Shanks Talks Daniel/Vala Romance

From Sci Fi Wire. Be aware there is a minor spoiler for Season 10 below, most likely from Memento Mori.

SG-1‘s Shanks Talks Romance

Michael Shanks, who plays Daniel Jackson in SCI FI Channel’s original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that the series will play down the potential romance between his character and Claudia Black’s Vala as the series kicks off its 10th season this July. Last season, former Farscape star Black played Vala in half a dozen episodes, which came on the heels of an eighth-season guest shot that introduced her wily thief character. In the upcoming season, Black joins the cast as a regular, and Vala, who has been impregnated by the villainous Ori, will give birth to a rapidly maturing child named Adria, who will be played by several actresses, including ex-Firefly star Morena Baccarin.

“In order to justify Vala there in a regular capacity this season, we’ve had to tone that down a little bit,” Shanks said in an interview, referring to the characters’ sexual tension. “We’re doing a lot of balancing right now. We’re trying to find the fun of it, and we’re trying to find the push-pull in a more practical, kind of friendship situation. There’s an episode where Daniel and Vala go out to dinner to talk about her personal growth, so to speak, and there’s all the innuendo and misconception that can happen in that kind of situation.”

Shanks added: “So there’s a lot of fun in that. What we’re doing is trying to keep the joke alive without killing it. And it’s always fun when you work with somebody like Claudia, who’s so good at playing with you and playing off you and who just gives you so much all the time. It’s been a lot of fun doing that.” Stargate SG-1 premieres on July 14 with a season opener entitled “Flesh and Blood.” —Ian Spelling

Thanks to Elyse at sg1_spoilme for the heads up.