There will be more recurring characters in the City of the Ancients in this coming season of Stargate Atlantis, and most of these new characters are female so as to bring gender balance to the show’s cast.
Bringing gender balance to the show’s cast, both main and recurring, was one of the reasons for the introduction of Captain Alicia Vega, played by Leela Savasta and introduced in the season premiere “Search and Rescue”. Executive producer Joseph Mallozzi explained Vega’s introduction in a recent MGM interview, “With Carter gone, I said to Martin [Gero] during the hiatus that it would be good to introduce a female military character – like Lorne, a background character to use.”
In addition to Vega, Season Five will also see the introduction of an all-female team. Mallozzi confided in his weblog, “Over the hiatus, I pitched out the idea of introducing an all-female team as a means of addressing the male-female imbalance on the show. I would introduce them in an early script and whoever survived the episode could potentially be brought back as a recurring character.” This script is “Whispers” and is slated to air as the seventh episode of the new season.
Now, there will be another named recurring character to give gender balance to the role of Stargate Technician: Amelia Banks.
Banks first appeared last season in “Quarantine” and is played by Sharon Taylor. Mallozzi introduced Taylor to the readers of his weblog, “She first caught our eye playing the role of a replicator in the episode Lifeline. She had such a unique look that we brought her back as a real, flesh and blood member of the expedition. A line here, a line there, and then it was only a matter of time before something else struck us about Sharon. She’s damn good. We continued to bring her back, increased her face-time, and, as a true indication that she had really made it, finally gave her character a name: Amelia Banks. And the fact that Sharon is a black belt kick boxer and could probably kick all of our asses had nothing to do with it.”
Taylor’s return to the Atlantis sets is very similar to that of Savasta’s. Savasta started out with Atlantis portraying a different character in the “Tao of Rodney” before becoming Captain Alicia Vega in “Search and Rescue” and “Whispers”. Banks’ first Season Five appearance will also be in “Search and Rescue”, and she’ll be seen again in the mid-season two-parter, which is currently being filmed.
Just as Vega is the female counterpart to Lorne, who will be returning in Season Five, Banks will be the female counterpart to Chuck, the Canadian technician played by Chuck Campbell. But fans of the “Chucknician” need not worry—he’ll be returning in the new season as well.
Season Five of Stargate Atlantis premieres on the Sci Fi Channel on July 11, 2008, at 10pm ET/PT.