Star Trek: Picard brings two iconic Star Trek characters together for the first time. Patrick Stewart returns as Jean-Luc Picard, the former captain of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Jeri Ryan returns as Seven of Nine, the Borg drone rescued by Capt. Kathryn Janeway and her crew in Star Trek: Voyager. Based on the brief, brusque interaction between Picard and Seven in the Star Trek: Picard trailer, you may assume – as we did – that Picard and Seven have developed a history in the 20 years since the events of Star Trek: Nemesis took place in the Star Trek universe. It turns out, that’s not the case.
ComicBook.com spoke to Ryan about Seven’s relationship with Picard. She revealed that they will meet for the time in an episode of Star Trek: Picard. “We can’t tell you a lot, but I can tell you that is the first time we meet,” Ryan says. “They know each other by reputation before. So this is the first time they actually meet face-to-face. But beyond what I already said, I can’t tell you much more than that.”
Jonathan Del Arco is also returning as a rescued Borg character, Hugh. His relationship with Picard began in the Next Generation episode “I, Borg.” Del Arco says Hugh still holds Picard and the entire Enterprise crew close to his heart. “It’s known that the Enterprise was my family because I was essentially born as an individual on the Enterprise, so you have all these sort of sibling figures and parental – obviously Picard’s the parental figure to Hugh. And Hugh’s relationship with the Federation has been an ongoing thing since we left him in that colony where he had separated from the Borg. So he has had a working relationship with a lot of the people from that world. Having said that, the reunion happens after not having seen him for a very long time, since we last saw ‘Descent, Part 2,’ so it was a really great moment for us to reconnect.”
Ryan and Del Arco also said that audiences will see the Borg from a different angle than they’re used to in Star Trek: Picard. “You’re going to see a very different facet of the Borg, I think, in Picard,” Ryan says. “You’re going to feel a lot more empathy, I think, for the Borg in Picard than you may have before.”
Star Trek: Picard premieres on CBS All Access on January 23rd.