If MGM isn’t keen on continuing the Stargate franchise on television right now (story), just where are they putting their money? Following a handful of announcements about MGM’s new, post-bankruptcy film projects over the last several weeks, today news has arrived on the studio’s first new television series commitment.
MGM is getting into the historical epic genre with Vikings (working title), from The Tudors executive producers Michael Hirst and Morgan O’Sullivan, Deadline reports. The 10-episode series will likely be a good fit for a premium cable channel, which in recent years have found big success in historical dramas such as Rome, Spartacus, and the new Starz series Camelot.
The drama is set in the world of the Scandinavian warriors between the eighth and eleventh centuries. It will center on Ragnar Lodbrok, a famous Viking commander who briefly ruled Denmark and Sweden.
The show will be a co-production with O’Sullivan’s soon-to-open production studio in Ireland. MGM will finance 100 percent of the show outside of Ireland, and distribute the series in the U.S. and internationally.
MGM is also producing MTV’s new foray into scripted fantasy with Teen Wolf, which premieres June 5. That series has been in production since 2009.
This sounds boring. MGM please just do the right thing and sell the Stargate Franchise or at least lease it. All us fans want is 3 more seasons of SGU, 1 SG1 movie, 1 SGA movie, 1 or 2 more seasons of SGA, and a All Star Movie, and we will be happy with the fact the franchise has ended. Paramount has the money and the people to get this done. Just make the decision
i hope they will fail with it cause it’s enough already .. the borgias , camelot ,game of thrones , rome , spartacus … cant come up more of them rite now but i think there still more of these historical series … it’s like zombie movies they geep making them like soap series with different story how to kill a zombie … it would be fun if they would make it as a scifi and fantasy to just be a different thing of the other drama series it’s like they are out of ideas so that they need to… Read more »
i would go with 1 season of sgu and 1 season of sga would be fair.
but 3 seasons for sgu is to much
BOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! MGM must pay!!! We want Stargate not vikings!!!
Could be good. But since I don’t have premium cable, proabably won’t be watching for a while.
Wonder if we’ll see any Stargate alumni in the cast? Or will they be going for movie type names?
As a true norwegian i say: This realy sucks!
All we want is one more SGU movie to finish the story properly. Anything else I’d see is a bonus. I don’t even care at this point about seeing the remaining three years, I just want a conclusion!
And it sounds like this is a cheap attempt to compete with Game of Thrones and Camelot (which I hear isn’t good).
@puddlejumper_1: Vikings sound boring? VIKINGS?
@Naonak compared to Stargate…heck yes!
all i want is SGU back, that show sounds very boring
this is pathetic. sci(sy)fi(fy)is dead to me.
While I am forced to agree with the “SaveSGU” people here. I don’t see them restarting Stargate ANY TIME SOON. However this “Vikings series” look interesting. Who knows maybe there will be a character named Thor…
Well it’s better than Wrestling – still I hope they have better sense than to sell it to Syfy…..
Despite being generally uninterested in scandinavian history, I’m not so offended about a Vikings mini-series being produced – But ‘Teen Wolf’? Are you serious MGM? We get more silly monster shows?
What is it with everybody and all the vampires werewolves and ghosts anyway? It’s like a resurrection of the goofy monster craze of the mid 1960’s
Well, I like historical shows like Hornblower and Sharpe – they gotta be gritty, realistic and brutal though. If this vikings one fits that bill then cool ill give it a chance.
That teen wolf show sounds utterly horrendous however.
I do agree though, Id love SGU back – but sadly can’t see it happening.
If were lucky, we’ll get easter eggs referring to our favorite Asgards/Norse Gods.
I don’t see the problem. We all knew Stargate wouldn’t be back any time soon, and if they’re going to spend money on TV series I’m glad it’s going to be something of the Rome/Tudors/Spartacus type calibre.
They had me at vikings, but lost me at “The Tudors”.
While I would rather have more SGU, I do enjoy Vikings.
I think this is mgm seeing the success of thor and saying me too!
I like this site but tenuous links to Stargate (i.e. MGM) do not, in my opinion, constitute news! Please stick to Stargate news!
I have to agree with mojo247. Just because MGM produced Stargate doesn’t mean that anything else they do is worthy of a mention in this forum. Please stick to Stargate news.
Nobody paid attention during History class in school MGM, What makes you think they are going to give a ^^^^ about a historical TV show?
BRING BACK THE STARGATE FRANCHISE!!!!!!!!
The inevitable news story about a non-SG project by MGM that could be perfectly good, but gets bashed in these comments simply because it isn’t Stargate. Move on already.
And STILL people are pleading for “one more SGU film plz plz plz”. It is as if you are all hilariously ignorant of the television industry.
I’ve always liked the Vikings stuff but I didn’t like Tudors, I guess it will depend on what will they focus about.
@The Tenth Doctor, as weird as it seems to find people talking about Stargate in an Stargate (main themed) site, you have to understand its cancellation has been quite recent, so although it may seem hilarious for you, it’s understandable many people haven’t lost their hopes or still need to complain when it haven’t passed a month since the last episode was broadcasted.
Really?.SERIOUSLY!!
We want Stargate.
i agree with the tp post if another will buy stargate and make more movies and seasons of the shows than mgm should sell and i would prob watch vikings if i had preimeum and might watch teen wolf(pleaze excuse my spelling)
They have lost their minds…I think that sums it up..
