Jeri Ryan had planned to stay away from Star Trek forever

Jeri Ryan didn’t have the best of times working on Star Trek: Voyager.

Most Star Trek: Voyager fans know of the tension that existed between Jeri Ryan and Kate Mulgrew when Ryan first took on the role of the ex-Borg drone, Seven of Nine, in the series’ fourth season. Mulgrew, admittedly, wasn’t happy with Ryan being brought onboard. Ryan told Comicbook in 2019 that having scenes with a certain person [who we now know was Mulgrew] made her nauseous. So after Voyager ended in 2001, Ryan was determined she would not return to Star Trek ever.

But she had a fan base that wanted more from her character. They’d fallen in love with Seven of Nine and wanted more.  Ryan said the fans wanted to know what happened to Seven of Nine when she returned to Earth, but she had no interest in playing Seven married to Chakotay and keeping house. In fact, in a conversation with CinemaBlend, she said had that been the version of Seven the Star Trek: Picard producers offered, she would have turned them down.

Fortunately, Star Trek: Picard had a different version of Seven of Nine for Jeri Ryan.

And Ryan can’t say enough good things about the opportunities she was given beginning with season one of Picard.

"“Clearly, she has been just a revelation for me over and over again. I love every development that the writers have come up with. Um. She’s a joy to play. The scenes are a joy to play, and the people that I’m playing with make it a joy to play as well. It’s really been a delightful surprise.”"

And the way her character’s storyline was wrapped at the end of the third and final season of Picard (at least for the time being) left Ryan open to playing Captain Seven of Nine in a potential spin-off, which Terry Matalas has already named Star Trek: Legacy. Though it isn’t in production and there hasn’t been much talk about it other than from the fans, things are looking up for the series. 

Ryan’s rocky start with Star Trek gave way to a character that she has adored playing, and, as we all know, life is better when you’re happy with your job. And returning was the best thing she ever did for Seven of Nine.