Is Seven of Nine really the best Star Trek: Voyager character?

Star Trek: Voyager had good actors overall, but some did stand out more than others. 

Star Trek: Voyager ran for a solid seven seasons, delivering countless episodes that were the best of the best in Star Trek. Along the way, the characters developed a fan base alongside the show. There are some (I’m looking at you, Neelix) who will probably never hit the top list of favorite Voyager character, while others stand out, and fans really want to see more of them onscreen.

A recent post by one of our contributing writers, Michael Atkins-Prescott named Seven of Nine as the best character in the list of ten characters. In fact, Jeri Ryan’s character was called “the heart and soul of the show.” As much as I liked Seven of Nine on Voyager and on Star Trek: Picard, I have to disagree with this assessment. The heart and soul of Voyager was and always will be Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Star Trek: Voyager would not have been the same show without Kate Mulgrew’s character

And when you look at essential characters and those who drove the show, that is a big part of what matters. Could the series have made it without Kate Mulgrew and Captain Janeway? Most likely not. Could it have made it without Seven of Nine? Probably. It went for three seasons without her character, and though Kes (Jennifer Lien) wasn’t the strongest of other female characters, B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) was. And, for me, she stands out far above Seven of Nine, too. So I believe the series could have continued even without Lien and the introduction of Seven of Nine.

Ryan’s character had a good arc and a strong storyline, but it was essentially the same season after season. She was a former Borg drone who had to rediscover her humanity and learn all of the things she never got to learn as a human. While that made her interesting, Seven of Nine wasn’t a standout character until she showed up on Star Trek: Picard. That was when she really started to take shape, and we got to see who she really was.

We could never have pictured Seven as a captain at the end of Voyager; she wasn’t ready because there was still so much growing and learning to do. In some ways, she was a lot like a child, but by the end of Picard, she was more than ready to take over as captain of the new Enterprise.

I think Seven was an excellent character, even more so on Picard, but as far as being the best on Voyager, I disagree whole-heartedly. In my opinion, that top spot will always be filled by Captain Kathryn Janeway.