Wright: Michael is a ‘Flying Dutchman’

Recurring Stargate Atlantis character Michael Kenmore is going to find himself as a man without a home, executive producer Brad Wright told GateWorld. Played by actor Connor Trinneer, Michael was introduced late in the show’s second season.

“In the first two episodes of this season we’re going to discover that he is no more welcome among the Wraith than he is among us,” Wright said in an interview. “He’s unfortunately this kind of ‘Flying Dutchman’ character who now has to find a home for himself. And through the course of events in the first two episodes of this season, he may or may not be out there. It’s kind of left in the open as to where he is and what he’s doing.”

In ancient folklore, the Flying Dutchman was a ghost ship that can never go home, condemned to sail the seas alone forever.

Wright also says that he sees Michael as a sort of fourth class of Wraith, in addition to the Keepers, Queens, commanders, and warriors.

“There’s going to be sort of an off-shoot. The character Michael is almost a hybrid Wraith-human,” he said. “… I like the notion that Michael is that ‘other species,’ that Wraith-human hybrid that has issues with both races, for good reasons.

“And it’s our fault. Boy is it our fault! The first two episodes … We have very strong reasons for how we get to where we are, but we screwed up.”

The Atlantis expedition’s efforts to turn the Wraith Michael into a human using an iratus bug retrovirus will continue to have serious consequences in the show’s third season, Wright said. “A lot of our experimentation — especially genetic experimentation — with the Wraith comes back to snap us in the ass.”

The new season of Stargate Atlantis starts this July on The SCI FI Channel in the U.S.!