Richard Dean Anderson Says He’s Up For More Stargate

The time may be right for General Jack O’Neill to take another trip through the ol’ orifice. At least Richard Dean Anderson is game for it.

Anderson told fans that if a good script for Stargate came his way, he would do it.

The actor appeared at the Fan Expo convention in Toronto, Canada over two days at the end of August. Now the full video of his stage panel (with host Aaron Sagers) has been posted online.

“Yes, immediately I would do that,” he said in response to an audience question. “I was thinking of dropping Brad Wright a note just to see how he was doing, and touch bases with him [and] see what his status is in all this. … He’s a brilliant writer. I really respect him a lot. Robert, as well — Robert Cooper. But Brad was my go-to guy there.”

Anderson said he would like “just to reestablish some kind of contact with him and see what’s going on with all that. I’m tired of hearing rumors. I want to hear some straight shooting about that! But yeah, I would do it in a second.”

The actor exited Stargate SG-1 in 2004 after eight seasons as a regular cast member, in order to spend more time with his young daughter. Now he is putting her through college.

And while the 68-year-old actor might not be up for the rigors of a long season of television production, today’s landscape of shorter seasons might fit well.

“As far as punching the clock and going to work I wouldn’t mind doing a mini-series of some kind,” he said — “something that had a clear beginning and end. … I would do something along those lines.”

Although series television is rigorous work, Anderson added that that also comes with important benefits. “[In] all the series work that I’ve done I’ve enjoyed the process,” he said. “And I’ve enjoyed what’s happened over a period of time, which is you become familial.” On Stargate he found himself “surrounded by a great group of people. We all got to like each other and play off each other, and it became a real joy. I wasn’t sad to leave, only because I was leaving for an excellent reason.”

Stargate SG-1 co-creator Brad Wright actually had just such a script in the works — a Jack O’Neill story that could have had profound ramifications for Stargate’s fictional universe. That was to be the DVD movie Stargate: Revolution, which was shelved by MGM prior to the studio’s 2010 bankruptcy.

Today the actor thinks it would take a little work for him to get back into fighting shape. His last on-screen credit (according to IMDb) was for Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, in 2013.

“It takes so much work to get there — and I’m so lazy,” the actor joked. “… I’d want to lose about 25 pounds before I considered it again. I want to look like Cary Elwes!”

MGM: Let’s have your people call his people.

For more from RDA on MacGyver, childhood, and kissing Amanda Tapping, watch the full panel from Fan Expo Canada! Then drop a comment below and tell us if you think Stargate needs Jack O’Neill to make its big comeback. The Q&A about a possible return to the screen starts at the 27:30 mark.

UPDATE: GateWorld’s Adam Barnard has assembled a video essay considering Anderson’s remarks, and what the future might hold for new Stargate productions. Check it out: