Star Trek's Jeri Ryan, The Last Of Us' Co-Creator And More Share Praise For Annie Wersching After Death At 45

Ahead of the weekend's big debut for Star Trek: Picard's Season 3 trailer, the sci-fi franchise's fanbase was one of several who were mourning the death of actress Annie Wersching, who notably took on portraying the third Borg Queen iteration in the streaming spinoff’s second season. With a career that began with Star Trek: Enterprise, Wersching became a beloved TV star over the past two decades, and gained a lot of friends and fans in Hollywood through her work on The Rookie, General Hospital, 24, The Vampire Diaries, Bosch, Marvel’s Runaways, and many more. Not to mention her stellar work on the acclaimed video game The Last of Us. So it only makes sense that those closest to her from those projects have shared loving and sorrowful messages after her passing was made public. 

The always iconic Star Trek vet Jeri Ryan, who returned to space as Seven of Nine for Paramount+’s Picard, shared an Instagram post honoring Annie Wersching with a loving message and a couple of pictures, both in and out of Borg form.  

In her Stories, Ryan also shared Runaways star Ever Carradine's link to the GoFundMe campaign set up to help Wersching's husband Stephen Full and their children.

Of course, Ryan wasn't the only person from the Star Trek universe to speak out about Annie Wersching's death. Picard's executive producers Telly Matalas and Akiva Goldsman shared the following statements with StarTrek.com:

• My heart was broken to hear that we lost Annie this morning. She made our set a joy every day she was there. A true professional and a beautiful human being in every way possible. - Telly Matalas
• Annie was a gift to us all, and an utter joy to work with. Her entire Star Trek family is heartbroken. Our deepest condolences go out to her family. - Akiva Goldsman

Wersching certainly touched a lot of people's lives on seemingly every project she was a part of, which definitely included the legend-status video game The Last of Us, which is currently blowing up HBO's ratings. She memorably voiced the protagonist survivor Tess, as well filmed for the character's motion-capture. (The TV show's Tess, whose story gets shaken up a bit, is portrayed by Fringe vet Anna Torv.) 

Neil Druckmann both co-wrote and directed the game, as well as co-created the HBO series alongside Craig Mazin. (He also directed episodes for it, including the groundbreaking "Bill and Frank" episode.) Druckmann took to Twitter after hearing the bad news, saying:

Druckmann followed that post with one fully celebrating Wersching, complete with pics from The Last of Us' aforementioned motion-capture production. 

The actor seen in Druckmann's pics is iconic voice actor Troy Baker, who portrayed Joel in both of the video games so far, as well as Ashley Johnson, the voice of Ellie. Both of the voice actors will be popping up in the TV show in different parts, with Merle Dandridge reprising her own role of Marlene. Fans were no doubt holding out hope for Wersching to also be involved in a non-disclosed role. 

Baker also took to Twitter with loving words about Annie Wersching, as well as some adorable imagery.

Annie Wersching will definitely be missed by everyone mentioned above, and so many more, both for her work within the entertainment industry as well as for just being a solid person inside and out. She will be missed, though let's be thankful that so many of her past efforts can be rewatched with ease. 

We here at CinemaBlend send our thoughts and condolences to Annie Wersching's family and friends during their time of grieving.