Star Trek: Picard Reveals the Real Reason Seven of Nine Never Joined Starfleet

Many Star Trek: Voyager fans were surprised when Star Trek: Picard revealed that Seven of Nine hadn’t joined Starfleet after returning from the Delta Quadrant. Instead, she joined the Fenris Rangers, a more ragtag, “chaotic good” group trying to keep the final frontier safe. Having been recently freed from the Borg Collective (the original, not the new branch), the implication was that Seven wasn’t a good fit for Starfleet’s command structure. It turns out that the decision was more complicated and more tragic than that. SPOILERS follow for Star Trek: Picard Season Two’s ninth episode, “Hide and Seek.”

In Star Trek: Picard, a trip to an alternate timeline has allowed Seven to experience life without her Borg implants giving her history away at a glance. She’s flourished in the light of acceptance, showing a side of herself that doesn’t often come out since she keeps herself on guard.

Raffi wonders why Seven didn’t join Starfleet. Seven opens up and admits that she tried. Starfleet rejected her application because of her time as part of the Borg Collective, amid fears that she could compromise Starfleet, willingly or otherwise. She also says that her old captain, Admiral Kathryn Janeway, threatened to resign her commission in protest after Starfleet passed its judgment. Rather than let Janeway do that, Seven chose to withdraw and join the go “full Ranger,” dedicating herself to the Fenris Rangers and their cause.

Some might feel like such prejudice as what Seven experienced and experiences still is out of step with Star Trek’s utopian world vision. However, Star Trek episodes of the past have shown that humanity hasn’t been able to eradicate prejudice against “others” perceived as “enemies.”

The Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Balance of Terror” sees humanity’s fear and hatred towards Romulans directed toward Spock after discovering Romulans’ shared history with Vulcans. That anti-Romulan sentiment is still strong enough during the Star Trek: The Next Generation era, 100 years later, that Simon Tarses, a crewman aboard the USS Enterprise, felt compelled to disguise his Romulan ancestry as being Vulcan on his application to Starfleet as seen in “The Drumhead.”

Considering the damage done at Wolf 359 when the Borg assimilated Jean-Luc Picard, as seen in “The Best of Both Worlds,” it isn’t shocking that humanity mistrusts anything Borg. Whether those feelings justify Starfleet’s treatment of Seven is another story.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments. New episodes of Star Trek: Picard debut Thursdays on Paramount+.