Seven of Nine

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Lore & Background

Seven of Nine's backstory was explained during the course of Star Trek: Voyager. She was born on the Tendara Colony on Stardate 25479 to Magnus and Erin Hansen, and was named Annika. At the age of four, her parents were given use of the research vessel USS Raven by Starfleet to study the Borg. She was later assimilated into the Borg Collective. After being freed from the Collective and joining Voyager's crew, she chose to continue to be called Seven of Nine, though she allowed "Seven" to be used informally. Her relationship with Captain Janeway evolved from adversarial to mutual respect, which Ryan later described as a mother-daughter relationship on the show, although she said that the writers had managed to make the character into more of an unruly teenager. The cyborg nature of the character is seen as representing a challenge to "simple conceptions of connections/disconnections between bodies." Ryan maintained that the main topic about Seven was "humanity" and stated that her character was pivotal to the success of the show, because she "brought conflict to the show, which it was sadly lacking. … The Voyager crew was just one big happy family." After the addition of the former Borg drone to the starship's crew at the start of the fourth season of Voyager, the shows' weekly viewer ratings increased by more than 60%.

In Their Own Story

In her first two episodes, "Scorpion" and "The Gift", Seven of Nine was costumed as a full Borg. This outfit took some two-and-a-half hours for Ryan to get into, but an error was made in measuring the outfit by not taking into account the prosthetics that she was required to wear for the part. This cut off the blood supply through her carotid artery, causing her to pass out on two occasions. After a nurse was called twice to supply oxygen, the costume was modified to prevent this from happening again. Once the character had the majority of the Borg implants removed, a new costume was required. Ryan wore a silver jumpsuit for the first few episodes, which director Jesús Salvador Treviño said that during the filming of the episode "Day of Honor" caused problems as "almost any camera angle inevitably winds up emphasising her sexuality." Ryan described the new costume as "a little snug", and wore a corset-like item which gave the appearance of mechanical ribs. In order to give her greater height, the shoes which formed part of her costume had four-inch (10 cm) high heels. She said in a 2012 interview that the suit by costume designer Robert Blackman was a "feat of engineering", but required a 20-minute production shutdown if she needed to use the toilet, as she needed that time plus assistance to get into and out of it. She said that it was so fitted and figure hugging that it "might as well have been body paint". The lengthy time it took to use the bathroom led to the actress not drinking any fluids, which in turn made her feel sick. The later versions of her costumes still required 20 minutes to get into before filming could start, but Ryan said they were much more forgiving, "In the silver costume, if I got goosebumps, you could see them. The brown costume is a thicker, stronger fabric. It's not quite so clingy, so the waist doesn't have to be cinched in." That version of the costume also removed the vertical bones of the corset, which allowed Ryan to have greater flexibility while wearing it.

Reader's Guide

Seven of Nine appeared on Star Trek: Voyager between 1997 and 2001, and between 2020 and 2023 on Star Trek: Picard. In the following years, the Voyager writers wrote several plot lines revolving around Seven's exploration of the positive and negative sides of human individuality. Ryan said that she had several favourite Seven of Nine episodes, including "The Gift", "The Raven", "Revulsion", "Hunters", "Prey" and the two-part "The Killing Game". Ryan remarked that she would "love to do something without special effects or rubber glued to my face, it'd be a nice change of pace." Following the end of Voyager, Ryan joined the main cast of Boston Public, comparing her new character of Ronnie with Seven of Nine, saying "[Seven] had all of these emotions, she just wasn't comfortable expressing them, and didn't really know how to express them; Ronnie, my character on Boston Public, is quite comfortable expressing them, and is fairly free with her expressions, I think. So it's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be much more free, as far as the acting style."

Did You Know?

• Seven of Nine's full Borg designation was Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One.
• The character was introduced in the fourth-season premiere, "Scorpion, Part II", replacing Kes in the main cast.
• After joining the Voyager crew, she chose to continue to be called Seven of Nine, though she allowed "Seven" to be used informally.
• Ryan's typical make-up regimen took around 45 minutes, with the attachment of the Borg appliance above her eye taking an additional 15 minutes.
• After the addition of Seven of Nine to the crew at the start of the fourth season, the shows' weekly viewer ratings increased by more than 60%.