Higginson Talks About Weir's Return

Torri Higginson talked with MGM’s Sharon Gosling about the return of Elizabeth Weir in last week’s mid-season finale “This Mortal Coil”. She talked about Weir’s being a clone created by the Replicators and how that might have been difficult for some actors to get a handle on because it’s a hard thing to grasp, but explained, “In television, you can do whatever you want and sci fi definitely opens that up a lot more. There are many leaps of logic that you can jump and have fun with.”

Torri Higginson as Elizabeth Weir ("This Mortal Coil")Being cloned does have its advantages, since the Replicators could possibly create as many clones as they want. This idea was not lost on Higginson, who said, “So I think the opportunity is always there – but they haven’t talked to me at all about it, so I have no sense of it whatsoever. But we’ll see.”

According to what has been gathered so far from executive producer Joseph Mallozzi’s personal blog, Higginson will have one more appearance in Season Four, but the name of the episode is shrouded in mystery. Will she be the “real” Elizabeth Weir (after all, viewers didn’t see her actually die), another clone, an alternate reality version, a figment of someone’s imagination, or any other type of sci-fi alter ego? Atlantis will return on January 4, 2008, at 10pm Eastern on the Sci Fi Channel with part two, “Be All My Sins Remember’d”, so maybe we’ll know then … or maybe not, as there are ten episodes to come in 2008.

Season Four will end in a cliffhanger with “The Last Man” and Season Five will pick up right where it leaves off with “Search and Rescue”. Mallozzi teased, “Who’s searching and who’s in need of rescue?” Could it be Elizabeth Weir? “Tune into the season 4 finale to find out.”

And if the opportunity does come for Higginson to return to the sets of Stargate Atlantis for its fifth season? “I wouldn’t go back to do a regular thing,” Higginson replied, “but I’m more than happy to go back to do one or two episodes. As long as Weir had something to do – was there for a reason and was emotionally and intellectually engaged with the story, then it would be a lot of fun. Because it’s great — it’s a great job, it’s great to go to work up there [in Vancouver].”

Read the complete interview at MGM: Close Up: Torri Higginson.

Update on Higginson, McGillion Projects

Fans most likely know of the recent news articles and publicity surrounding the departures of Torri Higginson and Paul McGillion from the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis in Season Four and might be wondering what the two have been up to since then.

Torri Higginson

Torri Higginson as Dr. Elizabeth Weir

Torri Higginson (Dr. Elizabeth Weir) has a new guest spot on CBS Television Network’s NCIS. The episode is called “Identity Crisis” and will premiere on Tuesday, October 16 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT). Higginson plays Dr. Jordan Hampton in the episode (visit The Futon Critic website for more plot details).

Higginson recently spoke to Gateworld about what she’s got on her plate, “Well I just shot an episode of NCIS, which was really enjoyable. And I just came back. I cancelled our talk this morning because I had an audition for a new series called The Journeyman, which is very exciting series. I’m going to go back to Vancouver this weekend to re-shoot a couple of scenes from those gorgeous Smile of April girls. Bless their heart. So I’m keeping myself busy, which is nice.”

Dr. Elizabeth Weir will be in four episodes in Season Four: “Adrift”, “Lifeline”, “This Mortal Coil” (Part 1 of the mid-season two-parter), and a yet-to-be-identified episode, which executive producer and co-showrunner Joseph Mallozzi has kept a secret because he doesn’t want to give away major spoilers. (See Season Four episode index for more information about the episodes).

Paul McGillion

Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett) has recently auditioned for the role of the Scottish engineer Montgomery Scott in the new Star Trek movie! Filming is likely to start very soon, so the announcement as to whether or not he got the role could come within the next few weeks (the movie is set to be released December 25, 2008). Fans should visit the Save Carson Beckett Campaign website for more information about McGillion’s audition and backing. McGillion stated in one press release, “Obviously it would be a great honour to follow in James Doohan’s footsteps.”

Even though Dr. Carson Beckett was killed off in Season Three, the character will be returning for a two-part episode in Season Four called “The Kindred” (see story). Quite a lot of publicity has been obtained by the Save Carson Beckett Campaign to get Carson back for Season Five, but as of this moment, Stargate Atlantis has not yet been renewed (that announcement, too, is expected to come within the next few weeks).

Higginson: SG-1 Will Feed Atlantis

Torri Higginson (Dr. Elizabeth Weir) talked with SCI FI Wire about the upcoming fourth season of Stargate Atlantis and how the show will benefit with the appearances of Amanda Tapping (Lt. Col. Samantha Carter) after SG-1’s cancellation. Higginson said, “I think it’s going to allow SG-1 to continue, in a way.”

The interview doesn’t cover Higginson’s own reduction in appearances for Season Four, which will begin filming in March.

Higginson said that she was shocked that SG-1 was cancelled, but believes that producing one show will benefit the stories for Atlantis, stating, “Now all the writing will just be focused on one show, so I think it’ll be interesting, too, to have the production focused on one show. That will definitely make it richer and … just tighter.”

