Next week’s big Star Trek Day event is likely to be full of news on all the ongoing Star Trek productions, but a surprising casting announcement dropped this evening ahead of the big event: veteran actor Annie Wersching will be joining Star Trek: Picard…. as the Borg Queen.

First reported by Deadline, Wersching— who actually began her career guest starring in the Season 1 Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Oasis,” but has also starred in shows like 24, Timeless, The Vampire Diaries and more — will be part of Season 2’s Picard storyline in a recurring capacity, becoming the third actor to take on the role of domineering cybernetic bad gal and leader of the Borg Collective.

Originated by Alice Krige in 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact, the Borg Queen serves as the face and voice of the Collective, personifying the unified mind of the half-organic, half-technological race in its quest for galactic assimilation and ‘perfection.’ (Archival footage from that film, including a shot of Krige as the Queen, appeared in brief flashback clips in Picard Season 1.)

Susanna Thompson donned the latex and Borg prosthetics to play the Borg Queen for the majority of the character’s appearances in Star Trek: Voyager, as she sought to return Seven of Nine to the Collective in “Dark Frontier,” “Unimatrix Zero, Part I,” and “Unimatrix Zero, Part II.”

Krige reprised the role in the Voyager series finale, facing off against a future Admiral Janeway in Voyager’s series finale (“Endgame”), and later filmed segments for the now-defunct Star Trek: The Experience ride Borg Invasion 4D.

With both Jean-Luc Picard and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) as part of the Picard crew next season, the Borg Queen is the rare character that directly impacted both of them, each encountering one version of the Queen after they escaped from the Borg Collective.

Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard is already expected to be quite a trip through alternate pasts, futures, and timelines, as Q (John de Lancie) returns to put retired Admiral Picard (Patrick Stewart) through another crazy adventure — and as we’ve now seen the Borg Queen die twice in her past appearances, it’s likely that Wersching time as the Queen will also be part of one of Q’s alternate timelines.

We’re looking forward to next Wednesday, September 8, as Star Trek Day is surely going to give us a lot more insight into where Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard will take the series next.

Star Trek: Picard is in production on Season 2 now, which is expected to air sometime in 2022 on Paramount+ in the United States, CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada, and on Amazon Prime Video in many international regions.