Never Say Never
Few actors get the chance to revisit a career-defining role decades later. When I and a handful of other journalists spoke with Jeri Ryan at the IGS Festival in Rimini-Riccione, she reflected on stepping back into Seven of Nine’s boots for Star Trek: Picard, the physical toll of her early days on Voyager, and what might lie ahead.
Jeri, after so many years, you returned as Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Picard. How did this experience change your perspective on the franchise and the industry as a whole?
It made me extremely mindful of what this means and how unique it is to be able to play the exact same character 20 years later. That is practically unprecedented in this industry. The fact that this franchise is still being celebrated 60 years later is just insane. It is a genuine honor to be a part of it.
In Picard, you embodied different versions of the character sequentially: from the Fenris Ranger to Starfleet First Officer to Captain of the Enterprise. Did you have a favorite or a say in the matter, and if you could tell one more chapter of Seven’s story, what would you most want to explore?
I didn’t have much of a say, but I didn’t need one; I was incredibly lucky with what the writers did with her. Being Captain of the Enterprise is pretty cool. As for the costume, though, the Fenris Ranger outfit was definitely my favorite, I have to admit. The leather jacket and the little harness with the fire extinguisher looked great; it was nice to wear normal clothes.
I think it’d be fun to see her as Captain because we just saw her taking the chair. That’s all that we saw. So I think seeing some of her challenges and successes as Captain of the Enterprise would be fun to see and how she manages her crew.
Speaking of another chapter: Terry Matalas was working on a series about Seven, and now there is a new regime at Paramount. Do you think there is any hope of that being revived? Would you like to do it?
I would do anything for Terry Matalas in a heartbeat; I adore him and he is incredibly talented. Although there are a lot of questions with the new owners regarding the franchise in general, and nobody knows what is going to happen. But if I’ve learned one thing from this franchise, it’s “never say never,” because I definitely would have thought I had said goodbye to this character many moons ago, and here I am.
For 60 years, Star Trek has shown us a better future. What is the most important lesson humanity needs to learn from Star Trek today?
I think, more than ever, we need to learn from Star Trek that we have to accept our differences, and not just accept them, but celebrate them, and stop being afraid of each other or of anything that is different. That is what Star Trek has been doing so wonderfully for 60 years: holding up a mirror to society and showing us what we can achieve if we get it right. We need to internalize that message today more than ever.
If you had to recommend a double feature linking Voyager or Picard to another sci-fi work (or something else entirely), what would you suggest?
Regardless of whether there’s a direct connection or not, I think given the current situation with Artificial Intelligence, it would be a very good idea to watch Terminator and T2. I think that’s very timely, because I feel like not enough people have been paying attention to that, and a few more people could use a reminder of how that turned out for humanity.
You were very actively involved in the strikes. It was recently announced that several companies are phasing out the distribution of physical media, and Starfleet Academy will not receive a physical release. As someone working in this industry, would you take to the streets to protest that again?
Actually, I didn’t know about that yet, so you’re catching me off guard. I can’t imagine physical media disappearing completely, because there are simply too many collectors. Studios are primarily IP (Intellectual Property) companies now, especially now that they’ve been taken over by tech professionals instead of creatives; it’s all about money and numbers. As long as there is money to be made there, and there probably always will be because of the massive collector base, I don’t think it will vanish entirely, though I hope I’m not wrong.
Thinking back to your beginnings on Voyager, how do you remember your first day on set in the Borg suit?
It was awful, because it was a full Borg suit and it proved to be miserable. That Borg suit was an absolute nightmare, pardon the expression, it was tough. It was the suit that cut off my carotid artery whenever I turned my head. And I remember my first day on the bridge, even though we probably shot the Borg cube scenes first; I was still wearing the full suit and the laser over my eye. Since I had never been on the bridge before, and you lose your depth perception with one eye covered, I tried to look intimidating and terrifying while stumbling down the stairs because I didn’t know they were there.
And what do you think of the silver suit from the late 90s today? Would you feel comfortable wearing it again?
The silver suit was simply a product of its time, I suppose. I don’t think I would jump back into that. The reason it was okay for me back then was because of the way the character was written, as she was the absolute antithesis of her physical appearance. That juxtaposition made it make sense, at least a little bit. But no, I wouldn’t put it back on.
In the beginning, you turned down the audition for Seven of Nine. What finally made you change your mind?
I turned down the audition a couple of times because I wasn’t interested, wasn’t a science fiction fan, and moreover knew the reputation Star Trek had for putting actors in boxes. But the casting director called my agent and insisted that I look at it. I read two scenes: the first one, starting with “You wish to copulate, remove your clothing,” I’ve always hated because it was way too on the nose. But the second scene, which we ultimately never filmed, is still to this day among the best-written things I have ever read for a project. It was a scene where Seven experiences her very first memory of laughter. Since my son was two years old at the time, I could draw inspiration from how surprised he was when he laughed for the very first time. In that scene, I saw the potential this character could have. And the fact that we’re still talking about her 20 years later is an incredible gift.
Jeri Ryan on stepping back into the Borg suit, the legacy of Star Trek: Picard, and why she’ll never say never to the final frontier.
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