Stargate SG-1: "Bad Guys"
All has been quiet on the Stargate front for more than a year now — but The Powers That Be aren’t giving up yet on getting a new project into production inside MGM.
Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and SGU co-creator Brad Wright has been working on some sort of new project for the venerable sci-fi franchise for at least the past 18 months. He told the Nerks of the Hub podcast in January 2019 that he and MGM were working on something new.
It isn’t clear whether that would end up being a full-fledged television series, a movie or mini-series, or perhaps another Web series to follow up on 2018’s Stargate Origins. MGM’s dedicated streaming platform that served as Origins‘ home, Stargate Command, closed down at the end of 2019.
But today Wright has a single word on the new project, offering a glimmer of hope that he and the studio have not given up on getting it off the ground. When a fan asked Wright on Twitter about the possibility of future Stargate content, he replied: “Trying!”
The sentiment echoes another Twitter exchange he had in March. When a fan asked Wright “What’s next?” he said cryptically, “It ain’t for lack of trying.”
A bit of speculative reading between the lines suggests that Wright’s pitch for a new Stargate project has long been made but is facing unspecified roadblocks. Of course this is common in TV and film production, where some ideas take years to get made — while others get a fast green light but then fall apart before the cameras start rolling. Production is a complicated and expensive venture, and it usually requires not just creatives and studio executives but also commitments from financiers, broadcasters, and other production partners.
After Stargate, Wright created the Canadian sci-fi drama Travelers, which began as an international co-production with Canada’s Showcase and ended its 3-season run as a Netflix original. MGM, meanwhile, currently distributes the Stargate TV series through Amazon Prime and Hulu in the United States. Apple has been hungry for original content since launching its own streaming platform last November, and has been reportedly talking with MGM.
MGM also owns or operates programming content for a number of outlets, including the EPIX premium cable network and the sci-fi friendly Comet. As we said in a bit of armchair analysis back in 2018, any of the above would be a feasible home for a new Stargate series or one-off event.
But we don’t know where the blockage is for Stargate, now in June of 2020. It seems as though there is at least one idea on the table — but we can’t say whether it is MGM, or a potential streaming partner, or someone else entirely who hasn’t said ‘Yes’ yet.
That decision to move forward on a production is more complicated than simply liking a pitch and recognizing the global audience that is hungry for new Stargate content. It also involves scoping the budget, selling to a broadcaster, hiring creatives, setting a timeline, and in some cases even signing certain actors before any announcement is made.
The global shutdown of film and television production due to the coronavirus outbreak could complicate things further. But studios such as MGM continue to be forward-looking, with production facilities starting to open back up and new projects being announced.
Hopefully, soon one of them will have a spinny ring that takes you to other planets. For his part, Brad Wright is still trying to make it happen.
NEXT UPDATE: ‘5 Chevrons Locked’: Mallozzi Hints At New Stargate’s Progress (September 2020)
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View Comments
Hope there will be and I would love to be on the show
'Yes' is the word I was hoping for.
They're waiting for everyone who's ever heard of the franchise to forget about it. MGM will produce a new series as soon as no one cares anymore. Awesome business model MGM!
I hate what MGM end up as
Best show ever made! Hope it will never end!
Hopefully they won't try to feed us another *** like SGU. Still bitter about SGA cancellation after all these years.
It's a shame you feel that way about SGU - It was a very good series and shouldn't be blamed for the cancellation of SGA. The truth is that scifi has never supported any series past it's 5th year on the network. SGA simply hit that wall. Ultimately fan division over SGU at least partially led to the drought we've all been suffering through for the last 10 years. If the reception had been friendlier we might've eventually had more Stargate including the ending that SGA deserved. It was very shortsighted to heap so much ire onto the show and did a disservice to the people involved in making it and your fellow fans who embraced the series.
I always felt SGU was a show for the adults of the Stargate family and simply put the kids just didn't get it or want to get it. The rattle was thrown out the pram over the end of SGA and no doubt the rebellious attitude of the kids certainly helped finish the franchise at that time. The way some so called fans treated all involved in making Stargate was disgusting and completely uncalled for. I also felt it really was just a pity they didn't start coming out their mood during the first season and start supporting SGA instead of waiting until mid way through season two when more and more existing fans started to see how well put together and enjoyable the show was. Hopefully we will see a new show and hopefully we will all support it even if its not exactly what we expect as you never know how the franchise might grow if successful.
Another SGU hater. Just because you alone dont like it doesnt mean that its a bad part o frachise. Even more SGU is really high quality show that telling a good story with one of the best characters on TV.
i like them all !!
