Jeri Ryan's portrayal of former Borg drone Seven of Nine quickly became popular when she joined the cast of Star Trek: Voyager during the Season 4 premiere. But, with the character appearing in none of the big screen outings, it seemed that fans had seen the last of Seven, and Ryan, in the Trek universe. Well, all that changed with the first full trailer for Star Trek: Picard, which revealed that Ryan would be reprising her role almost two full decades later. And, she's got some important things she likes about Seven which made her happy to come back.
A young Star Trek fan recently got the chance to speak with Jeri Ryan and asked her what she related to the most about Seven of Nine. Here's what she had to say:
I like her struggle. I like her struggle to fit in and find out what humanity was and how to be a part of that again. What I like now, playing her on the new series, is that she's still kind of trying to figure out where she fits in and make sense of what humanity, and other races, are still doing to each other. So, I like her struggles and her discoveries.
Jeri Ryan might have hit the nail on the head, because anyone who likes struggle should enjoy playing a character such as Seven of Nine. When Seven was finally liberated from the Borg, after working with the Voyager crew to stop a much bigger threat, she had been with the Collective for 18 years, since she was 6-years-old. As you might imagine, she had a rough time trying to regain her humanity and not living with the constant control of the Borg, not to mention figuring out everything that life meant without the Borg's influence and constant directive to assimilate new members.
Seeing as how Seven was a child when she was captured by the Borg, she had to learn a lot about humanity and the universe, as well as basics about social interactions and even how to handle romantic feelings. Much of her time on Voyager was spent figuring out, as Jeri Ryan said, where she fit in and how to deal with her newfound freedom. But, it's clear that by the time we meet up with Seven again in Picard, she will have a much better handle on things.
Seven of Nine returned to the Alpha Quadrant with the crew of Voyager when they were finally able to, and, according to Jeri Ryan, Seven has spent most of the years between when we last saw her and now on Earth. This means that she became much more accustomed to her humanity, even walking and talking more like someone who was never assimilated by the Borg. And, from what Ryan says, while she will still have a lot of questions about how humans relate to each other and relate to different species, it sounds like Seven's questions will be as similar to those of other humans as they've ever been for her.
You can watch Jeri Ryan reprise her role as Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Picard, which releases every Thursday on CBS All Access. For everything else that's airing now, check out our 2020 winter / spring premiere guide and Netflix schedule.
