10 Terrible Decisions That Led To Star Trek Losing Key Players

4. Star Trek Voyager Needs Ratings So Either Jen Or Garrett Is Getting The Chop

Star Trek Voyager Fury
CBS Media Ventures

While it is now well known that Seven of Nine was brought on board the ship to boost the show's ratings, the character was something of a late in the day addition.

Voyager's third season suffered from low ratings and had originally been due to conclude with Year of Hell, yet the Scorpion plotline was hastily written to introduce Seven and save the show.

The producers didn't want to raise the number of main cast members to 10 and so the two names that were circulated for dismissal were Garrett Wang and Jennifer Lien.

However, during the summer hiatus, Wang was selected as one the 50 Most Beautiful People for 1997. Rather than swing the sword down on him, they brought it down on Lien instead. The Gift was written as her send off, and that was that.

While Jeri Ryan was an excellent addition to the show, the manner in which Star Trek lost Jennifer Lien is still something of a sour note, made only slightly better by her catharsis in the season six episode Fury.

Contributor
Contributor

Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"