Star Trek Hints The Q Continuum Is Dying

Warning! SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 2.

Star Trek: Picard season 2, episode 2 seems to be subtly hinting the entire Q Continuum is dying. For years, the quasi-omnipotent being who calls himself Q has been a thorn in Jean-Luc Picard’s side. He’s returned once again in Star Trek: Picard season 2, plunging Picard and his closest friends into a dystopian timeline where a brutal human Confederation rules the galaxy.

Q has always enjoyed playing games with the lives of mortals. According to Q, this isn’t a test but rather a penance of some kind, an insane way to force Picard to atone for some imagined sin. During his brief conversation with Q, Picard swiftly realized something was wrong. When Star Trek‘s Picard asked Q if he was sick, Q refused to respond, but, notably, he didn’t deny the question. This has led to some speculation that time itself is somehow corrupting Q – meaning his older appearance may not really have been adopted for Picard’s benefit, but rather it may instead be a true representation of his deterioration. The problem may not be limited to Q himself, as it may involve the decline of the entire Q Continuum.

Star Trek: Picard season 2 is set in the 2400s, but Star Trek: Discovery season 4, episode 5 has revealed the Federation itself is destined to have no contact with the Q Continuum after the 2500s. It’s possible the Q were affected by Star Trek‘s Temporal Wars, with increased time travel during the Federation Era damaging the fabric of reality and consequently affecting them – leading to their gradual decline. A Q sighting has never been an everyday occurrence, so it’s even possible Star Trek: Picard‘s brush with Q is one of the last encounters.

If time travel is indeed affecting the Q Continuum, then Q’s actions in Star Trek: Picard season 2 could be part of a secret plan to somehow put things right. Q has always claimed to be trying to teach Jean-Luc Picard valuable life-lessons, but it’s difficult to see what Picard can learn from a “road not traveled” when the point of change in the timeline occurred in 2024, centuries before he was born. Rather, it could well be that Q is attempting to use time travel as a tool to correct damage to the spacetime continuum itself and therefore save his race – with Picard as his pawn.

Q’s motives have always been inscrutable, but his actions in Star Trek: Picard season 2 are the strangest to date. Q has created an entire alternate reality, one even more horrific than the Mirror Universe because he has changed the real timeline to create it. His actions are on a greater scale than ever before, and hopefully Star Trek: Picard season 2 will explain why he’s going to such drastic lengths – and how this affects the fate of the entire Q Continuum.

Star Trek: Picard Season 2 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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Thomas Bacon
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Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is back – and this time it’s cool. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon.

A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He’s heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he’s into British politics too.

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