Star Trek: Picard Episode 5 Ending Explained & Theories

Warning: This Star Trek: Picard article contains MAJOR spoilers for Episode 5.

Other than the shocking twist ending in the very first episode of Star Trek: Picard, the latest insane twist at the end of Episode 5 — “Stardust City Rag” — is easily the most bonkers development on the show yet. And, even among fans who expected something like this to happen, the actual final scene creates way more questions than answers.

So, with that in mind, what could this big twist possibly mean? Here are five theories ranked from least likely to make it so…much more likely. Time to separate the saucer section from the battle section and beam your brain over to the fan theory section of the ship; theories hotter than Picard’s Earl Grey coming up!

OK… after Seven of Nine’s triumphant return, and just revenge for the brutal death of Icheb, eventually, Picard gets oriented back to the stated goal in the first episode: Find Bruce Maddox and get him to explain what the hell is going on with Dahj and Soji.

By the very end of the episode, Maddox does give Picard a hint as to what is going on, and crucially provides the location of Soji. But that’s about it. And, Maddox isn’t going to do anymore talking because in the final scene, he’s killed by his comrade, and apparent lover Dr. Anges Jurati.

But why? When Jurati kills Maddox she says she has to “atone for” her part in the creation of Soji and Dahj, and that she wishes she doesn’t know certain things. But what are those things? And why did she kill Bruce Maddox?

Theory 1: Jurati is a former Borg and her Borg parts helped create Dahj and Soji

In the opening of the episode, after the credits, we see Jurati watching a home movie of her and Bruce Maddox. He’s making cookies and she’s giving him grief about how he used the replicator to make the ingredients for the cookies artificially, but that he is cooking those ingredients nonetheless.

The fact that Maddox is using “fake” ingredients to make “real” cookies seems to bother her slightly. So, perhaps this is all a secret message to the audience that some part of Jurati was donated to help make Dahj and Soji. (Maddox says “your contribution was essential.”) If Jurati was secretly a former Borg (like Seven and Hugh) then perhaps some Borg tech could have been repurposed to make new androids. If true, this would explain Maddox’s relationship with the black market Borg-parts dealer, Bjayzl. 

But, in order for this theory to work, Jurati would need to have had her memory erased of having been a Borg, perhaps. She says “I wish they hadn’t shown me,” so if she was a former drone, then perhaps Maddox erased that memory. 

Theory 2: Jurati is a sleeper agent for the Tal Shiar and the Zhat Vash

In the second episode of Picard, Jurati tells Picard she wishes she could have met Dahj, but “the damn Romulans blew her away.” The thing is, Picard never told Jurati who killed Dahj. And, in Episode 3, we see Jurati being confronted by Commodore Oh (someone probably in league with the Zhat Vash) and then, later, Jurati shows up at Picard’s house exactly when the Romulan agents do.

So, assuming Jurati’s memory has been suppressed (this seems likely in all scenarios) then perhaps she’s an old-fashion sleeper agent who has been conditioned by Romulans to become useful to them at the exact right moment. And if she is, deep-down, a member of the Zhat Vash, then that would mean she hates A.I. and the thing she has to “atone for” is helping Bruce Maddox create a super-android.

In one version of this theory, Jurati could be a Romulan, and not even know it, which would make her Star Trek: Picard’s version of Star Trek: Discovery‘s Ash Tyler. 

Theory 3: Jurati is exactly what she seems, but she learned something terrible about Maddox

What if Jurati is a good person, and actually did learn some unspeakable truth from Commodore Oh? What if Maddox actually did do something really bad, and him being mixed up with Bjayzl proves he’s kind of become a terrible person? Keep in mind: Maddox was not the most ethical person back in The Next Generation episode, “The Measure of a Man,” so there’s no reason to believe he’s a great person now, either. 

Now, it seems like Jurati kind of snaps when she kills Maddox, but she also seems sad about it, too. It’s not like she goes into full-on killer mode. There’s some kind of conflict inside of her. So, perhaps, all of that just proves she’s legitimately who she says she is, and something changed in between her first meeting with Picard, and coming onboard the Le Sirena.

Theory 4: Jurati is an android and we’ll meet a second Jurati in a future episode

Okay, this seems like the most likely one: Jurati is an android exactly like Dahj and Soji, but she only recently figured it out. With this theory, the scene with the cookies is a giveaway, too. Jurati is depressed by the idea that Maddox used “fake” ingredients to make something “real,” because perhaps, that’s what he did to create Dahj and Soji.

Perhaps, Jurati (and a hypothetical Jurati twin sister) were prototypes in helping to create Dahj and Soji, meaning there is some “ingredient” from Jurati in Soji. This would check with Maddox’s comment that Jurati’s contribution to creating the Asha sisters was “essential.” If Jurati herself is the prototype for Soji, that’s literally her contribution right there.

So, if Maddox made Jurati, then why would she kill him? Well, why did Roy Batty kill Tyrell in Blade Runner? Same thing, right?

Theory 5: One of these theories is true and Picard knew the whole time

Back in Episode 2, when Jurati timidly tells Picard she wants to drink Earl Grey, he says “I knew there was something about you!” Maybe he straight-up knows she’s a phony. And perhaps, he’s known the entire time. When Jurati lets it slip that she knew about the Romulans in that same scene, Picard just kind of nods thoughtfully.

In Episode 3, when Jurati says she wants to come on the mission with him, Picard glances at Laris and Zhaban and they all just sort of give him a look. Recall: Laris and Zhaban are former Tal Shiar, meaning they are spies and they probably have worked out some kind of code with Picard to convey various pieces of information with just a glance. 

In The Next Generation, Picard did this all the time with the TNG crew, notably, at the end of the episode “Allegiance.” In that one, Picard manages to get some hostile aliens in a force field without even saying one word to Riker, Worf, and Data. They just know what he wants them to do with a simple glance. Picard totally must have this same kind of thing with Laris and Zhaban, and, because they used to work together, with Raffi, too.

In Episode 3, Raffi makes a big show about how Picard didn’t ask her to run a security check on Jurati. But what if she already ran the security check? What if that very sentence is Raffi lulling Jurati into a false sense of security, and letting Jean-Luc know that in no uncertain terms, that something is fishy. 

In Star Trek: Picard, Jean-Luc may be older, slower and a little sadder than he was in TNG, but that doesn’t mean he’s not just as smart. Because we now know Jurati was hiding something the whole time, that doesn’t mean everyone was surprised. Because if there’s one person who can see twist endings coming, it’s Jean-Luc Picard. 

What do you think is up with Agnes? Let us know your theories in the comments below…