The much talked about plans to reboot the Stargate franchise with a new feature film — the first in a planned trilogy — is facing a bleak future, according to producer and Stargate co-creator Dean Devlin.
In a new interview with Empire Magazine published today Devlin said that the project has fallen apart.
“It looked good for a couple of months, but now it’s not looking so good,” he said. “There are just a lot of things that have to fire at the same time, and there was a moment where I thought it was all firing at the same time, and then it all kind of fell apart.”
He explained that part of that is due to his own desire to do it right, to tell the story that he and director Roland Emmerich wanted to tell when the original Stargate movie was produced independently and then sold to MGM for distribution in 1994.
“It’s one of the reasons I prefer to work independently,” Devlin said. “Listen, I think if we did Stargate right, the fans would like it and we could do something really good. But if we screw it up, they’ll reject it. As they should. But I kind of don’t want to do it if I think that we’ll screw it up, and that’s one of the things that’s holding us back.”
Dean Devlin
Of course this doesn’t mean that the stars won’t align again down the road, as MGM — the studio that owns the rights to the franchise — still seems keen on resurrecting Stargate.
Devlin is currently promoting the new season of TNT’s The Librarians, which he executive produces.
Head over to Empire for more of its interview with Dean Devlin. And keep it locked on GateWorld for more as this story develops!
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There is a really good piece of good news in this... They rather cancel (or postpone) than give us a crappie movie.
Somehow this give me a lot more fate in their plans than I had previously, since I was expecting a "independence-like" movie which would have been a killer to the Stargate franchise.
I'm astonished to see a green light for the 3rd film of Independence Day when the 2nd one was so dreadful.
As much as I was looking forward to more Stargate, perhaps it's better that they not do anything further.
He may have a point. They sold it to MGM. There is now established history of Stargate. I don't want it to see it messed up. If the second ID movie was any indication then yeah, I wouldn't want them touching Stargate again anyway. They keep saying they want to tell the story they originally wanted to tell. Well, since they have to change the first movie then they have to change their story anyway. As much as I would want more Stargate, don't ruin it.
I expected the Stargate reboot would be cancelled after the terrible reception of Independence Day 2. I think the studio realizes that Devlin and Emmerich have lost their 'magic touch' and would ruin any reboot. I have no doubt that a Stargate reboot (movie or TV) will return in the hands of different producers in the future.
I am not surprised at all about this. Unless they continue the SG universe on the small screen, I say leave the Stargate franchise alone. Especially if the new Independence Day is ANY indication of how terrible they would make it.
I'm fine with re-watching SG1 and Atlantis on repeat. But I'd be all for a continuation of the same universe.
Damnit! Give me new SG already!! :(
Well this all begs the question of whether this could mean another TV series? I mean at this point i cant see them reviving any of the past series as too much time has passed, but this doesn't preclude the possibility of another series which could be based at some point after the and of Universe/Atlantis and could incorporate elements for the previous shows/canon.
With Star Trek discovery coming next year, assuming it is a hit (which remains to be seen), there is likely to be an increased appetite for Scifi tv shows and what could be better than a TV show with an already established and rich backstory as stargate?
“Listen, I think if we did Stargate right, the fans would like it and we could do something really good."
If they want to do it right, why change what has been right with SG-1, Atlantis, and SG-U?
Yet another cancel. :( There is so much wrong with this I don't know where to begin. It seems we need a Bill Gates, or somebody like that to say "Screw this, we're gonna have gate-travel" ... or it simply is never going to happen. That's just my take on it, and I hope I'm wrong. J.S. of SFST
I will always appreciate the original Stargate movie because it gave life to SG-1 (Show and movies), SGA and SGU. And the fact that they want to do the movie right for the fans gives me great hope that ***IF*** they do make a movie it will be worthy to take on the mantle of Stargate.
That said, I would rather them either start a new show, or pick up and give us a SGU movie to wrap up that insanely loose thread. Or make a new series that is of the same quality of SG-1, SGA and SGU.
Although part of me would love to see a Stargate movie with today's CGI ability compared to the 1994 movie.