Jeri Ryan loves Seven of Nine’s “resilience” in Star Trek: Picard

Jeri Ryan speaking at the 2019 San Diego Comic Con International, for "Star Trek: Picard", at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. "Jeri Ryan" by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 

Now that we’re more than halfway through season one of Star Trek: Picard and we’ve gotten to see the return of Seven of Nine, Jeri Ryan can talk a little more about her thoughts on the evolution of her character, after nearly 20 years away.

Vulture published a piece earlier this week in which they spoke to Ryan about her return, specifically on her experiences finding a new voice for Seven, nearly two decades after Star Trek: Voyager went off the air. Ryan repeated a story she’s told before, that co-star and close friend Jonathan Del Arco helped her rationalize the difference in Seven’s voice. In Doylist perspective, Seven of course sounds different because she’s being written by two writers’ rooms, two decades apart. But what about the in-universe, Watsonian perspective? Ryan recounted what Del Arco said to her: “‘What if she just makes a conscious choice to sound as human possible for survival?’ [...] It was like a light bulb went off or a switch was flipped and I was like, that’s it.” 

Despite her initial difficulties getting to grips with her evolved character, Ryan likes who Seven has become. “She’s been working for or with an organization called the Fenris Rangers,” she explained. “Trying to bring a semblance of order to the mess the galaxy is in. [...] I mean, the storyline is just gut-wrenching. What she goes through breaks my heart. But I love that it shows her resilience.”

The rest of Ryan’s interview is rather spoilery, but well worth a read. Especially at the end when she acknowledges that she has been paying attention to fans’ reactions. She said, “I noticed on Twitter a lot of fans were commenting on it, with that first little scene when she beams into the bridge for the first time, and everyone was saying there’s the head tilt, that little nod, the Seven nod! That was a nice feeling to see people catch something subtle like that.”

And, of course, you can catch Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine - for yourself! - in Star Trek: Picard, now streaming on CBS All Access.