Hey - I just read your Stargate entry. I agree - I am still bitter about Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis going offline. I try not to watch much MGM these days and I will never stay at the MGM in Vegas again. And I dont think I have watched the SyFy channel since 2016. SG-1 and Atlantis were about as good as it gets! SGU, well, only the last few episodes of Season 2 were of any consequence. Well, lets hope somewhere somehow we will see more new Stargate before I die!! All we can do is happy thoughts!
I think Apple or Amazon would be the best platform for it, they don't cancel shows like Netflix's does after 1 season :)
I'm a little ambivalent about the future Stargate at the moment - given the absolute disasters that both Star Trek and Star Wars have become I'm not sure if should even wish for a revival. On the positive side if Wright is still going to be in charge then it has a better chance than those other franchises. I'd love to see a new series that can also provide some closure for fans of SG:A and SGU and let us see our old friends from all the series once again. Here's hoping!
Not sure if you mean the current state of Star Trek and Star Wars in the Movie or TV lands Corvinus. If in the Movie realm I might agree with you, however if you are discussing the TV realm I couldn't disagree more. Both Discovery and Picard are fine additions to the Star Trek franchise and The Mandalorian is excellent for the Star Wars franchise.
However as this post refers to the Stargate Franchise I would have to say that SGU was by far the weakest addition to the franchise (at least until the extremely low budget Origins) to the franchise as they tried to change the format of the show and ended up making it boring in comparison to SG-1 or SGA as these were for the most part action / adventure episodes with both comedy and drama thrown in. SGU tried to go for a grittier more drama / conflict driven narrative which didn't work ( I mean come on it took 3 boring episodes to get air or something they could use as scrubbers). They did try to fix this in the second season (which I thought was much better than the first) but by then it was too late and rightly or wrongly it was SGU the placed the franchise into a coma.
I too hope that we get another iteration of a Stargate TV show, (as I love the franchise and have just finished re-watching SG-1 and have just begun SGA) however I hope that the studio / producers / writers and directors remember what made the franchise great and also above all put together a cast that has a great chemistry as that is what really made SG-1 and SGA, and let down SGU.
Well to each their own - of the genre entries you mention the only one I like is The Mandalorian which is excellent. I have the exact opposite view of Discovery and Picard than you. The films in both series have been mostly awful with the exception of Rogue One which I enjoyed. I love all of the SG series but the one I rewatch most frequently has been SGU. I found the conflict/survival driven story to be a rather interesting dynamic to explore - especially as it was so different than the previous series. I felt like the chemistry was there in SGU it was just too different for some fans. I get it - that's the way I feel about Discovery and Picard with respect to the prior Star Trek shows.
Discovery is a pure trash with blind and empty characters, bad story.
Just compare the characters from TNG, Enterprise and Voyager. All of them on 2 heads up comparing with anyone from Discovery.
P.S. Im not even a fan of ST. Not even close. I just like the old shows that i first saw a couple of years ago. No nostalgia just facts.
For a new series to be close to our Stargate, I agree Wright must be involved and Id like to see Mallozzi in the credits too.
I agree. As many original people need to be involved as possible, as they understand what makes the series great, and it causes fans to trust in a new series more from the very beginning.
I almost did not watch SGU, I wrongly developed a bad attitude when I first learned about it, due to the fact that the first advertisement I seen for it made it seem like most of the cast were teenagers or in their early 20s. I assumed that it was created only to appeal to younger people, and tthat typically means that it was made for the wrong reasons (greed), not about good storytelling. Also, at that time, I did not know much at all about the people behind the Stargate series, so I assumed that everyone involved was being like the rest of society, giving up quality for quantity; there are SO MANY bad tv series these days. But, I gave it a chance, and after a few episodes I realized differently.
They made a mistake releasing "Gate Trek". It seems MGM looked at Star Trek and decided to copy it to an extend, which could have worked, but then someone saw Battlestar Gallactica and decided that they wanted that shows grit, so they added that and then someone thought, lets make the ship to be manned by idiots with less credentials than a Nasa Space Chip so enter the Lost in Space part. It seems like they tried to copy every SCI-FI series idea and just boil them in a single pot until something resembling a show appeared.
In the end this killed the franchise. Rebooting SG would require a completely new show with a new story line but with a simlar idea to SGU and SGA. The series success rides in the GATE part of the name. As soon as that is removed it becomes your average short lived television series.
Please Relauch a new series. Start over.
Since there is a Covid situation what about like a webcast with Actors and directors. Going over lore and story points not done in the shows.