Summary

• Lore, the evil twin of Lt. Commander Data, first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 and caused trouble for the USS Enterprise-D.
• Lore manipulated his likeness to Data to gain access to the ship's computers and attempted to give the Enterprise over to the crystalline entity that destroyed his planet.
• Lore returned in later TNG episodes, but in Star Trek: Picard season 3, Data's memories took over Lore's consciousness, effectively erasing him and allowing Data to achieve a new upgraded version of himself.

Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1 introduced Lore (Brent Spiner), the evil twin of Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), and he would go on to cause trouble for the USS Enterprise-D on multiple occasions. In TNG season 1, episode 13, "Datalore," Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) takes the Enterprise to explore the planet Omicron Theta where Data was found. After beaming down to the planet, the away team finds the disassembled body of another android resembling Data. After they reassemble the body, he reveals that his name is Lore, and he was created by cyberneticist Dr. Noonian Soong (Brent Spiner, again), who also built Data.

Perhaps because of his likeness to Data, the Enterprise crew are initially too trusting of Lore, allowing him to roam around the Enterprise and access the ship's computers. He quickly incapacitates Data and s the crystalline entity that had previously destroyed his planet with the intention of giving the Enterprise over to the entity. Thankfully, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) realizes something is amiss and convinces his mother, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), to help him restore the actual Data and stop Lore.

Data's Evil Twin Lore Explained

Upon awakening after being reassembled, the first words out of Lore's mouth are a lie, as he claims that Data was the first Soong android created. This sets the tone for his character going forward; he cares about no one but himself and has no respect for humans or his brother. Lore was actually the fourth Soong android to be created, but he was the first one with a working positronic brain. Lore was an incredibly advanced android with the ability to experience emotions, but this eventually led to emotional instability.

Although Lore is beamed out into space at the end of "Datalore," he returns in TNG season 4, episode 3, "Brothers," when Dr. Soong calls both Data and Lore to him. Lore then masquerades as his brother yet again to steal the emotion chip Dr. Soong created for Data. This chip causes Lore to become even more unstable and he lashes out at Dr. Soong, hastening the old man's death. Lore returns again in TNG season 6, episode 26, "Descent" as the self-appointed leader of a group of Borg who have been disconnected from the collective. He proceeds to manipulate Data into ing him in his plot to destroy the Federation. Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew manage to thwart Lore's plans, and Data then permanently deactivates his brother.

What Happened To Lore In Star Trek: Picard Season 3?

Though it remains unclear what happened to Lore's body after Data deactivated him, his consciousness returned in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Dr. Noonien Soong's son Altan created Daystrom Android M-5-10, an even more advanced synthetic golem body with the ability to experience emotions. After iral Picard and his crew rescued the body from Daystrom Station, they discovered that Altan Soong had incorporated his own personality along with the personalities of Data, Lore, B-4, and Data's daughter Lal (Hallie Todd) into the golem body.

As the two most dominant personalities, Data and Lore faced off against one another, both competing for dominance. Lore briefly took over the body when it was connected to the computer of the USS Titan-A, but Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) managed to get through to Data. Although Lore seemed to be the stronger of the two personalities, Data tricked him into taking all of Data's memories, effectively turning Lore into Data. Data understood that his memories made him who he was, and his personality took over Lore's. Data then emerged as a new, upgraded version of himself, achieving something close to the humanity he had always dreamed of.

Can Lore Return In Star Trek: Legacy?

When Data's personality took over in Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 8, that would seem to be the end of Lore. Lore's consciousness is effectively erased at that point, making it unlikely that he will return in the proposed Picard spin-off, Star Trek: Legacy. Still, this is Star Trek and anything is possible. Data himself has already "died" twice, after all. The whereabouts of Lore's original body remain unknown and there could be another copy of Lore's consciousness floating around somewhere in the galaxy. Plus, the androids created by Dr. Altan Soong and Dr. Bruce Maddox (John Ales) are still out there on the planet Coppelius, and they could potentially play a role in bringing back Lore.

While the Coppelius androids represented by Soji (Isa Briones) may come back at some point in future Star Trek projects, it might be better to let Data's evil twin rest. Elements of his personality have been incorporated into the newly upgraded Data, and he can live on in Data's memories. If Star Trek: Legacy does get the green light, they should create new villains for Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and her USS Enterprise-G crew to go up against. Lore has been a part of Data's story since Star Trek: The Next Generation season 1, and his tale came to a satisfying conclusion in Star Trek: Picard season 3.