Star Trek: Voyager executive producer Brannon Braga saw Seven of Nine as a tragic character and felt she should have been killed off at Voyager’s end.
Summary
- Brannon Braga, executive producer of Star Trek: Voyager, believed that Seven of Nine should have died in the series finale to create a tragic ending for the character.
- Despite Braga’s pitch, Seven of Nine’s popularity and the open-ended finale of Star Trek: Voyager would have made killing off the character unpopular with fans.
- In Star Trek: Picard, Seven of Nine’s character arc experienced growth and triumph as she joined Starfleet and ultimately became the Captain of the USS Enterprise-G in a more hopeful outcome than the one Braga proposed.
Star Trek: Voyager executive producer Brannon Braga felt Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) should have died in the series finale. Braga co-created Seven of Nine to join Star Trek: Voyager at the end of season 3. Seven became the focal point of Star Trek: Voyager’s promotions and media, becoming extremely popular while infusing sex appeal into the flagship series of the United Paramount Network (UPN). Seven remained part of Star Trek: Voyager until the series finale, “Endgame,” which concluded the show’s 7th and final season in 2001.
In the oral history “The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek” by Peter Holmstrom, Brannon Braga gave his pitch as to why Seven of Nine should have died in Star Trek: Voyager‘s finale. Read the excerpt below:
I thought Seven of Nine should have died. My pitch – because I worked out the story with Rick [Berman] and Ken [Biller] – and I said, “You know, we set up this tragic character who can’t ever be a Borg again, she can never really be human, and she is leading a really hard existence.” We had just done an episode where she had developed a love for somebody, and an implant activates – we learn that if she falls in love, her Borg implants will kill her. What a tragedy. And if you can’t love, what’s the point of living? This is a tragic character. I thought Seven of Nine should have died getting the crew home. There would not have been a dry eye in the f****** house. To me, the finale was missing something potent like that.
Seven Of Nine Became A Centerpiece Star Trek: Picard Character
From Borg Drone To Captain Of The Enterprise
Killing off the popular Seven of Nine wouldn’t have sat well with Star Trek: Voyager fans, especially since the open-ended way the series ended didn’t entirely satisfy the audience. 19 years would pass before Jeri Ryan returned as Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Picard, which launched the former Borg on an extraordinary character arc that saw Seven finally join Starfleet and become the Captain of the USS Enterprise-G at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3.
If the proposed Picard spinoff, Star Trek: Legacy, happens, it would star Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine leading the new Starship Enterprise.
On The Shuttlepod Show in 2022, Brannon Braga said that he’s “not sure I would have done” Seven of Nine’s story in Star Trek: Picard before noting, “then again, it might have been better than what I would have done.” Braga’s vision for Seven appears to be as a tragic figure, and Star Trek: Picard did lean into the “really hard existence” Seven leads as a reclaimed Borg trying to live in the United Federation of Planets. However, Star Trek: Picard chose to give Seven of Nine a story where she overcomes hardship, both personal and external, to become the new Captain of the Enterprise, which is a considerably better and more hopeful outcome for the character than killing Seven off for the sake of tragedy at the end of Star Trek: Voyager.
