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Star Trek: Picard Star Jeri Ryan on Raffi-Seven, Resolving Borg Past

Jeri Ryan, much like her Star Trek: Picard co-star Patrick Stewart, had initial reservations about returning to the franchise to reprise her role as Seven of Nine aka Annika Hansen since her days on the UPN series Star Trek: Voyager. As season two draws to a close and having wrapped filming the third and final season of Picard, the actress opened up to The Hollywood Reporter on her meaningful return and developing the relationship between Seven and Raffi (Michelle Hurd). This is your major spoilers warning.

Throughout most of season two, Seven's Borg implants were removed through a temporal event where the Confederation exists and the Federation doesn't. Living her life as human, she still retained all her memories including her time within the collective. In the season two penultimate episode "Hide and Seek", Seven is mortally wounded as the assimilated Jurati (Alison Pill), the new Borg Queen, tries to take over the La Sirena. In a climactic moment, Jurati appeals to the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) reverse engineering her takeover process using pain and anguish. With Jurati seizing enough control, both are able to reach a compromise on the body and they heal Seven's wounds, which restores her Borg implants in the process.

"For my character, in particular, it was pretty huge," Ryan said. "This has been Seven's struggle since she was separated from the Collective, trying to reconcile her Borg and her human parts. So, this season was the first time in her life since she had been assimilated that she was just human. She got to see how different life could have been and would have been, and how differently she's treated without those visible Borg parts." Upon Seven's reaction to her reassimilation to save her life knowing the cost, "I think that's her gut reaction. She comes to understand, but I think immediately she does not think that it was necessary. "

When it comes to Seven and Raffi, Ryan broke down the acceptance they have for each other. "There is definitely love there between the characters," she said. "They're growing more understanding of each, their flaws and their struggle and their broken parts. Michelle and I, when talking to the producers, said we wanted a realistic portrayal of these two women who are very mature and very driven and very independent. They've had lives and careers. And that it wasn't going to be "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy," they're in a relationship with a white picket fence, because that is not who these women are. So, we wanted that relationship struggle. They do love each other. They do care for each other. They respect each other. But can they entwine their lives completely without losing who they are and what their lives have been? And that's any relationship: How much are you willing to change and sacrifice and give up for the benefits of that relationship? And are they even built to do that? How much can they heal together and heal each other? That remains to be seen."

Jeri Ryan on Returning to Star Trek

Ryan is grateful for the gamble she took coming back following her time on Voyager. "Never in a million years [coming back]," she said. "After 'Voyager' ended, if you asked me if I would play this character again, I would have said, 'Absolutely not.' I was convinced that I had said goodbye to her, and that chapter was done. This has been such a gift, even more than I expected it to be, because I was a little hesitant when I signed on to do Picard. Ideas sound great on paper, but until you start seeing fully realized scripts and how the characters are really being developed, you just don't know. It's a leap of faith. So, it has been such a gift on so many levels to be able to revisit this character and continue this huge amount of her journey and massive arc." For more on what little she could tease about season three and the notable differences behind the scenes between Voyager and Picard, you can go to THR.

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