Artist Brentan Harron's concept sketch for Orlin's Stargate. From Stargate SG-1's "Ascension"
If there is one thing fans can count on in a new Stargate television series created by Brad Wright, it’s that each show is bound to have its own Stargate with a unique look.
The gate is iconic, and a signature for the show — from the classic red and grey of the Milky Way gates, to the digital blue vibe of Atlantis, to the steampunk aesthetic and white chevrons of SGU. So it’s no surprise that Wright’s plans for a fourth show set in this universe also include a new model of Stargate … even though the show is set on Earth.
Wright revealed the idea behind the new gate during The Companion’s “Stargate Legacy” 25th anniversary livestream.
“In my pilot script that I wrote … a couple of years ago, when MGM asked me to write a pilot script for a new show, I had an entirely new, human-built Stargate,” Wright said. “And it just spun up like crazy and then …” rapidly locked each chevron into place to establish a wormhole.
“I thought it’s about time that we sped up the process, after 25 years! Don’t you think? … It’s cool. It’s really cool, at least in the script.”
Each of the three live-action series has featured a different Stargate, built by the Ancients at different points in their history. With a new series set in the present day it has been decades since the founding of the Stargate program. And with everything the S.G.C. has learned about the gate and its operations, it makes sense that the next evolution of the Stargate would be built by humans based on Ancient principles.
A new style of gate would also open up new avenues for story ideas, if perhaps the human-built gate doesn’t work quite the same.
The writer and co-creator of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe has previously revealed that in his fourth show the Stargate will be public knowledge. He’s also written several SG-1 favorites into the pilot, including (but not limited to) Amanda Tapping’s General Samantha Carter, Michael Shanks’ Dr. Daniel Jackson, and Ben Browder’s Cameron Mitchell.
Wright completed his pilot script for a new series in the franchise early in 2020, just in time for COVID to shut down all film and TV production and studio pitch meetings. He did some rewrites and polishing in the interim, but eventually MGM put Stargate’s development on hold and entered into negotiations with Amazon to sell the company. That deal was announced in May of 2021, and after the usual regulatory hurdles closed last March.
With Amazon and MGM announcing this year that the deal was complete, Wright sounds like he is still waiting along with the rest of us to find out what the company wants to do with the Stargate franchise. Now in July he expressed some pessimism that his new script “will probably never see the light of day.”
On Twitter, though, he sounded optimistic that Amazon will do something with the Stargate brand.
“Happy 25th anniversary to Stargate SG-1!” he wrote. “And thank you to everyone who’s been asking MGM and Amazon to bring Stargate back. With amazing fans like all of you, I’m sure they will.”
We just hope it’s a continuation of the existing universe that Brad Wright helped to create.
Watch the full, hour-long conversation with Brad Wright and Richard Dean Anderson now on The Companion’s YouTube channel.
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Ah I also noticed that tweet from Brad.
Must be my pessimistic personality, but I read that in a less-optimistic way :)
Happy 25th anniversary to Stargate SG-1! And thank you to everyone who's been asking MGM and Amazon to bring Stargate back. With amazing fans like all of you, I'm sure they will.
Sounds to me like there's a "but" coming after that message, something along the lines of "With amazing fans like all of you, I'm sure they will do something with it eventually, but when, and if I will be involved, I doubt it, but we'll see".
And indeed, as you mention, he already released a tweet in the not so distant past that he's doubtful if his script will ever see the light of day.
Honestly, I'm seeing more signs to be pessimistic than optimistic at this point.
Especially also after the twitter event of yesterday, where the only sound on the other side was the sound of silence. Nothing on Stargate Command youtube/twitter/facebook, nothing on MGMstudios or Amazonstudios Twitter, ...
The day came and went, but without much result I'm afraid.
I have actually been wondering if this whole social media campaign and the 365 days of Stargate wasn't way too early.
If Amazon is still busy merging with MGM, doing their due diligence, mapping the landscape at MGM, cleaning up, ... and are in no means far enough to already start looking at new initiatives based on the MGM library, then maybe this was all way too soon and wasted?
