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Is it possible that MGM will give Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich the green light to finally see their vision of a Stargate movie trilogy become a reality? That seems to be the hope of Devlin, who was interviewed by Collider as he was attending the Saturn Awards to accept the Dr. Donald A. Reed Founder’s Award.
Originally a Trilogy of Movies
“Well, the irony is that we actually wrote it as a trilogy of movies, but we were never able to do Parts 2 and 3,” Devlin responded when asked if he had thought about making Stargate into a television series or making more than one movie. “So, our hope is now that the series is starting to wind down, that maybe it will be time to get to do Parts 2 and 3. So, we’re still hopeful that we’ll get to come back and tell the rest of that story.”
A Different Mythology
Devlin said that the continuation of the story in these sequels would use the actors from the movie, not the television series. At the end of Stargate, Col. Jack O’Neil, played by Kurt Russell, had led a mission to a planet on the other side of the known universe and helped the natives, who were descendants of those taken from Ancient Egypt of 10,000 years ago, revolt against their alien-with-a-human-host overlord Ra, played by Jaye Davison. Familiar faces from the movie include Alexis Cruz and Erick Avari, who went on to play Skaara and his father Kasuf, respectively, in the television series Stargate SG-1.
Playing the pivotal role of Dr. Daniel Jackson, the one who unlocked the Stargate and made travel through it possible, was James Spader. At the end of the movie, Jackson stayed on the planet to be with his new wife, Sha’uri, played by Milli Avital, but viewers were left with the feeling that Jack and Daniel would be reunited for new adventures through the Stargate. That hint was picked up by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, leading to the creation of the television franchise with its fourteen years’ worth of mythology.
In the original Stargate mythology, the Stargate was part of Project Giza that was housed deep inside Creek Mountain and led by General West (Leon Rippy). General West was mentioned in SG-1‘s pilot “Children of the Gods,” and was replaced by General George Hammond (portrayed by the late Don S. Davis), and the location of the Stargate was changed to be Cheyenne Mountain underneath NORAD. Even with some of these changes, the television series did stay true to most of the mythology set in motion in the movie and fleshed out the lives of some of the other characters, although played by different actors: Catherine Langford, Ferretti, and Kawalsky.
What would Stargate be like without the Goa’uld, Jaffa with symbiote pouches, and the Ancients? In the Devlin/Emmerich vision of Stargate, Samantha Carter and Teal’c don’t exist, and neither do the city-ship Atlantis and the Ancients’ exploratory vessel Destiny.
So what would this new Stargate universe look like? “Well, I think it’ll change a little bit from our original ideas since so many years have passed, but we wanted to explore the idea of how the Stargates were built originally and where else in the universe they exist and why they exist and where else they exist on Earth. We had originally planned it out as a trilogy of films to allow this mythology to grow bigger and bigger.”
Indeed, the mythology grew bigger and bigger, but in a direction that its original creators had not envisioned. Perhaps this “alternate reality” that they plan will reopen the Stargate to new adventures and perhaps even spawn another fourteen years of television history.
Let’s Talk About It
How do you feel about the possibility of a “reboot” of the Stargate mythology? Would you go to see these movies? Would you be able to get the television mythology out of your mind to carry the concept in another direction? Will you be able to get Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks out of your mind when watching Jack and Daniel? Does your heart break at the thought that maybe the Goa’uld, Ancients, Asgard, Atlantis, and Destiny don’t exist in this vision of the franchise? What other things concern you about the possibility of these movies and the impact they could have on the franchise that we’re attached to?
The fans are fans of the actors not necessarily the name “stargate”. If the movies are with different actors than the shows, then I won’t go. More specifically, SGA fans (myself included) are looking for SGA movies with the actors from the show itself. This is what the creators don’t understand, they make a new product, but the old fans are not interested. Why can’t anyone actually understand that yes SGA was getting stale but that was because of the writers and the lack of ideas on their part. The fans were there, but wanted to see better WRITERS not new actors or a new show.
As SGA fan I would be disappointed Atlantis had never existed and SGA characters had never existed too.According to Devlin SG1/SGA characters would not appear in these part2&3 except O’neill Jackson Skara … when the series and SG1/SGA characters made the success of SG franchise.
Disappointing.
If such movie get greenlight from MGM I will not be interested in.
