Jeri Ryan became the star of Star Trek: Voyager when she was introduced in season 4, despite not being a part of the main cast for the previous three seasons. Her role as the separated Borg drone, Seven of Nine, became iconic and also brought in a demographic of viewers, which was reportedly the intention of the makers.
Ryan played the role for the rest of the show and had an interesting character arc in the series. She also reprised her role in Star Trek: Picard and ultimately became the captain of a ship. However, the idea for including a Borg as the main character with the bridge crew reportedly only came to writer Brannon Braga due to a season 3 episode.
Star Trek: Voyager writer Brannon Braga created Seven of Nine after watching a season 3 episode
Star Trek: Voyager had an interesting premise of a Federation ship being transported to a different quadrant and chronicling its journey home. Unlike other shows, where the crew would explore different corners of the universe, Voyager, headlined by Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Janeway, saw the opposite journey.
While Captain Janeway was certainly the lead of the series and her inclusion as the first female captain to headline a Star Trek show created history, the focus gradually shifted to Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine, once she made her debut in season 4. It is obvious why the makers decided to introduce the attractive character, and the plan worked like a charm.
However, from a story standpoint, the idea to include a former Borg with the bridge crew came to writer and producer Brannon Braga while watching a promo of the season 3 episode ‘Unity’. The episode was the first in Voyager to introduce the Borg as the main antagonists and dealt with a group of former Borgs kidnapping Chakotay.
According to the book Star Trek Voyager: A Celebration (via Slash Film), the makers did not want to introduce the Borg soon, as the antagonists of the show, as they did not find just the Voyager to be a big threat to the Borg. However, Braga watched a promo for ‘Unity’, and the idea of focusing on a detached Borg was interesting and led to the creation of Seven of Nine.
Despite being one of Star Trek: Voyager’s biggest stars, Jeri Ryan had a tough time on set
Star Trek: Voyager was on a slippery slope when it came to its politics. On one hand, the focus on a female captain with a scientific background did wonders in terms of influence, the makers also chose to introduce a highly sexualized character like Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine to draw in more young male viewers.
While Jeri Ryan became a huge star due to her role in Voyager, the shift in focus for a new member reportedly caused a lot of friction on set. The infamous feud between Ryan and Kate Mulgrew will go down in the history books and has been addressed by both actresses. However, Ryan mentioned that she faced issues with many others too.
In a conversation on the Girl on Guy podcast, Ryan mentioned that her clashes with the Voyager crew seemed to miraculously disappear when she began dating writer and producer Brannon Braga. She said,
Once I was dating the boss, funny how things suddenly cleaned up. But it was really, really tough the first couple of years. And there were many days when I was nauseous before going into work because it was that miserable. Just unnecessarily, intentionally unpleasant.
Jeri Ryan also mentioned that she understood why the crew felt that way, but she had a lot of issues during filming. With time, however, the actress seems to have forgiven the experience as she returned to the franchise in Star Trek: Picard.
Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.
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