It wasn't difficult to access those emotions, as a parent. "When I was talking to Jonathan Frakes, who directed the episode, we agreed that this scene is probably the first time that Seven truly let go of her emotions. "That loss more than anything else, shaped what she's become over the last 13 years," Ryan says. In Picard, however, Seven is defined by her emotional responses, and Ryan says the biggest change in her character's life was precisely the moment she loses her former protégé and surrogate son, Icheb in the opening flashbacks of the episode. Her extreme emotional responses to anything on Voyager were often the direct result of some crossed signals ("Infinite Regress") or her internal tech breaking down ("Imperfection"), wired malfunctions instead of truly intangible reactions. Seven of Nine wasn't exactly the Spock of Star Trek: Voyager - in some ways, you could argue she was even more stoic and hardcore than any Vulcan. Because her voice was so specific for those four years on Voyager." "That was how I could have her to speak so much more loosely and casually and in a much more contemporary way. "That's what I needed as an actor to make it make sense," Ryan adds. I'm so screwed.' And eventually, he said, 'What if she makes a conscious choice to be as human as possible to survive?' And that was like a little switch going off. "I was literally pacing around and freaking out saying, 'I'm so screwed. He came over to help me with the scenes," Ryan explains. "Luckily, Jonathan Del Arco - who plays Hugh Borg - had gone through a similar crisis when he'd had to figure out who he was now. In Ryan's case, a collaboration with another Borg actor, Jonathan Del Arco, made all the difference. So how did Jeri Ryan reboot Seven of Nine? Turns out, former Borg drones still rely on the hivemind of the Collective. "I knew she would be changed, but the voice was what I was hung-up on. "Finding Seven's voice was terrifying for me," Ryan tells SYFY WIRE. **Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard, Season 1, Episode 5, "Stardust City Rag."** Instead, she had to dig deep to figure out who her famous character was in the brave new world of contemporary Star Trek. And as the Borg say, resistance is futile, which now seems prophetic in the most recent episode of Star Trek: Picard, "Stardust City Rag," Seven has returned and she is quite visibly, the most fractured, emotional, and human version of the character we've ever seen.įor Jeri Ryan, finding the new voice for Seven wasn't as easy as switching off a Borg implant. In essence, she was resisting her basic humanity. Her character, Seven of Nine, is not officially part of Starfleet anymore, but on Tuvok's personal request, she helps the Delta Alliance with securing and exploring the Delta Quadrant.Īdditionally, Ryan recorded the exploration narrations for the new space areas in the Delta Quadrant added with Delta Rising, thereby stepping into Leonard Nimoy's and Denise Crosby's footsteps.When Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) first joined the crew of Star Trek: Voyager, she told Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) she didn't want to be disconnected from the Borg hivemind. Jeri Ryan appears in-game as part of the second expansion, Delta Rising, which was released on 14 October 2014. In 1997, Jeri was cast for the role of Seven of Nine for the Star Trek-spinoff Star Trek: Voyager, a role she would play from season 4 until the show's conclusion in 2001.įrom 2011 to 2013, Jeri co-starred in the medical drama show Body of Proof, in which Robert Picardo also had a guest appearance. In 1991, Jeri appeared in an episode of The Flash together with Denise Crosby of Star Trek: The Next Generation-fame. After participating in Miss Illinois and Miss America contests, she attended Northwestern University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Theatre in 1990. Jeri was born on Februin Munich, Germany.