Confirming hints from Joe Mallozzi’s blog over the past couple of months, Rachel Luttrell recently revealed she is pregnant and discussed how Atlantis is handling her pregnancy. From SCI FI Wire:
Rachel Luttrell, who plays the fierce warrior Teyla on SCI FI Channel’s original series Stargate Atlantis, told SCI FI Wire that the producers are writing her real-life pregnancy into the show’s fourth-season storyline.
“They’re golden,” Luttrell said in an interview on the show’s Vancouver, Canada, set. “It’s not only the fact that she’s going to have this darker side, but also the fact that she’s going to be faced with taking care of someone who may be the last of her kind. There are so many interesting colors that are now coming out.”
Luttrell said that she is shooting her roles out of sequence so that her pregnancy doesn’t affect her ability to perform action sequences. She’ll actually have more action sequences than before. “From the get-go, this has been the most physical season for me thus far,” Luttrell said. “It’s almost like they were, ‘Oh, my God, let’s get it in all at once.’ I guess at this point forward they probably will [cut back some].”
Stargate Atlantis has already begun shooting its fourth season, and there are changes in store for her character beyond the pregnancy, Luttrell said. “There have been little things that have been touched on throughout the past seasons: The fact that she has these powers that are innate to her, her physiology, etc.,” she said. “So we expand that a little bit in terms of her links to the Wraith.”
Luttrell added that Teyla may also find a little romance. “She actually does have a love interest that she’s been hiding from everybody,” she said with a laugh. “We haven’t met him yet. I haven’t met him yet. I hope I’m part of the casting process.” Stargate Atlantis is wrapping up the second half of its third season in its regular timeslot, Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The fourth season will kick off later this year.
In spite of the new romantic interest, there is no word on who is the father of Teyla’s child.