Why Soji should have been a part of Star Trek: Picard season 3

We already know Soji won’t be returning to Star Trek: Picard, and that feels like a big mistake.

Isa Briones, who portrayed Soji on the first season of Star Trek: Picard and Kore Soong on the second season, will not be a part of the final season of the series. Being that she was an augment and a part of Data, this is disappointing, especially when you consider that Geordi LaForge will be a part of the season.

Data and Geordi were close friends, as close as a human and an android could be. There is so much Soji could have learned from Geordi, and the pair meeting would have, as Screentrant pointed out, gone a long way to soothe the wound of Geordi not being able to say goodbye to Data. But it goes beyond that.

The third season of Star Trek: Picard is reuniting most of the characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

And The Next Generation has always had an android. Granted, Brent Spiner is returning as Lore, but an evil android certainly is not the same as one who works with the crew like Data did. Perhaps the intention is to replace Lore’s memories with Data’s, thereby bringing the team back together in a different way.

If that’s the case, then Soji should definitely be included as she’s part of Data’s family which he always wanted. That’s why he created Lal. But even if that’s not what is being planned for Lore, having Soji present would have offered the former crew of the Enterprise a bittersweet reminder of their friend and possibly given them a chance to really come to terms with losing him. Riker and Troi had a chance to meet her, and the other characters should have that same chance.

Picard introduced Soji in the first season and jettisoned her character in the second even though we saw her briefly at the beginning of the second. It feels like her storyline didn’t get finished. She should have the opportunity to meet the family Data had become a part of aboard the Enterprise. She could have learned a lot from that crew, and they from her. It just seems like a terrible waste to eliminate her character altogether.