Devlin optimistic about ‘Stargate’ sequels

Dean Devlin, writer and producer of the original “Stargate” movie, isn’t just wishing on a star when it comes to revisiting the trilogy he originally envisioned. Yesterday Devlin told fans on stage at San Diego Comic Con that he has signed a production deal with Stargate franchise owner MGM, and is in negotiations to create “Stargate 2” and “Stargate 3” independent of the successful, decade-old television franchise (story).

Now, in a new interview with SciFi Wire, Devlin reveals that he believes MGM’s current executives will be receptive to the idea, as will director Roland Emmerich and original stars Kurt Russell (“Jack O’Neil”) and James Spader (“Daniel Jackson”).

When MGM found itself with a box office hit in 1994, the timing was off for a sequel film. “MGM had made a big commitment to doing the [SG-1] series,” Devlin told the site, “and they were worried that the movie could interfere with the series. Well, now that the series has run so successfully for so long and spawned a second series, and there’s a whole new regime at MGM, they’re not really worried about, the series is running great on its own. And they think there is an audience out there who would like to see what parts two and parts three were intended to be. Because there was a larger story arc that we had in mind, and we never got to explore it so I think it will be very exciting to actually get to go do parts two and three.”

Though fans have often assumed that Devlin’s untold story eventually made its way into his film “Independence Day” (about an alien invasion of Earth thwarted by a brash pilot and a geeky scientist) or Bill McCay’s series of five “Stargate” novels, the second film would in fact pick up 12 years after the original. The films would continue the story where it left off, when Jack O’Neil left Daniel Jackson on the planet Abydos.

“[Russell and Spader have] always said they wanted to do it,” Devlin said. “… The irony is actually because it was 12 years ago that we made ‘Stargate,’ [and] part two was actually supposed to take place about 12 years later. We were just going to kind of age them up as actors. So it actually works out really nicely.”

Devlin also believes that his original mythology can coexist with the hit TV series, the events of which picked up one year after the end of the film. “I think the series could still live at the end of the third sequel,” he said. “So we’re going to try to not tread on their stories.”

Read the complete interview now at SciFi Wire! Stick with GateWorld for the latest on this story as it develops.

(Thanks to Michael Sacal for the tip)