Following the conclusion of Star Trek: Voyager in 2001, Jeri Ryan didn’t think she’d get to play Seven of Nine again. Years later, though a conversation with writer James Duff over several glasses of champagne paved the way for her to reprise Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Picard, which brought Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard back into the fold nearly two decades after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. While playing this beloved Star Trek character again is obviously a big deal for the actress, the actress also recently noted how it’s also been “the most amazing experience” to work with so many women on Picard.
Jeri Ryan recurred in Star Trek: Picard Season 1 and was upgraded to the main cast for Season 2, which can be viewed with a Paramount+ subscription. We’re almost halfway through this season, and already Back to the Future’s Lea Thompson has direct two episodes. When this was brought up during Ryan’s visit to The Talk, the actress said this:
I gotta say this, though. Working with a female director, and just in general on this show, this has been the most amazing experience, because I’ve never worked with so many women behind the scenes. In Season 1, we had my first female camera operator; I’d never worked with a woman camera operator before. And our A.D. and just all down the line, it’s just fantastic.
Star Trek: Voyager was certainly a trailblazer for the sci-fi franchise by delivering the first woman sitting in the captain’s chair in the form of Kate Mulgrew’s Kathryn Janeway (Mulgrew has returned to voice that character and a holographic representation of Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy). Crew-wise though, the ‘90s were a different time, and there weren’t as many women involved with the behind-the-scenes aspects of shows. Nearly three decades after Voyager’s launch, Jeri Ryan is impressed with how many roles are filled by women on Star Trek: Picard. Throw in that Ryan’s co-stars in Season 2 include Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Isa Briones and Orla Brandy, as well as the women who worked in the writers’ room, and there’s a lot of female representation on display.
Along with Lea Thompson, who chiefly played Lorraine McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy, Star Trek: Picard’s other female directors so far include Hanelle M. Culpepper and Maja Vrvilo. Picard Season 2 shot back-to-back with Season 3, and the entire principal photography period concluded earlier this month. So when Picard Season 3 (which is confirmed to be the show’s final season) rolls around next year, be on the lookout for the women who credited as directors on those episodes.
Regarding Seven of Nine’s role in Star Trek: Picard Season 2, as a result of John de Lancie’s Q changing the timeline, Jeri Ryan’s character woke up in the new reality retaining her memories of the original reality, but lacking her Borg implants. This version of Annika Hansen was never assimilated by the Borg, instead becoming the president of the ruthless Confederation of Earth. Seven has now traveled back to 2024-era Los Angeles with her allies (including Annie Wersching’s Borg Queen, who the actress believes is a different incarnation of the character) to prevent whatever happens that leads to the Confederation’s formation and return the timeline to normal.
New episodes of Star Trek: Picard drop Thursdays on Paramount+. Continue visiting CinemaBlend for the latest news on upcoming Star Trek shows and forthcoming seasons of existing shows. Our 2022 TV schedule is also available for those who want to learn what this year’s TV landscape looks like.
