Seven of Nine's death was originally planned to set up Voyager's series finale
Posted: March 21, 2022, 12:14AMJoining the series at the end of the third season of Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine has become a cultural icon in the Trek franchise. Desimillating from the Borg Collective, Seven worked to regain her humanity throughout the course of the series.
During her transition from Borg Drone to human, Seven would remain as a crewmember on the Voyager until their return to the Alpha Quadrant. Her story would late continue many years later with Jeri Ryan even recently returning to her famous role in the new Star Trek: Picard series.
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While she has become one of the most popular characters of the franchise with plenty more stories to tell, the original plan was for her death to begin the finale of Star Trek: Voyager.
"I think Seven of Nine should have bit the dust. I think there had to be a real sacrifice for this crew getting home; a real blood sacrifice. Seven of Nine was, for me, designed to be a character that was gonna die tragically. I planned that," said Brannon Braga.
The beginning of the end for Seven was to be triggered in the season seven episode "Human Error." In it, Seven experiments with the holodeck in an effort to connect more with the human emotions that were taken when she was assimilated. After experiencing difficulties with her sudden influx of emotions, she would discover that the Borg had left a fail-safe that would terminate her if she ever fully gained back her individuality.
Braga's original plan for this plot point was for Seven to come to terms with the fact that she would never fully regain her humanity with the fail-safe. Unable to achieve her goal, she would make a final sacrifice in the series finale to help her crew members with their own goal of getting home.
This darker version of Seven's story would be scrapped, with her asking The Doctor to have it removed from her in "Endgame." Finally free from the bonds of the Borg that suppressed her human emotions, Seven would continue to explore both the final frontier and her own humanity following Voyager's conclusion.