I dunno, I thought it was pretty obviously the plan that if Picard isn't picking up with this ending then we are going to get another series with Pill's Queen, Raffi, Seven, and Enor with the mystery hole. No way they only create the mystery hole guarded by a Borg Queen and Seven without a plan to go back to it. They're being honest that they aren't returning for Picard 3. They're coming back for one of those other Treks in pre production.
One of the Prodigy showrunners tweeted about how much he wished he could show people a peek behind the curtain after the PIC S2 finale, along with a reminder that the show teams do all talk to each other. So it could be that's where Queen Agnes comes back into play. Spoiler Heh. Imagine if the Protostar takes that transwarp conduit back to Federation space and the very first thing that greets holo Janeway on the other side is Borg as far as the eye can see. XD
I've got high hopes we'll get a Seven centric show with more on the Fenris Rangers, the Klingons realising they're badly stagnating, the Cardassians and Romulans rebuilding, and new Borg faction, etc.
Seems her character may have something to do with the plot dealing with TNG return; it's best to keep things secret so viewers won't expect her to return. She'll be back in a large way because of the reveal in PICARD's finale; her character is guarding something that is out there.
Doesn't sound like Allison Pill is planning on coming back. She seems to have moved kn to something else and is fine with it. Thankfully. Exploring a borg type show would have been terrible.
I'm sure Prodigy is great - I still haven't seen it - but tbh, a return in an animated show would not be the same for me.
Since I'm on a roll grumbling about how these exit stories were written, I'd like to issue a reminder that Agnes Jurati's damage was not that she was lonely. Agnes Jurati had depression and anxiety which lied to her that she was lonely, and an actual sensible and satisfying end to her arc would have been the realisation that she had a supportive network of friends (and access to therapy). Not being assimilated by someone who literally uttered the classic abuser lines of "I am the only one in the entire universe who has ever truly seen you" and, "You need me Agnes, how will you survive without me?" But apparently none of those deep friendships she had mattered to the writers because they decided that she was eternally, achingly lonely because she had...failed at romantic love. What a message to send.
For my money -- I can 100% understand why the idea of joining the Borg Collective on a voluntary, consensual basis would be appealing. It would be complete intimacy, complete trust, a final end to isolation. If it occurred on the basis of consent, without the mind control aspect, it would be a profound way of bonding with others. I get why someone might find that appealing. Which is why I'm really intrigued by this idea of a "Borg Cooperative" under the coordination of the Jurati Queen.
This really annoyed me in the show. We kept being told Juratti was lonely but that's not what was shown. Juratti is surrounded by friends. Juratti and Rios still seemed friendly on The Stargazer and Rios was always very concerned for Juratti so even if their relationship ended badly, it's not that they didn't still care for each other. They they did the same thing with Rios saying Picard was not actually father-like, even though Picard had gotten him The Stargazer and spoke to him in a fatherly way in season 1. Same with Seven too. We are told she wasn't accepted as a ex-borg but never see anyone discriminating against her. Everyone on the The Stargazer was fine with her taking control at the end of episode 10, even though they were facing the borg, it was a Starfleet ship with borg technology, and she was given the field commission by fellow ex-borg Picard! Yet no one said that seemed suspicious. And we saw Icheb was accepted by Starfleet but told Seven wasn't. The Juratti one was the worst though as she was constantly around people who cared for her in every episode. They really should have explained how Juratti's viewpoint better. If they wanted her viewpoint that no one cared for her to be true, then they should have shown her moping about a bit and being sidelined by the others. Maybe in episode 1 we should have first met her in stained pajamas watching Friends reruns while she reheats 2 day old pizza instead of looking stunning and getting hit on at a dazzling event. If they wanted it to be all in her head, then the crew should have challenged her and try to make her realise that she was already part of something and that becoming the borg queen was unnecessary. As it was, we got a strange mix of both which doesn't really work.
This assumes those needs could be met in simplistic ways. Agnes is lonely? Oh, you just need friends. Rios needs a father figure? Picard should just speak positively for a minute. This is the danger of storytelling is finding the most simplistic answers to profound hurts.
That would have meant bringing back the flashbacks used in PIC S1 to give context to the story, but were completed discarded in S2.
I know plenty of people who have lots of friends but are still quite lonely. Nothing unrealistic about that.
I have several friends and still struggle with loneliness. I have a very strong familial support system and struggle with loneliness. I have a very strong work support system and struggle with loneliness. It's almost as if loneliness was not all about a lack of social relationships or something...