[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”27947″ img_size=”600×300″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]When Ser Patrick Stewart announced he would be appearing in the new CBS/All Access series Picard, fans were extremely excited. None more so than Ser Patrick himself. The very next thing that fans wondered was if cast members from Star Trek: TNG or other Trek franchises would be making cameos. We now know that Picard indeed has a number of past Star Trek characters making an appearance. Brent Spiner as Data, Jonathan Frakes as William Riker, and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi will be featured in an episode. In addition, two former Borg will be appearing as Johnny Del Arco reprises his role as the Borg called Hugh and Jeri Ryan comes back as Seven of Nine from Star Trek Discovery.
When Ryan was approached for a part, she had some concerns. First being that her character wore a skintight catsuit at that time. They assured her that there would be no catsuit. She would be wearing normal clothes which was a relief to the actor. The other concern was that after so much time has passed and after reading the script, she was unsure of how to perform the part vocally. She explained it in a recent appearance at the Star Trek Las Vegas 2019.
I was freaking out. She was a very specific character for four years on Voyager. There was a lot of growth, and all of that. She went from being a machine to learning to be human. But, particularly the way she moved and her voice, that was what I was really hung up on. Her voice didn’t change that much in four years. So, she had a stilted, very formal, very stylized way of speaking, at the end of Voyager. So, when I got the initial script… she is not the same Seven. She is much more human. She’d been on Earth for a long time, she has been through a lot. So, when I saw that initial script and as you saw “What the hell are you doing out here?” It’s a very, very different voice. And that is what was freaking me out.
In fact, it caused her so much concern that even her husband mentioned that he had NEVER seen her stress so much over a part. Eventually, she reached out to fellow Borg actor Del Arco who had already filmed his part. He told her putting on the costume helped him settle in. He also came over for a lunch and they read over the script a bit.
So, Johnny came over and we had lunch and read the script for like an hour and finally… he said: “Just try this, what if… she had to make the choice to be as human as possible, to survive, to sound as human and act as human as possible. Clearly, she is always going to look like a former Borg, because she has these implants that can’t go away. So, what if she had to make that choice – a conscious choice – to sound as human as possible.’ And that’s all I needed. That’s what I needed! I just needed something for it to make sense as an actor as to why she would have that huge of a change. Then it made sense to me.
Judging from the trailer, Ryan was able to find her voice and the justification for how Seven of Nine would have changed over the years. Are you ready for the return of Patrick Stewart as Picard? Do the revealed cameos get you even more excited for the series? Give us your StarFleet briefing at GeekVibesNation.
Source: Sciencefiction.Com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
