Actress Jeri Ryan is best known for her role as Seven of Nine, the former Borg who was last seen in the final season of Star Trek: Picard. Introduced in the spinoff series Voyager, Seven returned to the franchise with Picard, which was surprisingly a crew that she had not interacted with before, but the show made it work.
Ryan’s character had a significant pop cultural impact when she performed on Voyager and there were reportedly huge fanbases dedicated to her. Hence, the makers obviously wanted to capitalize on this stardom and hoped to put Seven of Nine in different Star Trek material. However, Jeri Ryan reportedly declined the offers before finally agreeing for Picard.
Jeri Ryan Mentioned Why She Did Not Play Seven of Nine Immediately After Star Trek: Voyager
Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine had one of the best character arcs in Star Trek: Voyager. With the Borg making a return, the series explored the devious cult-ish mechanism of the Borg and how they would program and manipulate individuals like Ryan’s Seven to the point where she preferred her numerical name even after knowing her real one.
Ryan starred in over 100 episodes of the series and shared the screen with Kate Mulgrew, who played Captain Kathryn Janeway. Their dynamic was often explored in the series. However, after the end of the spinoff show, Ryan did not return to the franchise until 2020’s Star Trek: Picard, which brought The Next Generation cast back together.
Despite her stardom and even winning the Saturn Award for her performance, Jeri Ryan reportedly declined several offers from Star Trek to return. Her reason was that she did not find their storylines sensible for Seven of Nine to return. She said in an interview with the TV Critics Association (via Cheat Sheet),
Right after I finished Voyager, they wanted to stick her in whatever movie they were doing then. I was like, ‘Why? She’s never interacted with any of these people. I would never be there. There’s no reason for her to suddenly be in this crew.’ It just made no sense story-wise and character-wise.
In Star Trek: Picard, Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine is shown to have joined the Fenris Rangers and by the end, becomes the Captain of the USS Enterprise-G.
Jeri Ryan Said That Star Trek: Voyager Creator Jeri Taylor Would Be Proud of Seven’s Journey
Jeri Ryan returned as Seven of Nine in full capacity in the spinoff series Star Trek: Picard. While she was initially a part of Voyager, the series put her in contact with the cast of another show i.e. The Next Generation, but the show’s writers connected the dots to make it sensible. Seven’s journey ended with her as the Captain of an Enterprise ship.
While the character’s original creator Jeri Taylor was not involved, when asked what she would have felt about Seven’s character arc in the franchise, Ryan said that she would have been proud. She said to Trek Movie,
I think Jeri especially would be thrilled with Seven’s development. I know that she was a big champion for Seven from the beginning. I think that she would be thrilled that Seven is a bi-captain and character. It is my understanding that is something she championed from the beginning as well. I think at the time the network felt that they weren’t ready for that yet.
Taylor passed away due to natural causes on October 26. Kate Mulgrew posted a tribute to the late showrunner on her X profile (via Deadline).
Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.
