They may have hired Jeri Ryan for her beauty, but Seven of Nine turned out to be one of the best characters in the entire Star Trek franchise.
Watching her walk around Voyager in her body suits was kind of mesmerizing – but her character was really interesting, too.
But did you know she had a secret enemy on set?
The game behind Jeri Ryan’s success
When Jeri Ryan stepped onto the set of Star Trek: Voyager in 1997, the show was teetering on the edge. The ratings were slipping, the stakes were high, and the producers knew they needed something — or someone — to turn things around. Enter Seven of Nine.
A former Borg drone severed from the Collective, her character was a fusion of cold precision and buried humanity, a puzzle waiting to be solved.
And when she appeared in season four, the effect was immediate. Ratings skyrocketed — by a staggering 60%. The network had gambled on her, banking on her striking presence to pull in viewers. And it worked.
But what they might not have anticipated was just how good she truly was. Not just a mesmerizing figure in a skintight uniform, but an actress of remarkable depth. She didn’t just play Seven; she became her, layer by layer, letting glimpses of vulnerability slip through the steel.
One episode, in particular, stands out—one where Seven, fractured by a cascade of personalities, shifts from one identity to another in rapid succession. It was a performance that should have earned her an award, a showcase of sheer talent that transcended the show’s sci-fi trappings.
They hired her to save Voyager. What they got was something far greater.
Why she turned down the role four times
Jeri Ryan, born Jeri Lynn Zimmermann on February 22, 1968, in Munich, West Germany, moved to Los Angeles after college to pursue acting full-time.
In 1997, she was relatively unknown when the creators of Star Trek: Voyager set their sights on her for the role of Seven of Nine. Surprisingly, Ryan turned down the part not once, but four times.
But, why didn’t she want to join? In a January 2020 interview, Jeri Ryan revealed that when producers first approached her about Star Trek: Voyager, she had never seen the show. Curious, she decided to watch an episode — and quickly regretted it. She described it as “the worst hour of television” she had ever seen.
”They gave me a copy of First Contact, the movie, so I could at least see what a Borg was. They also gave me a copy of the Big Star Trek encyclopaedia, whatever it is, so that I could bone up on my Star Trek knowledge,” Ryan explained.
