Christopher Judge, who plays Teal’c in SCI FI Channel’s original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that his character will get to do a lot more in the upcoming eighth season—including talk. “Teal’c will talk more than he has in the previous seven years, and it’s really weird having to learn all these lines,” Judge said in an interview during a break in filming on the show’s set outside Vancouver, B.C. “It’s just a gabfest, you know?”
Fans will also get to see a softer side of the no-longer-taciturn Jaffa warrior, Judge added. “Lots of romance for Teal’c this year,” he said with a smile. “There’s a new character who I don’t know what the future of it will be. … It kind of pans out in [a future] episode, but then, ultimately, it doesn’t really work out in the end, but it’s still kind of out there what’s going to happen. … And of course, Ishta is coming back this year,” he said, referring to the Jaffa character played by Star Trek: Enterprise’s Jolene Blalock in last season’s “Birthright,” an episode that Judge wrote. “She’s just a wonderful actress to work with, and we just got along really, really well. And she was well received by the fans and everything, so when I pitched another episode, it was … basically green-lit right away.”
Judge wrote the new episode, “Sacrifices.” But unlike castmate Amanda Tapping (Maj. Carter), Judge downplays any desire to direct an episode of SG-1. “No, no,” he said. “I have no desire to direct Stargate. We’re too hardheaded. [I’m a] Leo. I would get too frustrated. And it’s … kind of like I would love to direct something else, but I think it would be hard to direct people that you know so well. And, especially, I’m not as easygoing when I direct. … I would feel weird about it.” But Judge added that he’s interested in writing more, including episodes of the spinoff series Stargate Atlantis. “Yeah, I’ve talked to [Atlantis executive producer] Brad [Wright], so I think I’ll be writing one, if not two, Atlantises. And I actually think I am going to at least run it by him about maybe directing one of them.”