Rick Berman had someone else in mind to play Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager

Season four of Star Trek: Voyager brought about some big changes. For one, viewers said goodbye to Kes, the Ocampan with a nine-year lifespan played by Jennifer Lien, and hello to Jeri Ryan who took on the role of Seven of Nine, the Borg drone Voyager's crew liberated from the Collective. There's never been any doubt that not only was Ryan brought on board to add more to the storylines, but the producers wanted an extra dose of sex appeal to bump up the ratings. It worked even though producer Rick Berman had someone else in mind to play Seven of Nine as he envisioned a different type of character altogether.

According to the oral history book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross [via Slashfilm], Berman wanted Susan Gibney to take on the role as he wanted the character to be more cerebral much like the one she played on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Dr. Leah Brahms.

Berman admitted that Ryan wasn't his first choice, and he was overruled by Jeri Taylor and Michael Piller whose first choice was Ryan. He still maintained that Gibney would have been a great Seven of Nine. Viewers would have immediately recognized her as Dr. Brahms, though, and that could have worked against her and the character. It would have been difficult to separate the woman Geordi La Forge [LeVar Burton] was so infatuated with that he created a holographic version of her with Ryan's version of the Borg drone who wanted to return to the only home she'd known since she was a child.

Gibney had played a different character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Erika Benteen after The Next Generation ended and recently returned to Star Trek: Lower Decks to voice Dr. Brahms again. She was also considered for the role of Captain Kathryn Janeway [Kate Mulgrew] before ultimately being passed over because of her youthful appearance.