25 Years Later, Dwayne Johnson Discusses Star Trek Role & Has Huge Praise for Seven of Nine Star Jeri Ryan

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Modern Star Trek fans know Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine from her starring role in Star Trek: Picard for three seasons. However, Ryan got her start in the franchise on Star Trek: Voyager, which aired on UPN from 1995 to 2001; she joined the cast in the Season 4 premiere in September of 1997. Seven of Nine was a revolutionary character at the time: a former human who had been assimilated into the Borg Collective, but was later severed from the hive mind, restoring her individuality. Besides Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Seven of Nine was one of the few examples in Star Trek of a human mind that is forever scarred from the experience of the Borg.

The complexity of Seven of Nine’s character and backstory quickly made her the new kid MVP Voyager, with fans wholeheartedly embracing her. By the time Season 6 arrived (2000), Seven of Nine was carrying her own episodes, and Season 6, Episode 15, “Tsunkatse” put the character in her most action-packed position yet. Who better for her to face than one of the most physically imposing figures of that time: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson?

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson & Jeri Ryan in Star Trek: Voyager / Paramount – UPN

Johnson appears in “Tsunkatse” as the “Pendari champion,” a member of the Pendari race who competed in the humanoid division of the intergalactic bloodsport “Tsunkatse,” which was run by shady coordinator/kidnapper Penk. Penk snatches Seven of Nine and Voyager’s Vulcan officer, Tuvok, while they are aboard a shuttle doing a study; Seven of Nine is put into the fighting ring, where her first fight (and brutal lesson about the gladiator arena) is with The Rock’s Pendari Champion. Despite holding her own, Seven of Nine gets handled by The Rock, who even snuck in some signature wrestling moves for the performance.

Obviously, 2000 was a very early point in Dwayne Johnson’s career as an actor, and it would be fair to say, The Rock was still finding his way. That said, Johnson credits Star Trek for being one franchise that helped break him in a nice way.

In addition to saying that working on Star Trek: Voyager was a “great time,” and that it was an “amazing” set, Johnson had a super-positive anecdote to share about filming with Jeri Ryan.

“The crew, the cast, everybody was so awesome, but very specifically, Jeri Ryan was AMAZING. She was so welcoming and warm,” Johnson told Moovy.dk (via Trek Movie). “I had never done anything before in terms of acting. I come from the world of wrestling, and in a way, that is performance – but, cues, marks, dialogue and all that was still very new to me. But Jeri was so amazing and so cool and gorgeous and blew me away how just wonderfully welcoming she was.”

To put a finer point on it, Johnson made it clear that Jeri Ryan was the antithesis of so many other actors, who didn’t welcome the idea of a professional wrestler trying to break into their craft. “Jeri was never like that. She was f—ing cool, man. People always remember how you treat them.”

Based on that last part, it sounds like Jeri Ryan has a favor to call in with Dwayne Johnson. Never a bad card for a Hollywood actor to have in their back pocket.

Star Trek: Voyager can be streamed on Paramount+.