What if they're only ready to look at Stargate within 2 or 3 years? Are we going to keep doing non-stop social media campaigns for the next 3 years?
I'm afraid at the moment it's all way too much of a black box and feels like stumbling around in the dark, hoping to find something, anything...
When companies merge "officially", the actual merging part has usually already been done in the desks long time before. Like tiding up and everything. Most likely, a new Starget is in the works and we just don't know about it. Why would they make it public anyway? It'd make other streaming platforms rush to make their own sci-fi asap to compete with it. I am positive too that something is going on. I am however much convinced that it is with new producers. For the record, about not having official answers to yesterday's tweets, when Manifest rallied too for a new season on Twitter, nobody answered those messages. However, some time later, they confirmed a new season. Of course it's a different situation because Manifest is all set-up and ready to be continued any day. With Stargate it will take a lot longer. They have to find showrunners, cast, crew, etc. But for sure they'll do something. For sure.
Come to think of it, I also have a bit of an impression, with that latest tweet of Brad, that it sounds a bit like a farewell-tweet too, like the last one leaving closes the door and turns off the light, or maybe I'm reading too much into it?
"With amazing fans like all of you, I’m sure they will." Again, BUT... "it's probably going to be without me, and I just hope you get something for your effort this last year on social media".
But I'm still convinced Brad already knows more. Maybe not about what any new series might be, but that he already knows whether or not he will be involved and whether or not it will be based on his proposed script.
I mean, I've been in enough meetings myself, unfortunately. Based on the other attendees their body language, facial expression, tone of voice, amount of interaction, type of questions they ask, depending on how much interaction there still is AFTER the meeting, ... you can already determine a lot about potential interest in something.
And undoubtedly, for pitching his script, they first slapped him with an NDA to avoid disclosing anything.
But I'm convinced more and more that if there is something new, it will be without Brad.
Man, if that is the case, I can't imagine how that would feel to him. Must be like having your baby taken away from you. He already proved he could make it a financial success, he still has new ideas and then getting shoved aside... Well, if he already knows more, I hope he's OK with it. I can imagine it must be difficult.
And OK, NDA or not, you're not telling me that there is no off-the-record talking with e.g. Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping, RDA, ... That they also don't yet know from Brad what's the status, whether or not they can expect to be involved again in the future or not.
I was there yesterday and he said it clearly and with resignation: “will probably never see the light of day.” I'm sure that Brad knows more than what he's allowed to say. Amazon has already asked Bond producers to rethink of the character and the upcoming movies, and they're comissiong a team to put up a Bond tv series too. It's just logic to think that another Stargate is on the works. For the Moonlight premiere, Emmerich said something really interesting. He said he "understood" that neither him or anyone else can get a character that's thirthy years old and make it work and interesting again. He said Amazon will likely do something new, implying new from his movies and new from Brad's work, but different characters.
As much as I love Brad, I think handing the saga to someone else is just fine. It will be canon still, but it will be fresh and new. Star Trek raised with new characters and stories. So did Star Wars. If Lucas had done his ideas for episodes 7, 8 and 9, who knows what would've have happened. But instead, it was JJA views, and it was nice too.
We don't have to be afraid of the new. I'm sure Brad would do a lovely show, but fresh ideas are sometimes needed too. For as long as RDA does a part like Hamil did in Star Wars, we can be happy already. But we need new things for sure. From and honest and realistic standpoint, a show that tries to bring together SG1, Atlantis and Universe (as Brad and Joe suggested) would not be understood by anyone but us (and not even all of us, old fans) and it would be easilly cancelled due to lack of viewers who would be able to understand what's going on or simply follow it.
On other hand, if you just keep it simple, have a Stargate, and whatever team around it, and new sotirs, I think chances are higher to make it succeed. As much as it hurts to say, but objectively speaking, new showrunners, still canon but without past ties, would probably make it more engaging for a new generation (and still keep most of the old in as well), ergo more chances of having a long-running show. Emmerich did it wonderfully, Brad did it amazingly. Likely a third name will keep it up for years to come. As a Stargate fan, whatever comes, whatever will be watched :)
Remember where exactly it was in the session yesterday where he said that, that it would probably never see the light of day?
