Some Star Trek actors can slip back into their characters, no matter how much time passes. However, this isn't the case with Star Trek: Voyager alum Jeri Ryan, who spoke about playing Seven of Nine again in Star Trek: Picard during the ST-CHI: Trek To Chicago in November. Ryan admitted the connection to her beloved character wasn't there initially, saying via TrekMovie.com:
“With Picard, it was different. It was hard. I had a harder time finding her in the beginning. I was so used to that voice being so specific for so long. And there were a few times where I was like, ‘Okay, I’m not entirely sure that this is…’ But they were very open to feedback and input with things like that.”
Looking back at Star Trek: Picard
Back in 2020, we franchise fans got the first season of the streaming series Picard, a return to many of the characters that we know and love from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as Seven of Nine. Jeri Ryan reprised the role in all the subsequent seasons, too, and turned in a powerful performance. Although, like most fans, I believe Ryan came into her own during season 3.
It's possible that Ryan felt hesitant because Seven of Nine was created and written mostly by Brannon Braga during Voyager. Fast forward nearly 20 years after the Voyager finale, and the Picard creative team was different. Without Braga's guidance (he wasn't involved in the project), Seven of Nine wasn't as familiar to Ryan.
For those who create characters, no matter the media, it is usually their goal to craft those that feel real and make a connection to the audience. Ryan and Braga accomplished that with Seven of Nine in Voyager, but going back with a new team of writers must have felt to Ryan like approaching a beloved old vehicle--it felt familiar, but there's new upholstery and you're not really sure how the new tech works.
Picard was perceived by some as pure Next Generation nostalgia. Nevertheless, the show was quite successful with the critics during its three-season run and currently boasts an overall Tomatometer rating of 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Season 3 featured all seven of TNG's core actors together again on the bridge of the USS Enterprise-D, so the Tomatometer ("Certified Fresh" 97 percent) increased substantially, and adding Seven of Nine to the mix just sweetened the deal.
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