Dwayne Johnson is still enthusiastic about his guest role and working with the “amazing” Jeri Ryan on Star Trek: Voyager 25 years later. The Hollywood titan and former WWE Champion guest-starred in Star Trek: Voyager season 6, episode 15, “Tsunkatse.”
In 2000, Dwayne Johnson was already one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling as The Rock. Johnson was tapped to guest star on Star Trek: Voyager in a bout of corporate synergy with its fellow series on United Paramount Network (UPN), WWE SmackDown!
In an interview with Johan Albrechtsen of Moovy TV to promote The Smashing Machine, Dwayne Johnson spoke enthusiastically when Johan asked whether he had any special memories of appearing on Star Trek: Voyager, which was his earliest acting role. The Rock also gave Jeri Ryan, who played Seven of Nine, the highest praise. Read The Rock’s quote below:
Oh, well, first of all… They were all amazing. And at that time I just wanted… I wanted experience as an actor. And I was taking these roles, these cameos, on these television shows and… They had come to me and said: “Hey, are you interested in doing ‘Star Trek: Voyager’?'” I said: “Yeah, I would love to! Let’s do it!” And I went down to set and I… And we had a great time that day. And the crew, the cast, everybody was so awesome.
But very specifically: Jeri Ryan was amazing! And she was so welcoming and warm. I had never done anything before in terms of acting. You know, I come from the world of wrestling, and in a way, that was performance, and it is performance. But, you know… Cues, marks, dialogue… All of that was still very new to me. But Jeri was so amazing and so cool and gorgeous! It blew me away how just wonderfully welcoming she was.
Because you know the truth is… At that time in my career, I was doing… I’d do this show and that show… And it was just cameo, cameo, cameo… And these shows were pretty popular shows and the stars of those shows were popular stars.
And so, a lot of times they knew… “Oh, we’re gonna get this person coming in from the world of wrestling.”
You know, sometimes I would show up on these sets, and it was a little bit of, like… “Oh, here we go again. Another guy, okay… He’s never acted before! Oh, gotta carry the baggage.” And I would feel that energy from some of these folks, and I got it. And I’d just try to get through the day and try to learn as much as I could.
But Jeri was never like that. She was f***ing cool, man!
And anyway… Like, moments like that I don’t forget. Because it’s the great reminder that… People always remember how you treat them. And she was amazing.
So, anyway, once I did that… I thought I knew what “Star Trek” passion was all about from the fans. But only until I did it! And then I realized: Oh my God, this is so incredible. It’s amazing! The fandom about “Star Trek”.
Watch Dwayne Johnson talk about Star Trek: Voyager on Moovy TV below:
On Star Trek: Voyager, Dwayne Johnson played the Pendari Champion, who battled a kidnapped Seven of Nine in a violent fighting competition called the Tsunkatse. Even playing an alien gladiator, The Rock worked in his patented WWE finishing move, the Rock Bottom, and even raised his eyebrow like “The People’s Champion” of WWE.
Dwayne Johnson’s Star Trek: Voyager guest spot came a year before his big screen debut as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns, which led to a spinoff starring The Rock. Johnson has since become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood thanks to the Fast and Furious franchise, Jungle Cruise, Jumanji, and Moana, as well as the TV series Ballers and Young Rock.
Amusingly, Jeri Ryan didn’t know Dwayne Johnson was a world-famous wrestler when they worked together on Star Trek: Voyager. Johnson left an autographed photo for Ryan that said, “The Rock smells what you’re cooking.” Ryan was confounded until the wrestling fans on Voyager’s crew explained who The Rock was to her.
Star Trek: Voyager was Dwayne Johnson’s first significant Hollywood franchise. It’s heartwarming that Johnson has fond memories of his brief time in the final frontier and a high regard for Star Trek fans. With Paramount Skydance developing a new Star Trek theatrical film, perhaps Starfleet will beam The Rock back up once more.
- Release Date
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January 16, 1995
- Network
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UPN
- Showrunner
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Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor, Brannon Braga, Kenneth Biller
- Directors
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David Livingston, Winrich Kolbe, Allan Kroeker, Michael Vejar
- Writers
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Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor