10 Biggest Star Trek What Ifs

When Patrick Stewart's contract was up for negotiation between the second and third season, the writers of ST:TNG opted to hit the fans with a cliffhanger episode featuring Captain Picard's assimilation by the Borg. The writers figured that if Stewart wasn't going to return, they had a means of exiting him from the series.

Fortunately, that didn't happen, and Stewart remained in his role. When that happened, he came back and was un-assimilated. He wasn't Locutus of Borg any longer, but the event stuck with him for the remainder of his life, and it's fair to say he suffered from some serious PTSD as a result.

Had Riker been assimilated, the series would have played out differently. Picard wouldn't stand idly by while his Number One was turned into a killer robot — he would have rescued him and returned him to normal. Riker would suffer from PTSD, and he would falter in future encounters with the Borg.

In First Contact, Riker would have been the one to help defeat the Borg in Sector 001, but instead of going down to the planet's surface, he would remain on board the Enterprise. The Borg Queen would attempt to use him to gain control of the ship, but Picard and Data would end up saving him in the end.