Why Captain Shaw Won't Call Hansen Seven Of Nine In Star Trek: Picard
The third season of "Star Trek: Picard" was carefully constructed by showrunner Terry Matalas to reunite the central cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and gather them on the bridge of the Enterprise-D. Some of the introductions felt fair and organic. Others felt a little contrived. The inclusion of the Enterprise-D, a ship that had been destroyed in 1994's "Star Trek: Generations," was most certainly forced. But for many, the nostalgia was exhilarating, and seeing a 105-year-old Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) back in action for one last Borg rescue was a thrilling way to end the character's career.
Amid all the nostalgia, however, Matalas managed to introduce a fun, exciting new character into the mix: Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), the captain of the U.S.S. Titan-A.
Shaw was thrilling because, unlike most starship captains, he felt no impulse to stand on formality. "Star Trek," especially "Next Generation" was always stringently formal. Shaw didn't give a damn. He was curt, unfriendly, and demanded that rules be followed. He even deleted Captain Riker's jazz collection from the ship's database. (Shaw hates jazz.) Previously an engineer, Shaw was hellbent on the letter of the law and became frustrated and impatient when people bent the rules based on instincts.
Audiences loved him.
Shaw's first officer was Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), the former-Borg character carried over from "Star Trek: Voyager." Prior to being assimilated by the Borg, Seven was a human named Annika Hansen. Since being extracted from the Collective, however, she embraced her new identity as a former Borg and became reborn as a new person. Shaw repeatedly refused to refer to Seven by her preferred name, always calling her "Commander Hansen" instead.
Matalas, in an interview with Collider, explained why Shaw was so brusque and disrespectful toward Seven.
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Of course, Shaw has a very good reason to hate someone who was formerly a Borg. Shaw, as he explains in one episode, was present at the Battle of Wolf-359, the Borg attack from the famous "Next Generation" episode "The Best of Both Worlds" (September 24, 1990). He explained that, at the time, he was only a young engineer, eager to start his career on a Federation starship. The Borg attack, led by an assimilated Picard, wiped out his ship's entire senior staff and 40 or so other officers that outranked him. Shaw had to take command. Being a captain, it seems, was a career track he never wanted to be on, but was stuck on nonetheless.
Shaw, then, looked at both Picard and Seven of Nine with a less-than-diplomatic eye. Traumatized and stuck with a job he kind of hates, Shaw resented that Seven and Picard demanded respect. All he saw were the soulless cyborgs they once were. Eventually, Shaw's suspicions would be proven true; Picard's brain never fully shed its Borg influence and allowed his progeny to infiltrate an entire fleet of starships. #ShawWasRight
Terry Matalas chalked up Shaw's refusal to address Seven by her chosen name as stemming from that trauma. He won't use a Borg name. Shaw grows to respect Seven, but it's conditional. He still has issues. Matalas explained:
"I don't know how conscious he is of it sometimes. Because he shows her a tremendous amount of respect at the end of this episode, which is, 'Hansen, you take this one.' He lets her blow up the Shrike. So, there's a mentorship there because they just had that disagreement about consequences and whatnot. He wants her to be great. In that moment, allowing her to have that satisfaction."
Begrudging respect
The Shrike was a massive, well-armed super vessel that the season's villain Vadic (Amanda Plummer) used to terrorize our heroes. In the show's seventh episode, Vadic is bested and the Shrike is destroyed. Commander Seven is permitted to give the order to destroy it. Even in that moment of triumph, though, Shaw calls his first officer Hansen.
Terry Matalas didn't see this as a deliberate slight, but merely further evidence that Shaw hasn't come around yet:
"I don't think him not calling her Seven in that moment is him withholding, consciously, anything. I think he sort of has his own demons that just stop him from doing that. But we'll see what happens."
Shaw, despite being a self-described a-hole, was beloved by many fans, with Trekkies comparing him to the equally curt Captain Edward Jellico from the "Next Generation" episode two-part "Chain of Command" (December 14 and 21, 1992). Sadly, he did not survive the events of "Star Trek: Picard." His final words were encouragement to Seven of Nine, and the usage of her desired name. It seems, in his last moments, he came around. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a graceful way to resurrect the character, as a year passed between his death and the show's epilogue. So it goes.
Matalas has said he would love to work on a new series called "Star Trek: Legacy" with Captain Seven of Nine on board the Titan-A, rechristened the Enterprise-G. A fine enough idea for a series, but prior to the end of "Picard," many hoped for a "Star Trek: Legacy" with Shaw and Seven on board the un-rechristened Titan-A constantly butting heads as they get into "Star Trek" adventures. That, too, would likely have been a fine series.