Instagram but she curiously didn’t specify also saying goodbye to Kore Soong, the new character she played in Star Trek: Picard season 2. Soji was left behind with the Deltans on Raritan IV and, presumably, she will continue her life as an ambassador for synthetics offscreen. At the end of Star Trek: Picard season 2, Kore was recruited by Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) to join the Travelers, turning her into a cosmic being who defies space and time. On Insta, Wheaton thanked Briones for sharing the screen with him in Star Trek: Picard season 2, which was likely Wil’s final appearance as Wesley since he previously announced he won’t be in Star Trek: Picard season 3. But will Kore Soong take Wes’ place and appear as the Traveler in Star Trek: Picard season 3, even if Isa Briones doesn’t star in the entire season?

Will Picard And Laris Get Married?

The goal of Star Trek: Picard season 2 to move Jean-Luc Picard into a point in his life where he chooses a permanent romantic partner was achieved. Jean-Luc hurried home to La Barre, France, to find Laris, who was prepared to leave him and pursue her own life. But Laris gave Jean-Luc a “second chance” and it appears romance for Picard and the beautiful Romulan is finally in bloom. What’s next for Picard and Laris? Will they marry, or simply live together as romantic partners? It’s unclear whether Orla Brady will return in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Meanwhile, longtime TNG watchers have always wanted Jean-Luc paired up with Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), who will return in Star Trek: Picard season 3. We can only guess until then how Jean-Luc and Laris’ love story will play out.

Who Created The Transwarp Conduit?

Perhaps the most significant open question Star Trek: Picard season 2’s finale leaves behind is who or what is the threat that created the new transwarp conduit the Borg Queen is now watching over? The Queen said that even with her greater knowledge, the answer remains “elusive.” This has to be a set-up for Star Trek: Picard season 3, which needs a crisis and antagonist worthy of reassembling the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation to face it. Is the threat Dr. Adam Soong (or another Brent Spiner character)? Is it the original Borg? Is it a brand new villain altogether? Star Trek: Picard season 2 left this question hanging and it’s perhaps the priority season 3 has to answer.