SGA S4 Filming Wraps, Actors Find Projects

Cast of Season Four of Stargate Atlantis

Introduction

It might seem a bit strange talking about the end of Season Four’s filming just as the episodes are starting to make their world premieres on the Sci Fi Channel, but it’s that time of year once again! Word still hasn’t come from Sci Fi about renewal for a fifth season, though, so whether or not the fond farewells the cast and crew bid each other on Friday, October 5, were to mark the end of a season of filming or the series as a whole remains to be seen. Executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi, looking back over the season’s development, stated in his personal blog, “I’m extremely satisfied with the end-product, and extremely satisfied with all of the hard work put in by the cast, crew, writers – pretty much everyone who stepped up and helped make this such a terrific year.”

As far as what everyone will be doing over the hiatus (the time between filming the seasons), here’s a quick run-down from what we’ve been able to gather from the Internet. If there are more, please add to them in the comment section for this blog entry. 🙂

Joseph Mallozzi

Season Four was the first for Joseph Mallozzi and long-time writing partner Paul Mullie as showrunners for the show. Since Mallozzi has been keeping his personal blog for about a year now, fans have had an exceptional peek into what goes behind such a position. It’s apparent from Mallozzi’s entries that he has many interests, including trying out various restaurants and reading science fiction novels. Concerning how he’ll be spending his time off, Mallozzi wrote, “Well, it really depends. If the show doesn’t get picked up, I’ll probably be working on pilot scripts are heading down to L.A. for meetings. If the show does get picked up, then we’ll be spinning stories and heading off to write – over the hiatus. So, time off in the long-term? No. Time off in the short-term? Sort of. I’m so exhausted that I think I’ll be sleeping straight through next week and well into word on the show’s fate.”

Joe Flanigan

Joe Flanigan will be making some convention appearances this month in Australia (October 13-14) and New Zealand (October 20-22). He revealed at the Comic Con in San Diego earlier this year that MGM has tapped him to star in the remake of the 1991 film Shattered, filming for which was last heard to be starting in November. According to IMDb, the tagline for the 1991 film was “A love he can’t forget. A murder he can’t remember.”

Amanda Tapping

Amanda Tapping has revealed in recent interviews that she’ll be making more webisodes for her on-line serial Sanctuary. She’s working with Stargate veterans Damian Kindler and Martin Wood to create another ten hours of entertainment, which equates to about 40 webisodes. Tapping said in a Sci Fi World interview, “Really, honestly, I just want to get Sanctuary up and going, that’s my main motivation right now.”

Rachel Luttrell

Rachel Luttrell is currently expecting her first child, so right now things are a bit quiet for her as she prepares for this momentous event. Her pregnancy was written into her character Teyla’s story arc for Season Four. Luttrell posted a note to her fans on her official website, “Another season has blown by. And it has been a wonderful one. I will endeavor to attend the party [wrap party held on September 29]…. but my first child may decide to make an appearance at any moment now. Exciting times!”

Jason Momoa

Jason Momoa is a new father! He and partner Lisa Bonet celebrated the birth of daughter Lola Iolani Momoa on July 21. According to one report, Momoa’s mother revealed more about the baby girl: “The middle name means royal hawk, and was chosen as there were hawks flying around [overhead] during the birth. The baby has ‘long legs, lots of black hair, and her lips are the perfect shape.'”

Momoa’s family means a lot to him, as he recently got a large tattoo that represents his family crest on his left forearm that the producers covered for “Adrift” and “Lifeline”, but will reveal in “Reunion”. Momoa gave Flanigan a new guitar at the end of filming for Season Four that is decorated with the same pattern. Fans can see the guitar in a picture Joseph Mallozzi posted in his blog entry for October 1.

David Hewlett

David Hewlett saw his independent film A Dog’s Breakfast distributed on DVD on September 18 (see Solutions Blog story on the release). He’s already working on his next movie’s script, Design of the Dead, which Hewlett talked about in an interview at Eclipse Magazine: “I loved Evil Dead; I loved Fright Night. It’s just that I loved that kind of stuff. And then, strangely, I’m a fan of these Home & Garden kind of home renovation shows. In this bid to become kind of the Martha Stewart of horror, I’ve combined the two. It’s about a design show that goes into this house to give it a new life, and it ends up waking the dead. It’s a lot of fun to write. I’m halfway through it now, so we’ll see how much time I get to sit down and write the rest of it. Right now it’s called Design of the Dead. It just seems in keeping with the Romero films, and the obvious likeness would be Shaun of the Dead, as well. That was sort of an honest appreciation of zombie films — and I just want to make a funny one.”

Hewlett had also said in his blog that he was writing a part in the movie for Christopher Judge.

Hewlett and his partner Jane Loughman are expecting their first child very soon. While waiting, Hewlett quickly noted in his Twitter recently, “Baby really taking its time…going to do this “Helen” movie next week now!” This movie stars Ashley Judd and is scheduled to film from October 9 to December 11 in Vancouver.

Jewel Staite

Jewel Staite recently finished filming some scenes in Panama for her new movie The Tribe. In a recent interview at SCI FI WIRE, Staite revealed a little more about the film: “It’s basically about a girl who starts off as being very meek and kind of subservient and scared about life in general and then really has to step up to the plate and become the leader, become the alpha in the situation. So it was really fun to play. It was a really complex character, and, yeah, it should be coming out next summer.”

In her latest MySpace blog entry, Staite answered a few questions from her fans, one being about the roles she chooses to play: “I love that I get these smart women roles, but it’s also fun to play the helpless victim sometimes, when it’s written well. What’s really great is someone who starts out as helpless and grows into the hero. Or superhero. That flies. And kicks ass.”

Staite is scheduled to appear at the Collectormania 12 Convention in Milton Keynes, England (October 26-28).

Season Four Continues…

Season Four of Stargate Atlantis continues on the Sci Fi Channel on Friday, October 12, at 10pm Eastern, with “Reunion”.