‘Star Trek: Picard’s Jeri Ryan Reveals How a Borg-Less Seven Changes the Character

On this week’s episode of Star Trek: Picard, titled “Penance”, we got to see a lot of big changes as our characters were thrust into a dark, alternate timeline by the all-powerful Q (John DeLancie). But arguably the biggest change to any individual character, and one that will be sticking around for at least the immediate future is that Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) no longer has her Borg implants.

“This is the first time in Seven’s life since she was a very small child when she assimilated that she’s experiencing what it’s like to be human,” Ryan told Decider, “and how someone interacts with you, what they see is a human in front of them.”

First introduced in Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine has always sat comfortably in that Data (Brent Spiner) niche of “what does it mean to be human when you aren’t?” For Seven, that meant formerly being part of the Borg Collective, one of the biggest villains any Star Trek crew has ever faced. Over the course of Voyager, she grew and changed, but never lost that little bit of the Borg that was still inside her – something she was still grappling with in the first season of Star Trek: Picard.

But in the second episode of Season 2, Seven wakes up Borg implant free. Though the exact circumstances that led to this timeline aren’t clear yet, and seem to be at least one of the overarching mysteries of Season 2, Seven has had her life completely flipped upside down. She’s no longer Borg; she’s the President of Earth, happily married, and all-powerful. And even the introduction of this timeline’s Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) can’t shake her completely, though we do get plenty of moments where Seven (née Annika Hansen) grapples with the fact that she can no longer hear any Borg in her head.

“Her entire life experience since she left the Collective was the first reaction is either fear or hatred or disgust or distrust or all of the above when someone sees you, because no matter what else is happening, the first thing they see is this Borg-an kind that we are,” Ryan continued.

Mild, potential spoilers for upcoming episodes if you haven’t watched the show’s trailer, but as teased this week the Picard crew is aiming to head back in time in order to fix whatever Q did to futz with the timeline. And as great as things looked for Seven in this dark future, it seems like things will be even better in our time.

“For her to finally get to experience [this], and especially once they come back in time, to present day Los Angeles… And people are just, they’re normal,” Ryan said. “They can be inherently friendly, that’s a thing that can actually happen. And it’s a big adjustment for her.”

Star Trek: Picard streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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