Jeri Ryan Says Seven Ends Up 'In A Really Cool Place' At The End Of Star Trek: Picard Season 3 [Exclusive]

This post contains spoilers for "Star Trek: Picard" season 3, episode 1, "The Next Generation."

Season 3 of "Picard" isn't just a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" reunion. It's also an ex-Borg reunion, with Jeri Ryan's fan-favorite "Picard" and "Star Trek: Voyager" character, Seven of Nine, joining the former Locutus, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) himself, as she did last season.

Seven of Nine has come a long way since she first appeared in the "Scorpion" two-parter on "Voyager" back in 1997. When Picard catches up with her again in season 3 of his show, Seven is now the commander of the USS Titan. That isn't all it's cracked up to be, as it sees Seven answering to the pompous Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick). Under Shaw, she's also forced to answer to her human name, Annika Hansen, while constantly biting her tongue as her Starfleet superior talks down to her.

/Film's Vanessa Armstrong recently caught up with Jeri Ryan and asked her what it was like to get into her character's new headspace, which puts Seven in an uncomfortable position aboard the Titan—all the more so when her loyalty to Picard begins to put her in direct conflict with her duty to the ship as an officer.

"I didn't really have to do anything to prepare for that specifically," Ryan said. "That was so well-written on the page. And you've got this guy [Stashwick] who plays his character so brilliantly, so I've got him to butt heads with, which gets you bristling right away."

In the "Picard" season 3 premiere, Seven eventually takes matters into her own hands, going against orders and flying the Titan outside Federation space to help Picard with his secret rescue plan for Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). Picard initially leaves Seven out of the loop because he doesn't want to jeopardize her career, but once she realizes his true aim in rerouting the Titan, all the things she's been struggling with as an officer under Shaw's command come to a head.

In an emotional scene, Seven talks about how she used to trust her instincts, and how she thought Starfleet could be a path that would inspire people to follow her. However, it's a little hard for her to inspire anyone when she has to "take s*** from someone like Shaw." It's as if Seven has been assimilated, Borg-style, by impolite human society. This gets to the heart of the character's struggle, which Jeri Ryan relished playing:

"I love her struggle. I love her discomfort with where she is. She's not at all sure that Starfleet is the right fit and that this is going to work out and that this is where she's going to fit in for once, because she's never really felt like she's fit in anywhere. So her struggle, it was really fun to play and I think it's kind of beautiful. You see her vulnerability, you see her uncertainty."

Todd Stashwick chimed in to say, "Fans are going to love [Seven's] arc," and Ryan added: "I think so too. It's a really cool journey for her this season, and she ends in a really cool place, I think." Here's hoping Seven of Nine gets out from under Captain Shaw's bootheel soon.

New episodes of "Picard" stream every Thursday on Paramount+.