Great something else to waste money on that nobody cares about or will watch. Don’t make what the fans ask for, would actually watch and improve ratings, just make junk. Well done MGM
The Tenth Doctor you do realize what site you are on right? Enough said.
@velnias They should probably come to terms with this very final cancellation, then. I’m a Stargate fan, don’t get me wrong – I have a mock-up gate in my back garden! – but the odds of films and more seasons(?!) of SGA as puddlejumper_1 ludicrously suggested is sadly lower than the Liberal Democrats winning a General Election outright in the UK tomorrow. It ain’t gonna happen. I merely think fans should get a reality check. And when you could be watching this Vikings thing, but aren’t because you are boycotting MGM or SyFy or “the ratings” or whoever you are… Read more »
this might be epic. VICTORY!!!!!!!!!! anyone get it?
@ The Tenth Doctor:
It certainly failed horrendously in the ratings department, but I disagree that it was “in many ways a failure”.
This looks interesting enough. I’ll keep an eye out for a promo or something.
@ Billz: I’m a history student. I payed attention ;)
Personally, not interested in historical dramas. Being there, done that as a species. I mean, I want to look into the future, I want to see what’s possible. That’s why I prefer hard sci-fi, compared to either fantasy, soft sci-fi, or historical stuff.
While GateWorld remains a Stargate site, now that the TV and movie franchise has been indefinitely mothballed we are expanding its news coverage to things we think many Stargate fans would be interested in — including other things that Syfy and MGM are doing, and to some degree other science fiction shows that members of our community are excited about. Don’t worry — we’ll still be primarily and predominantly Stargate. But when there is no Stargate news for days and weeks at a stretch, I’d rather publish something of interest to our readers than nothing at all. Those who don’t… Read more »
Sounds like another case of “let’s copy a popular show idea and change it a little.” Pretty soon all shows will be either reality-based, copies of cop/medical dramas, shows based around vampires/werewolves, or copies of The Tudors. Where has all the originality gone?
Most people don’t WANT originality though. You make something too different and it puts people off completely – I wouldnt blame MGM or even the networks, id just blame people in general for being narrow-minded and having incredibly low-attention spans (ever seen the new dr who?, it’s breakneck pace says it all), which is why their arent any cool weird and interesting shows these days. The best thing one can do if they want orignality is to pick up a good book – because theres all the best sci-fi has always been anyway.
@The Tenth Doctor Sorry if I confused you in what I said. I do not expect there to just miraculously be a season 6 of SGA or movies of any sort. My argument was for MGM to sell the Stargate Franchise. By doing so the company who buys it(lets say Paramount) wouldn’t spend hundreds of millions of dollars just for 1 movie. They would take the ball and run with it. So by doing so, why not give fans of the franchise what they want?…the movies and seasons I spoke of. Furthermore I do not expect MGM to just change… Read more »
BRING BACK STARGATE!!!!
@AbstractAlien I think you have a good point there and that’s probably part of the reason SGU failed, because the mainstream stargate fans who did not follow its development on Gateworld and know that it was going to be different tuned in and didn’t like it because it was.
That being said though, the exact opposite happened with Star Trek. It was different than previous Treks but went on to be the highest grossing Trek film in history and I’m sure that will be repeated.
>the exact opposite happened with Star Trek.
Yes and no. The new star trek was different than its predecessors, but it was exactly the same as any other action flick. So while it might have distanced itself from its ST past, it was just a “normal” blockbuster movie otherwise. So this didn’t alienate normal viewers. It only alienated the diehard ST fans, which aren’t as many compared to the casual viewer.
SGU’s premise was new, apart from BSG and LOST no one had seen that kind of drama/sci-fi. So it did alienate more than usual.
Vikings? It’s just going to be a bad version of Thor/Game of Thrones/Camelot. I Guess I am done with MGM and SYFY products!!
i want gateworld to keep getting us up to date with mgm and syfy news, stargate actors and writers, and someone needs to ask emmerich about whether he still is interested in stargate.
@puddlejumper_1 Hey, if you’re going to dream, dream High, I would like to see the same thing. It’s too bad the producers got bored with Stargate and let it die. (Yes, I think the producers are 70% to blame, MGM 20%, and SpFie 10%. Hey, just my opinion.)
@axcel1,
70%? really? Did they tell fans not to watch?
@axcel1 Thankyou. Haha I think MGM has more to blame than 20% though. MGM sent out Brad Wright out as a messenger. Like recently when we found out in December that SGU was cancelled MGM sent out Brad to say, “though Syfy is done with SGU, MGM isn’t.” Then a few months later MGM cancels everything. Wow like really? The only reason we got another series(SGU) is because Syfy funded it. They gave an estimated $100 million and when Syfy didnt get its money back they cancelled it out of a buisness decision. Syfy just recently admitted this on their… Read more »
@starscape – they never said it would be on SyFy. Probably something like HBO or Starz.
im a big stargate fan sg1 and sga.so funny and mixed with action at the same time,brilliant stuff.hardly ever laughed with sgu so serious all the time,hardly any humour.not enough action for me compared to the other two,i didn,t think it would last long.best thing about it,the visual effects and the set looked brill in hd.shame,it had potential more laughs,more action and exploring other worlds and it might of gone on a few more years.we need more space battle type stuff.seems like this type of sc fi is dead now.it must cost too much to make these days.the new v… Read more »
Asgard surprise == “Thor! Thor! Thor!”
Yes! Vikings! This sounds awesome, as long as it’s on a channel like HBO, Showtime, etc. Count me in.