I Love That Star Trek: Picard Paid Off A Chilling Seven Of Nine Threat Exactly 22 Years Later
By Dan Bibby
November 12th, 2025
Although Star Trek: Picard was largely a follow-up to The Next Generation, the former show also allowed Jeri Ryan to return as Seven of Nine for the first time since Star Trek: Voyager ended in 2001. Appearing in 25 episodes of Picard, Ryan was one of the legacy sequel show's core cast members. Her presence also felt like an ongoing Voyager reference, but one specific moment of a particular Picard episode felt like it may as well have been pointing its finger to a line from Seven in a script that was almost a quarter-century old.
I will admit that this isn't something I noticed when I first watched Star Trek: Picard. The reference in question is so brief that it's easy to miss the connection to Seven's threat in a Voyager episode that first aired in 1998. However, during my most recent Voyager rewatch, a line from Jeri Ryan in season 4, episode 19, "The Killing Game Part II," caught my ear for an incredibly nerdy Picard-related reason.
"The Killing Game" is a two-parter that revolves around one of Star Trek: Voyager's best villains — the Hirogen. The hunting-obsessed species take over the USS Voyager and essentially turn the entire ship into a holographic war simulation as they endlessly attack Kate Mulgrew's Captain Janeway and her crew. Seven is the first character to be freed from the shared delusion that what she and her crewmates are experiencing isn't what it seems, making her a key figure within the story. In the episode that closes out the arc, Seven threatens the Hirogen in a way that seems unlikely for her to ever personally put into action...but her venomous prediction did come to fruition.
I will admit that this isn't something I noticed when I first watched Star Trek: Picard. The reference in question is so brief that it's easy to miss the connection to Seven's threat in a Voyager episode that first aired in 1998. However, during my most recent Voyager rewatch, a line from Jeri Ryan in season 4, episode 19, "The Killing Game Part II," caught my ear for an incredibly nerdy Picard-related reason.
"The Killing Game" is a two-parter that revolves around one of Star Trek: Voyager's best villains — the Hirogen. The hunting-obsessed species take over the USS Voyager and essentially turn the entire ship into a holographic war simulation as they endlessly attack Kate Mulgrew's Captain Janeway and her crew. Seven is the first character to be freed from the shared delusion that what she and her crewmates are experiencing isn't what it seems, making her a key figure within the story. In the episode that closes out the arc, Seven threatens the Hirogen in a way that seems unlikely for her to ever personally put into action...but her venomous prediction did come to fruition.
Star Trek: Picard's "Nepenthe" Paid Off Seven's Assimilation Threat To The Hirogen From "The Killing Game Part II"
Star Trek: Picard season 1, episode 7, "Nepenthe," first aired on March 5th, 2020. Almost exactly at the six-minute mark, "Nepenthe" proudly displays a member of the Hirogen species as part of a lineup of characters who had been liberated from the Borg — just like Seven once was. It's a very brief shot of the lesser-used Star Trek species, but this inclusion is surely not a coincidence.
"The Killing Game Part II," which premiered on March 4th, 1998, is one of the most important among Star Trek's admittedly sparse collection of Hirogen episodes. When held at gunpoint by a member of the species, Seven doesn't blink as she says: "One day the Borg will assimilate your species, despite your arrogance. When that moment arrives, remember me." Making threats on behalf of the Borg is still within Seven's character at this point, so it makes sense that she would fall back on this intimidation technique.
While the Hirogen that Seven threatens is dead by the end of the episode, Picard canonically confirms that Seven was correct. At the very least, she is right that at least one member of the Hirogen species would be assimilated by the Borg at some point, as he's shown in "Nepenthe." It's a deep cut of a reference to a chillingly delivered line from Jeri Ryan. The biggest shame is that Seven doesn't appear in the episode, despite starring in five installments of Picard season 1.
"The Killing Game Part II," which premiered on March 4th, 1998, is one of the most important among Star Trek's admittedly sparse collection of Hirogen episodes. When held at gunpoint by a member of the species, Seven doesn't blink as she says: "One day the Borg will assimilate your species, despite your arrogance. When that moment arrives, remember me." Making threats on behalf of the Borg is still within Seven's character at this point, so it makes sense that she would fall back on this intimidation technique.
While the Hirogen that Seven threatens is dead by the end of the episode, Picard canonically confirms that Seven was correct. At the very least, she is right that at least one member of the Hirogen species would be assimilated by the Borg at some point, as he's shown in "Nepenthe." It's a deep cut of a reference to a chillingly delivered line from Jeri Ryan. The biggest shame is that Seven doesn't appear in the episode, despite starring in five installments of Picard season 1.
The Borg Probably Assimilated The Hirogen Long Before Star Trek: Picard
"Nepenthe" is the first solid proof that the Hirogen had an unfortunate encounter with the Borg that ended in assimilation, but Star Trek: Voyager season 5 strongly implied that Seven's threat didn't take long at all to come to fruition. In "Infinite Regress," the proximity to a sabotaged Borg cube triggers a glitch in Seven's cybernetic implants that causes her to cycle through the various personalities of certain individuals who had been assimilated into the collective.
Among these personalities is one that seems, from context, to be Hirogen. That said, Seven never says anything as convenient as "Hirogen are the best, I love being Hirogen," so it's never solidly confirmed that this is the case. If Ryan DOES briefly play a Hirogen, then it means a member of the species had been added to the collective since "The Killing Game Part II."
There is, I suppose, an argument that members of the Hirogen could have been assimilated prior to "The Killing Game Part II," but let me explain why I don't think that's the case. The first Hirogen appears a few episodes before Seven makes her threat, and she seems unfamiliar with the species. She will often tell the crew a species' Borg designation in a First Contact situation, but the fact that she doesn't could prove that information isn't available to Seven, suggesting that the Borg didn't assimilate any Hirogen until after Star Trek: Voyager's 1998 two-parter, but definitely before Star Trek: Picard.
Among these personalities is one that seems, from context, to be Hirogen. That said, Seven never says anything as convenient as "Hirogen are the best, I love being Hirogen," so it's never solidly confirmed that this is the case. If Ryan DOES briefly play a Hirogen, then it means a member of the species had been added to the collective since "The Killing Game Part II."
There is, I suppose, an argument that members of the Hirogen could have been assimilated prior to "The Killing Game Part II," but let me explain why I don't think that's the case. The first Hirogen appears a few episodes before Seven makes her threat, and she seems unfamiliar with the species. She will often tell the crew a species' Borg designation in a First Contact situation, but the fact that she doesn't could prove that information isn't available to Seven, suggesting that the Borg didn't assimilate any Hirogen until after Star Trek: Voyager's 1998 two-parter, but definitely before Star Trek: Picard.
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