Jeri Ryan didn’t want to be an intergalactic Barbie

Jeri Ryan is best known for her role as Seven of Nine in the last four seasons of Star Trek: Voyager and the first season of Star Trek: Picard, and though her character was a source of contention for some of Voyager’s actors, she played an important role in getting Voyager home. She brought a unique intelligence and spirit to the show. But, originally, she didn’t want to be Seven of Nine.

Ryan didn’t jump at the chance at all when she was first offered the role of the Borg drone. In fact, she turned down the role four times before producer Jeri Taylor was finally able to convince her to join the cast. Ryan’s hesitancy made sense. She didn’t want to be seen for only her physical attributes, and that was the impression she had gotten since the producers were trying to target the young, male demographic. To do that, they wanted to add more sex appeal. It was only after Taylor managed to convince her that she would contribute more to the show than just her outward beauty that Ryan signed on for the part.

There was certainly concern about the sexualization of the female characters on the show with Kate Mulgrew absolutely refusing to be portrayed in that manner. In fact, she even prohibited a relationship with Commander Chakotay because she wanted the focus to remain on her role as the first female captain in Star Trek.

Mulgrew admitted that she wasn’t excited about Jeri Ryan’s appearance on the show. She had hoped that her role would be enough for the producers, but once she resisted the sexualization of her character, Seven of Nine was introduced. So it makes perfect sense that Ryan was hesitant to undertake this role.

Though the ratings did get a hearty boost after Jeri Ryan’s debut, fortunately, the producers allowed her character to become more than just visual entertainment. She became an important part of the crew and, through her, we saw the true difficulties of humanity.