If the events in Daniel Jackson‘s life had gone in a different direction, how drastically would it change and affect the character?

Michael Shanks says that’s one of the questions that may be answered when Stargate: Continuum arrives on store shelves in both DVD and Blu-ray formats on July 29. GateWorld sat down for an exclusive interview with the actor during a break from his appearance schedule at Creation Entertainment‘s Vancouver Stargate convention last month. Without going into spoilers, Shanks did mention that the character we see in the upcoming movie could be substantially different from the Dr. Jackson that fans have grown accustomed to.

“I couldn’t go to the Arctic when we were filming that portion of the movie,” Shanks said. “So Brad Wright, the author of the screenplay, had to find a way to take Daniel Jackson out of the scenes shot in the Arctic. So the easiest way he had to do it was to have Daniel have an injury that prevents him from being there. It’s tracked throughout [the film], and I get to play aspects of how that injury has affected the character and his life.”

The film examines “who this new person is and who he becomes as a result of this — the circumstances of how he got it and the circumstances he’s living in now and who he’s become. [He] may be a bit cynical. Maybe a bit jaded. Maybe a bit ‘I told you so.’ Maybe a bit dark in some places. So that was fun to play because it was a strictly a problem-solving thing for Brad Wright, and an emotional undercurrent for me to play that I truly enjoyed.”

Our conversation with the actor came just after a screening of the film for the cast and crew — a screening that 20 lucky fans had the chance to attend. Watching the film, and being able to see some of the reactions to it from the fans, gave Shanks some perspective toward the future.

Daniel Jackson is injured after SG-1 gates back to Earth and finds themselves in the Arctic. From Stargate: Continuum

“What Continuum does is demonstrate how much gas is left in the tank of telling SG-1 stories,” Shanks said. “I think that after watching the screening today with a group of fans — they aren’t allowed to talk about it, but they saw it — seeing their reactions demonstrates that there is very much longevity. That the characters are key with the story. And that there are a lot of stories left to tell.”

“It’s a great stand-alone story that doesn’t disrupt the Stargate universe the way we know it,” he said. “It shows these characters still have a lot of chemistry in their relationships. And [it shows that there is] a lot of mythology left in the Stargate universe to mine, both past and future. So, I think we have the legs I thought we would have and hopefully more stories will be told as the basis of that.”

Keep your browser locked on GateWorld for more information on Stargate: Continuum as we receive it — and be on the lookout for our full, exclusive interview with Michael Shanks in the near future!