I think Data and Soji deserved a scene together in Star Trek: Picard

The introduction of Data’s (played by Brent Spiner) daughters in Star Trek: Picard Season 1 was one of the biggest highlights of the series. The identical androids, Soji and Dahj Asha (played by Isa Briones), were created by Dr. Bruce Maddox (played by John Ales) using one of Data’s positronic neurons. Though the audience bid farewell to Data in Picard Season 1, he gets resurrected in Season 3.

The series finale would have been the perfect stage for a reunion between the ‘father’ and ‘daughter,' but that did not happen as the final season mostly focused on The Next Generation get-together. As a matter of fact, it was revealed that there were plans of having a scene between the two characters, but it fell through.

Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas shared that for the series finale they had set up some interesting cameos, but due to certain budgetary and time constrains they could not do it. As per Screen Rant, he said,

“There were characters I really wanted to see again. In the original finale script, it was a giant movie that we were building on a television time schedule... But there was a scene with Soji and Data that we could not afford to do and bring back another actor. There is a scene in which they found Ro Laren in the dungeons of the Intrepid with Tuvok and that she had survived we weren't able to pull off. Harry Kim had appeared at one point. We wanted Kate Mulgrew to be part of Seven of Nine's promotion.”

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Data and his daughters in Star Trek

One of the more shocking revelations of Season 1 of Star Trek: Picard was about the synthetic ban by the Federation. In the first episode, titled Remembrance, we find Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) still grieving the death of Data. Data had sacrificed his life to save Picard in Star Trek Nemesis. During an interview segment with Picard, the audience learns about the events that happened before and after Romulus was destroyed by the Supernova.

Romulans had reached out to the Federation to help evacuate their citizens before the supernova destroyed their Star System. Picard was one of the key players working to help Romulans resettle. The Federation had authorized Synthetics to work in Utopia Planitia shipyards orbiting Mars. However, they suddenly turned against the commanding officers. Several fleets were destroyed, and more than 90,000 people died. The Federation immediately put a ban on Synthetic life forms, and the proposed plan to help Romulans got stalled.

After Picard meets Dahj, he identifies her from a painting Data had done of her in 2369 titled "Daughter." The painting is preserved in the Starfleet Archive Museum. After the Synthetics ban, Dr. Maddox would find refuge on the planet Coppelius to create more androids. It is interesting to note that he modeled the androids after the paintings by Data.

Though Dahj is killed by Zhat Vash Romulan agents, Soji manages to escape with the help of Picard and his friends. At the end, after the Synthetic ban is lifted, she would set out on a diplomatic mission to help spread positive awareness about artificial life forms.

In the Season 1, final episode titled ‘Et in Arcadia Ego, Part II,' Data is still alive in a conscious state in a computer. Data requests Picard to let him experience death like a human, which Picard accepts, and his beloved former colleague gets the much-deserved farewell.

But that is not the last time we see Data. In Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Dr. Altan Soong (played by Brent Spiner) had been working on a golem to create a new consciousness from Data, Lore, Lal, and B-4. After his death, his half-finished work is taken by the Starfleet and stored in Daystrom Station. William T. Riker (played by Jonathan Frakes), Worf (played by Michael Dorn), and Raffi Musiker (played by Michelle Hurd) manage to bring the golem on board the USS Titan-A.

In the episode titled Surrender, Data will have a battle with Lore, who is attempting to take control of the body. Data ends up overwriting Lore and takes over. Along with his fellow Enterprise crew (a nostalgic throwback to The Next Generation), he embarks on one last quest on the USS Enterprise-D to destroy the Borg.

Star Trek had also previously introduced the fans to Data’s other child. In The Next Generation Season 3 episode The Offspring, Data created Lal (played by Halloe Todd) using his own structural design. But Lal did not live long due to technological drawbacks.

At the end of Picard, we see Data reunited with his long-lost friends and share some heartwarming moments. However, the existence of Soji is never brought up.

While speaking to Bleeding Cool about Data, Soji Briones shared,

“…I would have loved to do a scene with Brent because that's one thing we and the fans are missing: Data always wanted a daughter, and there would have been a beautiful opportunity for Data and his daughter to meet. I've heard people talk about that. That was maybe something people wanted to do, but I was never told about it [making it a reality]. That would have been a beautiful scene to have.”

It would have been wonderful to see a scene between the two and how Data would react to seeing a daughter who displays emotions much like humans, something he had always strived for.

ALSO READ: “I do think of myself as the Yoda of the Star Trek”: Robert Picardo draws comparison between the Doctor and the Star Wars character

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