The beloved Data – iconic character in the Star Trek universe, portrayed by the one and only Brent Spiner – has a knack for making comebacks. After two seemingly final deaths in Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Picard season 1, Data returns as a hybrid synthetic in season 3 of Picard. Thankfully, his comeback does not invalidate the prior deaths of the beloved android as it is shown to be more of a continuation of his growth and story-line.
Data was an android created by the brilliant scientist Noonien Soong, who has since passed away. In Star Trek: Nemesis, Data sacrificed himself to save the USS Enterprise-E from Shinzon’s destructive thelaron weapon. In Picard season 1, Data faced death once again, but in a much more peaceful fashion. After Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the Enterprise-E, passed away, Data connected with the remaining aspect of his personality. Data faced his death in order to completely understand humanity – this time peacefully.
Fortunately, Data’s return in Picard season 3 does not invalidate either of his previous deaths. In the sixth episode of season 3, titled “The Bounty”, the Starfleet finds a human-like Soong android deep within Daystrom Station. The Soong android is a hybrid which includes aspects of Data, his brother – B-4, his creator – Dr. Altan Soong, his evil twin – Lore, and a few other elements. While this new android isn’t quite the Data that we saw before, it does contain the essence of him – albeit a bit different.
As Riker explains, while Data has died twice before, once the Federation’s ban on synthetic life-forms was lifted, anything was possible. With some recovered Data programming from his brother B-4 combined with Altan Soong’s own innovations, the hybrid Soong android was created. The new synthetic is still Data, with aspects of some of the other personalities mixed in – a great evolution for the Star Trek figure.
Paramount+ is the streaming service for all-things related to the Star Trek universe. It is the only place where viewers can catch the newest episodes of Star Trek: Picard highlight the beloved character Data. With Brent Spiner at the helm, this iteration of the android is a mix between old and new – a perfect blend to bring the iconic character back to life in season 3. With the combination of the captivating performances of the great Brent Spiner and the groundbreaking writing of the series, Data’s comeback doesn’t hurt his previous two deaths, but rather expands on them.
