Stargate Universe to Film in New Mexico

The New Mexico Business Weekly has announced that Stargate Universe will be filming some scenes in their state.

Here’s the announcement:

Efforts to join tourism more closely with the state’s film industry might find an interesting intersection in a new television show that will shoot part of an episode here.

“Stargate: Universe” is the latest member of the Stargate franchise. The new MGM/Sci Fi Channel show will shoot in Alamogordo in late April and early May. It plans to hire about 75 local crew members.

(The New Mexico Tourism Department has been using its own version of space aliens to tout the state as the Best Place in the Universe to visitors.)

The series stars Robert Carlyle from “The Full Monty” and Lou Diamond Phillips of “La Bamba” and “Stand and Deliver.”

Producers are David Greathouse, Brad Wright, John G. Lenic and Robert C. Cooper. Andy Mikiti will direct.

“Stargate: Universe” is about a group of explorers stranded in space aboard a crewless ship with a preprogrammed mission to travel to the farthest reaches of the universe.

The show is scheduled to premier in October with a two-part opening episode, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The production has been shooting in Vancouver, British Columbia. Eric Witt, deputy chief of staff for Gov. Bill Richardson, said there have been no discussions about additional production in New Mexico.

Since 2003, when Richardson, a strong supporter of the state’s film tax incentives, took office, more than 115 feature films and television series have shot in the state, adding more than $2.4 billion to the New Mexico economy, according to the governor’s office.

mkamerick@bizjournals.com | (505) 348-8323

Consulting producer Joseph Mallozzi mentioned that Robert C. Cooper and director Andy Mikita had taken a trip to New Mexico to look for a location to serve as an alien world (this location is most likely for the series opener “Air” which Mikita is directing). Mallozzi also stated that in the first ten stories, there will be no Vancouver forests seen, indicating that they’re doing their best to give the new show a different look and feel for out-of-this-galaxy worlds. Although the location wasn’t mentioned in the article above, it’s possible that alien terrain could be portrayed by the beautiful dunes of the White Sands National Monument Park (images at link). We’ll have to wait and see if that turns out to be the case.

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