GW: What areas of Scott’s life and personality would you like to see fleshed out more? Will we see more of the girlfriend in Season Two?

BS: I would love to see Scott and Chloe as friends. I think that was a flaw in the relationship in the very beginning. It was because so much happened so fast, and we didn’t really have time after Scott and Chloe made love that first time when they both thought they were going to die.

Scott and Chloe bond a lot quicker than most. From "Light"

We never really get to see the dynamics of the relationship because there honestly hasn’t been enough time to show it. Elyse and I have talked about it, and they have a really interesting dynamic together. This is all stuff in our imaginations that hasn’t been shown in scenes — that they laugh together, they have common hopes and dreams and fears, and they tease each other and joke with each other. We just haven’t seen that yet. I would love to see that aspect come out between Scott and Chloe. We’ll see if it does.

Also, the thing about Scott is I’m interested in seeing him become aware of what an opportunity he has right now. When he was on Icarus he was pulling security. He was kind of a guy standing — he was the background character on SG-1. You know he was always like the background character in SG-1, that you’d see in the background not really doing much!

But all of a sudden now he’s like this main character in this tragedy. And he’s flying the shuttles, like alien spacecraft. He’s getting involved and he’s really able to make a difference. And he wasn’t able to do that before. So there’s something about this whole situation that’s allowing him to grow, and I think that there’s a part of him that is saying, “You know what? This sucks.”

GW: It’s a blessing in disguise.

BS: It is, yeah. This is a really sucky situation, but he’s never been this good. With all the mistakes that he makes and with all the flaws in his personality, he’s never been this guy before — and it’s great to see him turning into this leader.

In a desperate attempt to catch up with Destiny, Scott, Eli and Chloe start planet-hopping. From "Lost"

And that’s what character development is. It’s great that these characters have the potential to become a lot of different things, as opposed to, “This is who they are, it’s set in concrete” and “who they are after three, four, five years of the show will not be different from how they started off.” You know what I mean? All these characters are going to have an arc — of growth, or de-growth, regression.

“De-growth” … that’s what happens when you’ve had way too much caffeine! You start inventing words.

GW: You more than anyone know that there is a very vocal, partial section of fans of Stargate who are critical of SGU. If they haven’t already made up their minds, the ones that are on the fence that are actually going to keep watching, what would you say to keep them watching?  Or come back and sample it again — the ones that aren’t aware of the good things that are going to come?

BS: That’s a hard question to answer, because I don’t think any of us need to sell this show any more. Honestly, we’re very proud of the show.  It stands where it’s at, and I am not going to beg anyone to watch the show, especially a show that I’m really, really proud of.

For me, this is about having a career and a body of work, and this is something for me that my agents, my managers, and the people in my life are like, “This is something you can really, really be proud of.”  That, for me, begins and ends there.

Scott discovers, to his shock, that he has a son. From "Life"

Anything else — like being here at this con and having people wanting you to sign autographs — that is a blessing and it is a miracle that that happens. But I don’t ask for it. I just want to do good work.

GW: Any message for fans in general, Stargate fans, fans of you, that are here to see you?

BS: The people who are sticking with the show and people who have stuck with the show — there’s major, major payoffs coming up, especially at the end of this season and especially for Season Two.

GW: We’ve heard the words “gut-wrenching” used for the finale of Season One.

BS: Yeah, yeah, it really is. It’s three incredibly — I mean, it starts with “Subversion,” and it’s just a train ride that you just don’t get off of. Because once these events start rolling, you’re watching this tragedy take place.

GW: Be prepared.

BS: Yeah, “Be prepared.” Be prepared. That’s the perfect way to say it.

Interview by Chad Colvin. Transcript by Sam Wedderell.