Jeri Ryan: Why Seven of Nine Blames Picard

With Star Trek: Picard's debut coming on Thursday, January 23, actress Jeri Ryan has offered some insight on where her character Seven of Nine has been since we last saw her on Star Trek: Voyager in 2001, as well as her surprising feelings about Patrick Stewart's legendary Admiral Jean-Luc Picard.

In an interview with IGN, Ryan explained that dark times have overtaken the galaxy, and Seven has seen a lot of "dark crap" in the last 20 years. Watch the full interview above or read on for excerpts from it.

"Seven I think holds Starfleet and the Federation in large part responsible for much of it," she said. "The universe is a mess and I think she initially sees Picard as a representation of that. She's been working ... with sort of a group of freedom fighters called the Fenris Rangers who are trying to keep some semblance of order in the mess that is the galaxy."

It's not clear right now what the Fenris Rangers are, but Fenris is a wolf in Norse mythology, and we know the Picard show is also focusing on the plight of the Romulans after their sun was destroyed in the 2009 Star Trek film. Romulus of course also takes its name from mythology, the Roman tale of Romulus and Remus who were nursed as infants by a wolf.

The inclusion of Seven in Picard is interesting since she actually comes from Voyager and has never interacted with Jean-Luc onscreen before. But the two do have something in common: They are both humans who were assimilated by the Borg in the past, and eventually freed from that cybernetic collective.

"This is the first time that Seven and Picard actually meet," says Ryan. "They know each other by reputation. And as I've said before, Seven's not on the 'Oh, he's a god' bandwagon I think initially when she meets him because she holds him partially responsible for what Starfleet has done in her view."

Executive producer Alex Kurtzman explained why the writing staff decided to bring Seven into the show.

"We had a rule on the show which was that we did not want to just bring back legacy characters to bring them back," he said. "They had to come back because the story could not tell itself without those characters. There were two things that came to mind immediately with Picard. When you think of Picard you think of his relationship with Data and you think of the Borg. ... Seven and Picard have never been onscreen together before. So that was a really interesting opportunity, and what they share, even though they've never spoken, is they were both assimilated by the Borg. So they would obviously both be haunted by that element of their lives. We certainly know that both of them have been individually, and now what does it mean for them to see that in each other. Is it too painful? Is it a little like staring into the sun? Is it comforting? Those are really interesting questions to ask."

Where will this all lead for Jean-Luc Picard and Seven of Nine? We'll begin to find out when Star Trek: Picard Season 1 debuts on January 23.

In the meantime, check out what the latest Short Trek "Children of Mars" tells us about the villains of Picard, catch up on the latest info on Picard Season 2, or read up on CBS' plans for the future of the Star Trek franchise.

Talk to Executive Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottCollura, or listen to his Star Trek podcast, Transporter Room 3. Or do both!