You Don't Need To Know Star Trek: Deep Space Nine To Enjoy Picard Season 3, But It Helps
This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Star Trek: Picard."
The third season of "Star Trek: Picard" brings back a lot of fan-favorite concepts and characters from the beloved series "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but it has also resurrected a major plot point from one of its contemporaries, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." In episode 3 (read our review here!), Worf (Michael Dorn) and Raffi (Michelle Hurd) discover that, after the events of the Dominion War, the Changelings splintered into two factions: one connected to the Great Link, with Odo (René Auberjonois), and another that wanted to complete the domination goals of the Founders and get revenge on the Federation and the whole Alpha Quadrant. There's also a Changeling aboard the Titan, wreaking havoc and sabotaging the ship at every turn. The Changelings are back in a big way, and they don't necessarily require an understanding of the Dominion War or "Deep Space Nine" because they're objectively terrifying, but it does help make their motives make a bit more sense.
The Changelings have also changed a bit since we last saw them on "Deep Space Nine," and they've evolved in ways that the "solids" (anyone who's not a Changeling) might not be prepared for. After all, the last time folks in the Alpha Quadrant saw a Changeling, they looked like something from a Capri Sun commercial. Now, they're more like one of David Cronenberg's creepiest creations. So what's the deal with the Dominion War, and why are these "Deep Space Nine" villains back after all this time? Let's dig into it!
The Gamma Quadrant and the Founders
Worf was able to get the information about the Changeling splinter group from Odo, who sent a message from the Changeling home world, where the entire mass of the Great Link exist in one big ocean of goo. We know that the Changelings continue to exist in some form hundreds of years after the events of "Picard" because they're referenced on "Star Trek: Discovery," but that's all we've really heard about them since the end of "Deep Space Nine," when Odo returned to the Link in order to help cure a disease that was destroying his fellow Changelings. Sadly, we didn't get a chance to see Odo because Auberjonois passed away in 2019, but knowing that he's still out there, taking care of the Great Link after all of these years, is reassuring. (The only thing that would be better is if he got to leave and reunite with his old love, Kira Nerys, played by Nana Visitor.)
Originally, the Changelings called themselves "The Founders," and they genetically engineered and trained two entire species to serve them: the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar. The Founders used the Vorta to handle all of their mundane and executive tasks, like interstellar butlers, while the Jem'Hadar were their soldiers, born addicted to a chemical called ketracel white. The Changelings and the Federation discovered one another because of a wormhole next to the planet Bajor, connecting the Alpha Quadrant (where the Federation exists) and the Gamma Quadrant (run by the Founders and their organization, the Dominion). Unfortunately, the Dominion are really into domination, and they try to take over the entire Alpha Quadrant before eventually being defeated by the Federation and their assembled allies and frenemies, led by Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and the Cardassian leader, Damar (Casey Biggs).
A new breed of Changeling
The Founders were laid low by a combination of the Alpha Quadrant's tactical prowess and the disease that was ravaging the Changelings, slowly killing all of them. Odo's return to the Link meant not only saving them from extermination, but helping them understand the Solids from his time among them. The Changelings that couldn't handle Odo's new way of doings things apparently set off on their own, untethered from the Link but still able to communicate with one another through some of the species' weird abilities. The Changelings have also seemingly evolved, and can now imitate blood, organs, and everything else that makes a solid a solid — they're indistinguishable from those they mimic save for the need to turn into goo form after a period of time. (The amount of time is different depending on the age and skill of the Changeling, but more than a week and they start basically melting.) The old version could be found out with a simple blood test, but the new ones? Not so much.
The evolved Changelings also look a lot grosser than their forebears, sliding around like a mess of flesh instead of the shiny silver boogers they were before. Since they're back for Dominion War 2: Electric Boogerloo, it's good that they at least got an upgrade. We don't know their ultimate motivation beyond revenge and finishing what they started before The Sisko defeated their evil butts, but they're a terrifying threat that make even the Borg look not-so-scary. It's unlikely that we'll see the return of the Vorta or the Jem'Hadar, who are probably busy trying to figure out how to survive without the Founders controlling their every move, but you never know.
New episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" debut Thursdays on Paramount+.