Gossett likes Gerak’s character arc

Award-winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr. relished his work on Stargate SG-1 this season, he told Stargate SG-1: The Official Magazine. In a new interview with the magazine, Gossett talked about the growth and perspective of the Jaffa leader Gerak.

Beware of spoilers below for Season Nine’s “The Fourth Horseman, Part 1” and “Part 2.”

“My character has a very interesting arc,” Gossett said. “From his perspective, he’s a good guy because he feels quite justified in doing what he’s doing. He means well for his people and he’s well intentioned, but he’s also very angry about what was done to his people, who had been enslaved for so long and were mistreated. He doesn’t trust too many people, and he’s righteous in that sense.”

But Gerak’s mistrust of the Ori and their representatives is surprisingly overcome in the mid-season cliffhanger, “The Fourth Horseman, Part 1.” He advocates that the Free Jaffa worship the Ori of their own free will — and is even transformed into a Prior himself.

“When Gerak gets infected with the Priors’ disease, his philosophy — which was pure at the beginning — starts to corrode,” Gossett told the magazine. “He starts thinking that the lives of the Jaffa are expendable as long as they learn their lessons. And as he becomes totally infected by the Prior’s disease he starts to go kind of crazy, which was an actor’s dream to play. So the character’s arc is an arc of degeneration.

Teal’c confronts the transformed Gerak. From “The Fourth Horseman, Part 2”

“Ultimately, he is a villain, but he’s a villain you can understand. And his arc actually ends with him committing a very noble act.”

Gossett found his character’s tense relationship with Teal’c to be particularly compelling. “There’s a lot of introspection in that relationship,” he said. “Gerak is concerned about Teal’c — he doesn’t understand why he left their planet and feels that Teal’c belongs with the Jaffa rather than SG-1. And Teal’c teaches my character things that weaken him and tries to help him overcome the Priors’ infection.”

Gerak’s ultimate fate remains a mystery, but Gossett hints at what it may be.

“If they wanted me back and if I was available, then I would love to do more Stargate,” he said. “It would be great to go to a wonderful place like Vancouver again and spend more time with those people. Right now, I’m finished and that’s it. But if the writers push some buttons on their computers, all of a sudden Gerak could return! That’s the magic of science fiction.”

Check out the full interview in the brand new issue of Stargate SG-1: The Official Magazine (#7 – November/December). “The Fourth Horseman, Part 2” will premiere on The SCI FI Channel in January.