Star Trek is arguably one fandom at the top where fans discuss every show, movie, and character in detail. The villains in Star Trek are just as loved as the good guys, and the first appearance of the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation gave the crew of the Enterprise a constant alien threat to deal with.
But it was their collective Borg Queen that stopped fans in their tracks. Though played by different actresses over the installments, it was Alice Krige that first brought her to life in First Contact.
But is Alice still the central mind of the Hive? Let’s see what Krige has been up to and if a new Queen has taken her place among the collective.
Background info
In Upington, South Africa, on June 28th, 1954, to parents Patricia, a Professor of Psychology, and Doctor Louis Krige, a Physician, Alice Maud Krige was born.
Her two brothers followed in the family business of becoming doctors, with one being a physician and the other moving up to be a Professor of Surgery.
Krige originally planned on doing the same, attending Rhodes University to be a clinical psychologist herself.
A need to fill a free class to graduate made Alice take a turn in her schooling. After a drama class taken for an easy credit gave her a glimpse into the world of acting, she instead went on to get her Bachelor of Arts Degree with a BA Honors Degree in Drama in 1975.
Krige then moved to England to attend London’s Central School of Speech and Drama. Not bad for someone who literally grew up in a place that didn’t even have television until after she moved away.
Acting career
Alice’s debut came in the 1976 South African film Vergeet My Nie. But her British screen debut was in the 1980 TV movie A Tale of Two Cities, where she played Lucie Manette, and in an episode of BBC2 Playhouse.
Krige has had a long, productive, constant career since 1980, so listing all of her times on screen would require a degree from IMDB, but we can run through some highlights for you.
On television, Alice was in about every series, miniseries, and TV movie throughout the 80s and 90s. She appeared in shows like The Professionals, Murder, She Wrote, The Hidden Room, and Beverly Hills 90210.
As queen of the TV miniseries world, Krige was in Ellis Island in 1984, Dream West in 1986, Strauss Dynasty in 1991, and Scarlet and Black in 1993.
But a TV movie is where Alice feels at home, and she acted in almost 20 of them between the two decades alone.
And because Alice didn’t want to have a single minute to rest, she also appeared in almost a dozen feature films during that time.
Movies like 1981s Ghost Story, Barfly in 1987 with Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke, and Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers in 1992 were just a few of Alice’s credits.
Star Trek: First Contact
In 1996 Krige landed a role that would gain her a whole fandom of followers for life. In Star Trek: First Contact, Alice debuted the Borg Queen, the evil head of the collective that is the Borg.
It was Alice’s performance in Ghost Story that got her considered for the part. The eighth Star Trek film, First Contact pulled from the cast of Star Trek: Next Generation to round out the cast.
The movie centers around travel back and forth from the 24th century to the 21st where the crew of the USS Enterprise-E has to stop the threat of the Borg.
The movie was extremely loved by fans and ranks as one of the best Star Trek films.
As far as Alice’s character went, the cast, crew, and audiences loved the alluring yet dangerous Borg Queen who constantly tried to manipulate Captain Picard and Data.
Krige should be doubly thanked by the fans, as the costume gave her blisters from it being too tight, and the contacts that gave her those killer sliver eyes could only be worn a few minutes at a time due to the pain.
Star Trek: Voyager
Due to the success of the First Contact and Krige’s Borg Queen, she reprised the role multiple times. Alice popped up in the episode “Endgame” on Star Trek: Voyager in 2001.
It was the series finale for the show that ended with the parallel journeys of Admiral Janeway versus Captain Janeway, a betrayed deal with the Borg Queen, the crew being chased by the Borg, and then the crew being escorted home to Earth by the Borg fleet.
Krige’s Borg Queen also came back for the video game Star Trek: Armada II, the short film in 2004 titled Star Trek: The Experience – Borg Invasion 4D, and an episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks in 2021.
Other works
In addition to being the Borg Queen, Alice appeared in the 2003 three-part miniseries Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune as Lady Jessica.
She switched gears for the 2005 Western series Deadwood where she played Maddie for five episodes.
Trying to round out her resume, Krige took on the horror genre when she played the high priestess Christabella in the 2006 film Silent Hill.
What is Alice Krige doing now?
These days Alice is just as busy as ever, appearing in a TV show or feature film every year. She has the Christmas season covered for you, as she played Queen Helena Charlton in the Netflix trilogy of A Christmas Prince, which were released in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
In 2021 she played Andrea Foss in the fictional story based on the real-life occurrence of the Massacre of Kalavryta in Echoes of the Past.
If you prefer Alice in blood and gore, she portrayed The Witch Holda in the horror thriller Gretel & Hansel in 2020.
She followed that up with the psychological thriller She Will in 2021, portraying main character Veronica Ghent.
Krige can also scare you as Leatherface’s homeowner Virginia “Ginny” McCumber in the ninth installment of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2022.
Is she in Star Trek: Picard?
(Annie Wersching)
As far as her Star Trek days, we may not see her version of the Borg Queen again. For the newest installment titled Star Trek: Picard, Annie Wersching took over the Borg Queen’s duties to terrorize the crew.
Don’t worry, Alice has two upcoming projects, and for both, she collaborated with her husband Paul Schoolman.
She just completed filming Shingetsu, which she stars in as well as having co-written it with her husband, who was also the director for the film.
Krige will also star as Sara Levine in the action thriller Naked Abuse, which her husband wrote and directed as well.
You can also see Alice in person, as she regularly attends fan conventions. In 2022 she appeared at the Monster-Mania Con, the Texas Frightmare Weekend and the Montréal Comiccon.
Personal life
There has been one man in Alice’s life since 1988, when she married award-winning Writer, Producer, and Director Paul Schoolman.
The pair worked on the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire together, with Alice starring in the picture and Paul working on the crew.
The couple keeps a home in the United States, yet spend their time mostly traveling all over. Sounds like Alice will continue to keep us entertained while living her best life, even all of these decades later.
While she may not don the silver contacts or attempt to bring order to chaos again, Krige plans on giving us plenty of other roles on screen to captivate us.
And when the Borg Queen commands, we will obey, as we know resistance would be futile.
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