"...a big topic of discussion among the cast. Chris Judge [Teal’c] said, 'We want to deal with his death but the script doesn't really allow for that.' There was a big controversy over the fact that Daniel had been killed off in the penultimate episode of the fifth season [Meridian] as opposed to the season finale. Some fans felt as though we’d been disrespectful to the character, so we wanted to address their concerns in Redemption. However, it wasn’t the easiest job I’ve had to do."

There was input from actress Amanda Tapping [Major Samantha Carter] too. "She said, ‘Just the fact that I walk into Daniel’s lab and there’s someone else sitting there should be a bigger deal for me than it is in the script.' We shot the scene in such a way that it was a big deal, and then we did another take in which it wasn’t. The producers ended up using the second one. Rather than make the episode all about remorse and the fact that Daniel was gone, they decided to make it a more practical one where the focus as on finding a new team member for SG-1."

"He gave the character a huge appetite. Jonas was almost always eating or drinking. That was a concern for me because when I was filming I had to match shot-for-shot where he took a bite out of a doughnut, a piece of fruit, etc. However, because Corin is very much a method actor, he might not feel like eating in every take. So that sometimes made things a bit of a challenge. Also, Corin was used to a lot more rehearsal time than we have on Stargate. We come in, rehearse in the morning, and then start shooting. That's something Corin had to adjust to."

"This episode was written by Brad Wright [executive producer], and I really enjoy working on his stories," he says. "Brad likes to find a physical thing to use in his storytelling and then turn it on its head. In this case, we had a prison with gravity wells."

"This story was also interesting because it was the first one that brought Michael Shanks back as a guest star. He was great. Michael did some of his best work ever with Rick in this episode. The nicest part about it was that everyone, including Michael, felt relaxed on the set, which made my job easier."

(c) 2003, TV Zone. All rights recognised. No infringement intended. This extract appears with permission. Buy TV Zone #162 online: there's much, much more!

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