Gary Jones talks about character’s success

Gary Jones, who co-stars on Stargate SG-1 as Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman, spoke to Eclipse Magazine about his character’s development over the years.

Jones is delighted that the show has had such a long run. “It’s just unbelievable,” he told the magazine. “Somebody just asked me, ‘Did I ever think that it would go for nine years?’ You’d never think that in a million years. I just lucked into this gig that just keeps on going.”

He credits Richard Dean Anderson (“Jack O’Neill”) for letting his character grow.

“My feeling is that when I was with General Hammond, I didn’t really have a relationship. They hadn’t written one. It was only when Richard became a General that he was around the base more and he, for his own kind of amusement, just said, ‘Well, I want to have more of a relationship with Walter and make him like a Radar O’Reilly kind of character in that he knows what’s happening at the gate, he knows everything that’s going on.”

When asked why his character’s name changed, Jones replied, “I have no idea.” He believes that the writers had the name “Davis” on the brain. “I always joked with [executive producer] Brad Wright that he had a Davis button on his computer keyboard. If he ran out of names, he just hit ‘Davis!’ Everything’s Davis, right. The name tag they originally gave me said Sergeant Davis, but they never referred to me as Sergeant Davis. It was either ‘Technician’ or ‘Hey, you.’ Next thing I know, they gave me the name ‘Norman Davis,’ then it becomes Walter Davis, then it becomes Norman Walter Davis, then it’s Walter Harriman. Don’t ask me why!”

Look for the complete interview at Eclipse Magazine. Stargate SG-1 wraps up its ninth season with the U.S. premiere of “Camelot” on Friday, March 10. Season Ten is now filming, and will premiere this summer on SCI FI.