As a fan of SG1 and Stargate Atlantis, I WOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT BE INTERESTED IN THIS PROJECT AND WOULD NOT SEE THESE MOVIES AND OR SERIES.
Oooooh I loved the original movie!! So I’d look forward to seeing the sequels! And it’d be the icing on the cake if they’d hire some of our favourite actors – even better if they could incorporate their characters in the story-line somehow – even better if that includes Joe Flanigan! He’d actually make a great Colonel O Neill? I mean wasn’t he criticized from the outset as being too much like the Colonel?
But surely if SG1, SGA and SGU were dropped because of flagging TV audiences, no one is going to pay to see these in cinema theatres?
But surely if SG1, SGA and SGU
Whoops got an extra bit in that last comment somehow!!
But I need to add a PS anyhow! Won’t the original actors be too old now? This is like fourteen years ago?
I like the original Stargate movie. But I’m sure it’s possible to include Stargate Atlantis characters too. Even Atlantis itself can exist. It’s Sci fi. Anything is possible.
I liked the original movie, but at this point in the franchise I’m invested in the newer TV characters much more than the originals. I’d want to see the Atlantis folks, in particular Joe Flanigan as Sheppard and his Team, continue their adventures, although Jason Momoa might be a bit expensive to hire at this point in his career.
I have to agree with Hachi, and the others. Stargate Atlantis ended far far too soon. Joe and David are both terrific actors, why not let them continue the franchise.
i feel that the original star gate has been over done now and its time to give us some more of what we were promised when they cancelled stargate atlantis. we want our Stargate ATLANTIS movie. I really didn’t like SGU it wasn’t family oriented. My two boys would watch atlantis with me and when we watched the first episode of sgu they walked off totally not interested. what were they thinking dropping stargate atlantis for sgu. We are still waited for the promised stargate atlantis movie. Please make the Stargate movie for us. thank you
This is ridiculous. They can ponder making sequels to the original movie without actors from the various series yet movies that could continue the Stargate Atlantis series…at least…that have allegedly already been scripted and whose actors were more than willing to return to make them are put in cold storage possibly never to be made at all? Makes you wonder if there’s an intelligent brain anywhere at MGM. No wonder they were stupid enough to cancel Atlantis even though it had recently won the People’s Choice award and way before it was finished. Get it…PEOPLE’S CHOICE award! If there’s even a smidgen of intelligence left at MGM, they would bring back Atlantis WITH all its actors IF they will come back. IF MGM wants to bring back the fans…bring back what they want to see…Atlantis. Not the movie but the series with the movie as the two parter it was meant to be. Canceling Atlantis to make room for the lousy SGU that only lasted two years was a HUGE mistake. Owe up to it MGM. Blame it on what you want…no money?…but don’t dare say it was over. That series could have run for years longer if the PTB had gotten their heads out of their asses. It’s not too late to bring it back. It’s Sci-Fi afterall…anything is possible. AND it makes good business sense. The fan base is still there and always will be. All you gotta do is believe.
Oh and add my name to the list of Stargate fans who will NOT watch these sequel movies if MGM parts with enough money to make them. It simply amazes me that they would cancel a successful ongoing series like Atlantis to make a dark BSG wannabe that fails after only two years…quite incredible it even got a second year…and now they want to yank the fans around even more to make sequel movies to the original movie? Do they seriously expect that a majority of the fans will just blindly and dumbly follow anything with “Stargate” on it? I should think the failure of SGU would have taught them oherwise. They had talents actors, talented writers – though they could have used a few female writers– talented directors AND talented crews that know Stargate inside and out and they just tossed them out for no good reason at all. Again, if they’ve got the money now, revive Atlantis. It’s a proven winner and the fans will return as well as new fans. But only if they bring back the original stars. There is still so much potential for this series, especially after the episode “Vegas” with the introduction of alternate time lines to spice things up from time to time. Bring back Atlantis, Flanigan, Hewitt, Luttrell, Momoa, McGillion, Nykl, etc. Spend the money where you’ll really get a good return. Thumbs down to anything else.
My bad on the typos…Sorry David…I meant Hewlett, the L jumped off somewhere. And I meant “talented” actors…as well as “talents” because they’ve all got talent in abundance. But the message still stands true to how this avid Stargate Atlantis fan feels. Just hoping to keep the dream alive. For me, at least, the dream will never die.