As if launching Stargate Universe this summer wasn’t enough work, Stargate SG-1 co-creator Brad Wright is also working on the next SG-1 movie. In a new Q&A with fans at Atlantis executive producer Joseph Mallozzi’s blog, Wright shared some news on how the team’s third DVD outing is progressing.

The film is currently being written by Wright and former Stargate Atlantis writer-producer Carl Binder. There is no title yet. Long-time Stargate director and Stargate: Continuum helmer Martin Wood will direct the movie.

As previously revealed to GateWorld, Wright confirmed that the movie will focus on Jack O’Neill, played of course by former series lead Richard Dean Anderson. Though Anderson’s role in last summer’s Stargate: Continuum amounted to a guest appearance, it will be much more substantial in the next film. “The next movie will be much more Jack-centric,” Wright said.

The limited screen time for O’Neill in Continuum certainly was not Wright’s choice. “That’s all I could get him for,” he said. “He’ll be much more involved in the next one.”

But one SG-1 cast member who won’t be in the next movie is Claudia Black, whose character of Vala Mal Doran joined the team in the show’s tenth and final season after making a big impression in a series of guest appearances in Seasons Eight and Nine. “I thought Claudia was terrific in Continuum,” Wright told fans, “but Vala won’t be returning in the third movie.”

Wright has previously told GateWorld that, due to a variety of circumstances including the availability of former cast members who have moved on to other work, it’s unlikely that future SG-1 movies will include the entire cast of the television series. While fans of those characters will certainly mourn their absence, it does offer the writers the ability to spend more time servicing whichever characters are included.

All in all, 2008’s two direct-to-DVD Stargate films have proved successful for MGM — though they have not yet convinced the studio to pull out all the stops and commit to a big-budget theatrical film.

“The DVDs came out of a desire to prove we could make movies,” Wright said. “I think we surprised the studio with what we could do on a small budget, but not enough to let us make a big Stargate feature.”

Don’t miss the full Q&A with Brad Wright, now at Joseph Mallozzi’s blog, where he also answers questions on Stargate Universe (including the controversial casting notice), the cancellation of Atlantis, and his past work on The Outer Limits. The next SG-1 movie is expected to film this spring or summer, meaning a 2010 release is likely.