Kate Mulgrew accepts responsibility for problems with Seven of Nine actor Jeri Ryan on the set of Star Trek: Voyager.

Captain Kathryn Janeway actor Kate Mulgrew accepts responsibility for tensions on Star Trek: Voyager between herself and Seven of Nine actor Jeri Ryan. Ryan joined the cast of Voyager in season 4, after flagging ratings prompted a shakeup of the typical Star Trek format with the inclusion of sexy ex-Borg Seven of Nine. Mulgrew had worked hard to establish Janeway as a smart, tenacious, and authoritative female captain, and the addition of Seven of Nine, with her notably skintight costumes, seemed to undermine Mulgrew’s core belief that Voyager could and should succeed without relying on sex appeal to hold viewers’ attention.

Kate Mulgrew’s opposition to Seven of Nine as a character led to Mulgrew treating Jeri Ryan poorly on-set, and a rumored feud arising between the two actors while Star Trek: Voyager was in production. In recent years, Mulgrew has apologized for her unprofessional behavior, and Mulgrew and Ryan have appeared together at conventions with no apparent ill will toward each other. In The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Mulgrew addresses her feelings about Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager and takes responsibility for Ryan’s on-set mistreatment. Read her quote below:

Let’s be very straight about something: This is on me, not Jeri. She came in and did what she was asked to do. No question about that, and she did it very well. It’s on me, because I’d hoped against hope that Janeway would be sufficient. That we didn’t have to bring a beautiful, sexy girl in. That somehow the power of my command, the vicissitudes of my talent, would be sufficient unto the day, because this would really change television, right? That’s what dug me the hardest, that to pick up the numbers they did that.… That was my interpretation of it. And that hurt me. I found it sort of insulting. And, of course, she embodied the part, this beautiful girl. But we certainly were utterly professional. I had been nothing short of completely professional, and she did her job. Very well! It was a very good idea that she was half Borg, but it’s on me. I’m sorry it has to be part of this legacy, and I should have probably comported myself better. I should have been more philosophical about it, but in the moment it was difficult.

Star Trek: Voyager Cast & Character Guide

In its seven seasons, Star Trek: Voyager introduced many new faces to the Trek universe. Here is a breakdown of the show’s main cast and characters.

Both Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine Were Great Star Trek Characters

Voyager Ignored the Myth of Beauty Vs. Brains

Kate Mulgrew’s initial trepidation at Seven of Nine’s introduction on Star Trek: Voyager must be framed in relation to reductive attitudes towards female television characters in the 1990s. The pervasive inclination to pit beauty against intelligence in female characters, and in women in general, contributed to Mulgrew’s belief that a hot girl on Voyager would bring down the perception of Star Trek: Voyager as a smart, thoughtful show that appealed to female fans. Instead, Voyager tossed out the false dichotomy entirely, portraying both Janeway and Seven as intelligent, capable women who could each be role models in their own right: Janeway as a leader, and Seven as a survivor.

Seven’s genuinely compelling journey from drone to human saw Seven working through trauma with the help of those around her. Captain Janeway, in particular, was enriched as a character through Janeway’s personal investment in helping Seven rediscover her humanity. Catsuits and heels were just decoration for Seven’s arc as a complex and nuanced character, whose troubled past and unique perspective brought much-needed conflict to Star Trek: Voyager. Fortunately, Kate Mulgrew also recognized that Seven of Nine was far more than an injection of sex appeal, and has since apologized for her previous assumptions about Jeri Ryan.