To read the complete article: SG-1 Will Feed Atlantis.

Creation Con Burbank: Con Report

Better late than never, I hope, I’ve finally finished my lengthy and illustrated report on the November 16-19 Creation convention in Burbank, featuring Michael Shanks, David Hewlett, and many more! The report also covers the screening of David Hewlett’s film, A Dog’s Breakfast. You can read the report here in our Features section.

SG-1 and SGA Casting Updates/Spoilers

There were at least 3 Stargate-related conventions going on this weekend, and various bits of news came out of them related to casting of the remaining S10/S3 episodes, as well as upcoming SG-1 DVD movies and Season 4 of Atlantis.

  • N. John Smith confirmed at Collectormania in Manchester, UK, that Carson Beckett will disappear in the second half of Season 3, and that Paul McGillion won’t be a cast regular in Season 4. He did promise Beckett would return for some number of future episodes. This confirms rumors that have been floating for months, and fans have already started a campaign to make their objections to this change clear. Visit SaveCarsonBeckett.com for more info.
  • Amanda Tapping said at the GABIT convention in the UK that she will be appearing in “a few” episodes of Atlantis next year, but that it wouldn’t be a full-time role. Michael Shanks said at Creation Con that he has heard we will be seeing a familiar SG-1 face on Atlantis, but that it won’t be him. We assume he was referring to Tapping. Torri Higginson declined to give any details on who might be crossing over, but was supportive of the idea. She also said she had no idea what is in store for Weir in Season 4.
  • David Hewlett at Creation Con mentioned that Michael Beach, formerly of ER, has joined the cast of Atlantis, presumably as a recurring character. David used the term “has joined the cast”. His role in SGA is already listed in Beach’s wikipedia entry, but might be new to many fans. David said that Michael is very good a long passages of dialog. He will appear in Season 3, since he has already filmed at least one episode. It’s not known how many episodes he will be in.
  • Cliff Simon at Creation Burbank said he expects to reprise his role as Ba’al in at least one of the two SG-1 DVD movies.
  • Michael Shanks at Creation Burbank seemed quite committed to being in both movies, and in movies beyond that if the DVD’s sell well and MGM asks for more.

Visit our forum for brief snippets on the conventions from attendees, and stay tuned for a complete A Dog’s Breakfast Screening and Creation Burbank report.

Sci Fi Magazine Q&A Transcript

We’ve created a full transcript of the already-released February 2006 Sci Fi Magazine Q&A that used questions submitted by fans. Included in our article are all the print and on-line Q&A’s for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, arranged by cast and crew member.

Enjoy the Q&A here!

Question marks over Shanks and Tapping

Amanda Tapping’s weekend with her fans in the UK is the scene of more breaking news on the cast shake-up in Season 10. An attendee posted their interpretation of Amanda Tapping’s comments on the Gateworld forum this evening:

According to Amanda she recently found out that all the members of the cast had been approached regarding season 10: MS, CJ, BB as well as CB.

To paraphrase Amanda…”She said she called RCC and asked if the fact she hadn’t heard anything meant she should be worried. She was informed that she didn’t have anything to be worried about; they just hadn’t figured out what they were going to do with her character as of yet. According to Amanda, there is a possibility that she will be working on Atlantis and SG-1. She has no clue as to how many episodes she will be on each. All she knew at this time was that she would be doing 20 episodes and that it may be split between the two shows. How it will be split she is not sure, nor does she know what she will be doing.”

Stargate SG-1 is potentially facing the greatest upheaval the series has known, with question marks over the participation of both Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) and Amanda Tapping (Sam Carter) at the same time that both of Farscape’s leads sign on as regular cast members, with Claudia Black joining Ben Browder.

In Tapping’s case, there are implications for both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. SG-1’s female lead for nine years, Tapping will be stepping out of that role as Claudia Black steps into it. Nor could she assume that status on Atlantis, which already has its female lead in Torri Higginson, who plays Dr. Elizabeth Weir. It’s hard at this point to see how Sam Carter becoming a recurring or guest character on both shows is to the advantage of her actress or how it can be accomplished without upheaval to both shows and both casts.

We really are going to have to ‘watch this space’ very closely indeed and look to official sources for an idea on how this is to be made to work.

Stargate receives 4 Saturn nominations

Nominations for the 31st Annual Saturn Awards have been announced. Saturns are awarded by The Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy & Horror Films. Television nominations had “Lost” leading the group with five nominations. Following were “The Librarian: Quest For the Spear”, “Smallville”, and “Stargate: SG-1” each with four nominations.

Stargate SG-1 — nominated for “Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series”.

Richard Dean Anderson — nominated for “Best Actor in a Television Series”.

Michael Shanks — nominated for “Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series”.

Amanda Tapping — nominated for “Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series”.

Spin-off Stargate Atlantis has also received nominations: competition for “Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series”; and Torri Higginson for “Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series”.

View the complete 31st Saturn Awards Nominations