Via his Twitter, Craig Engler of Syfy Network has announced that Stargate Universe will end after two seasons. Combining his tweets:
Announcement today: Syfy will end its original action-adventure series Stargate Universe when the show returns with the final 10 episodes of its second season in the Spring of 2011. The Stargate franchise — consisting of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe — has aired on Syfy since 2002. Syfy has a slate of new scripted projects lined up for 2011 including the series premiere of Being Human on January 17, the recently green lit one-hour drama series Alphas and the much anticipated Battlestar prequel pilot movie, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome. Warehouse 13, Eureka & Haven will also return w/new seasons next year.
While no reason was given, it’s reasonable to speculate that low U.S. Nielsen broadcast ratings for the show are the cause for the cancellation. The Live+Same Day viewership for the show has stabilized at around 1 million viewers per episode (ratings chart), which is about half of what Stargate Atlantis averaged during its final season (SGA S5 ratings) and is lower than Syfy’s other original series currently airing. @Syfy has said repeatedly that, while other methods of viewing, such as Hulu and iTunes, do help, Nielsen broadcast ratings in the U.S. are still the primary metric for advertising revenue. Advertising revenue is in turn what pays for Syfy’s share of production costs.
We want to express our condolences to the cast, crew, production, and fans of Stargate for this end of the series and perhaps the franchise. To those who make their living working on the show, we wish you well in finding new endeavors very soon.
Remember, the final ten episodes of SGU Season 2 will air in the Spring of 2011.
I’m sad to see it go. I hope that there will be some way for them to conclude the story that they had planned to tell in five seasons.
I must say it really is not a surprise as much as it saddens me that part of the Stargate franchise has been cancelled but I think with the producers it was a case of jumping in when the pan was too hot only to get burned.
So ok it was starting to get a little better but the not every one in the demographic it was supposedly aimed for is interested in science fiction, most certainly not here in the UK, young men in their twenties prefer to go out propping up a bar than watch tv.
Perhaps the producers can reflect on the fact that you dont have to be male and 25 to like science fiction that you can be female and 40 and love it.
The one thing that SG1 and Atlantis did was appeal to families as well as the ardent science fiction lover with stories and characterisations that drew you and made you part of the crew. That is what I believe unfortunately was lacking in SGU.
Perhaps the franchise can revived with the previous two incarnations with the old favourite characters and style of story lines, that will be a sure fire way to success.