SEVENTH HEAVEN

JERI RYAN ON WHAT TO EXPECT FROM SEVEN OF NINE IN SEASON TWO OF STAR TREK: PICARD

- DARREN SCOTT

How do you feel about how Seven has evolved?

I loved it! I love this character. I love her resilience, her strength. I love how she’s persevered through everything that she’s been through, because she’s been through hell and back. I love her struggle, her continued struggle, trying to embrace her humanity, trying to fight against the darker impulses of humanity. I love the way she’s been developed. I love her journey and I’m really enjoying playing with her.

How did the production on season two differ?

The time travel storyline, that part was very different. I think part of it probably was, in a way, to make it easier to deal with the reality of shooting a series during a pandemic. But part of it was just story-related, that the characters were all separated. So the whole cast as a group was not together for most of the season, we were split up into pairs, so Michelle’s character and my character were together basically all season, and we had a ball! We were shooting in downtown Los Angeles, present day, which was very, very different for Star Trek. The practical challenges that come with that, of trying to keep things under wraps before that news had broken, when we’re literally shooting during rush hour on the streets of downtown Los Angeles. We’re shooting on a bus and we’re pulled over to the side of the road so that they can adjust lights and make-up and things like that, and I’m looking at people walk by with their cellphones, taking cellphone pictures. That gets a little hard to keep secret for long.

Do the time travel elements change Seven?