Seven of Nine’s Jeri Ryan and Data’s Brent Spiner never shared a scene before Star Trek: Picard season 3, which led to a hilarious improv one-liner.
Summary
- Seven of Nine and Data have their first-ever interaction in Picard season 3, leading to a funny improvised line.
- Showrunner Terry Matalas realized the importance of a moment between Seven and Data, resulting in the inclusion of the “robot” one-liner.
- The interaction between Jeri Ryan and Brent Spiner was a memorable highlight of the season, showcasing their chemistry on set.
Star Trek: Picard season 3 had the first-ever interaction between Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) and Data (Brent Spiner) that led to Seven’s funniest line, and showrunner Terry Matalas explains how that improved moment came to be. Matalas directed Picard season 3, episode 9, “Vox,” where the young crew of the USS Titan-A was assimilated by the Borg. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) led the crew of the USS Enterprise-D to escape the Titan while Seven stayed behind to save her ship following the death of Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwck).
TrekTalks 3‘s Star Trek: Picard season 3 panel reunited Terry Matalas with actors Jeri Ryan, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Todd Stashwick, and Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut to raise over $108,000 for the Hollywood Food Coalition. The freewheeling conversation moderated by Jonathan Del Arco and Kayla Lacovino touched upon how long the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast have known and worked with each other. This led to Terry reminiscing about Jeri Ryan and Brent Spiner working together for the first time in Picard season 3, and the hilarious “robot” one-liner that resulted. Read Matalas and Ryan’s quotes and watch the Picard panel at the 5:04:45 time stamp below:
Terry Matalas: There was a scene in a hallway [with] Jeri and Brent very briefly in a scene, and she was like, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever been in a scene with Brent.’ And I was like, “Oh. That’s a moment. A Seven of Nine and Data moment, and we don’t have one.’ So that led to the little moment where she said, ‘The robot’s right.’
Jeri Ryan: Yeah, that was improvised. You just whipped that up on set.
Terry Matalas: Yeah, we’ve gotta have a moment between those two, even if it’s just that.
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Why Seven Of Nine & Data Never Had A Scene Before Star Trek: Picard Season 3
Both Jeri Ryan and Brent Spiner were in all 3 seasons of Picard
Incredibly, Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine and Brent Spiner’s Data never shared a scene despite both characters appearing in all three seasons of Star Trek: Picard. Spiner played Data in dream sequences of Picard season 1, including a touching farewell between the deceased android and Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) when Jean-Luc himself died and was resurrected in a synthetic body. Spiner next played the villainous Dr. Adam Soong in Picard season 2, but a scene between him and Seven of Nine didn’t come about. When Data was resurrected in Picard season 3, most of his scenes were with his crew mates from the USS Enterprise-D before Data and Seven met, at last.
Seven of Nine was always part of the main action of Star Trek: Picard as a key member of Admiral Picard’s motley crew of La Sirena in the first two seasons. After becoming a Starfleet Commander and First Officer of the USS TItan-A, Seven’s scene partners were the starship’s bridge crew, including Captain Shaw, Admiral Picard, and Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes). To Terry Matalas and Jeri Ryan’s credit, they recognized how historic Seven meeting Data would be and Matalas crafted an ingeniously funny improvised one-liner that may be the funniest thing Seven of Nine ever said. Hopefully, Star Trek: Picard season 3 won’t be the one and only time Seven of Nine and Data share the screen.