OK, got it, just heard it.
At exactly 26 minutes and 10 seconds in.“in my pilot script, that probably will never see the light of day”.
Alright, that kinda settles it for me, Brad’s script is out, damn :(
_ welcome back and keep the wishes gushing, who knows some aliens, interplanetary kind, may have gotten an idea from this 'dream' of "earthers" . .. ...
Was hoping, running out of tv to watch, new stuff is mostly trash. Have rewatched ,streamed all my scify series over and over Lol
How's your whale like friend that's not a mammal doing these days?
I think you are forgetting how many of the Atlantis fans were openly hostile towards SGU when it first came out. Do you remember the website SGU#####?
I dont believe what you said about bring in new people and fresh new perspective hollywood keeps doing the same thing and alienating there acual fan base I think it's time to start making movies and tv shows for the fans that made the show what they where anybody can watch sg1 and the others on most streaming services sg1 is on netflix and is in the most watched category for a few years now that goes for everything in the past that's what brings more people wanting a new show old fans and new see my point?don't have to reinvent the wheel its perfectly fine the way it is.
Okay, I like the idea of the Tau’ri making their own Stargate after all these years, but I still say, and I will continue to say, that MAKING THE STARGATE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE IS A MISTAKE! Also, I’m glad Mitchell wasn’t forgotten in the script. He’s an underrated character.
Yeah making it public is the worst idea that will start earth problems that nobody is interested in.
Making the gate public knowledge is a terrible idea. We all know how irl people would react to such knowledge. Makes no sense to have it as p.k. in a show. Do think Brad should be involved in some way even if it's just to keep them on track and not get off course and ruin what Stargate is to us long time fans but also fresh for a newer generation. To me it's his baby and should follow most of his plot except the public knowledge of the gate. That is a mistake.
Don't know why you still expect something. The 25th anniversary is really nice, but a new series? The only thing which could happen is a woke reboot, whoever is behind the script, all would be terraformed to fit expectation of monetization trough cancel culture by redoing things with new standards...
Also, we have rumors and chit-chat since what, before Origin failure about something from Wright, who was working for Travelers, cancelled, and now guys think something will happen for the franchise?
There is more fan-fiction ongoing on the internet about Stargate than concrete announcement beyond tweets...
A lot novels, a lot of youtubers talking about "yes it's happening" for new show when they have 0 clue whatsoever if something is really happening but pretend to have information about it...
Stargate is my favorite sci-fi franchise. I rewatch it multiple times with pleasure, and i talk about it and theorize about ideas with hype...
But people should stop this non-sense era of spreading misinformation about something not happening. There is no new series incoming. Not now, not yesterday, not tomorrow.
Would jump RIGHT on a new Amazon Stargate
You had a perfect good Stargate in Stargate Atlantis that you prematurely trashed just so you could focus on that garbage called SGU. I still haven't forgiven you for that. A new SG world had better be just as much fun as it was with Sheppard and McKay... But I sincerely doubt you'll even come close.
A human made gate so basicly they want to make human do their version of orlin gate which gives couple of question on how to want to stabilize it as the mini gate made by orlin was unstable and one use only and the image at the begining and the concept that they describe is realy realy similiar to orlin minigate
They (the US Government or at least the IOA) still have the Orlin gate, even if it is "burned out" - they could very well have figured out how to reverse engineer it considering it was made entirely with earth-made parts.
I challenge anyone to fire up any of the episodes from SG1 and find anything available in the past 5 years that's as good, the writing, characters, sets, character and story/plot development, humour, comic timing, all surpasses pretty much anything available today, Picard, discovery, strange new worlds all pale in those qualities, relying more on cgi "eye candy" to wow the audience, stargate gave us excellent characters and allowed those characters to play the stories and plots out, no agendas no forcing political policies on its audience, no forcing race or gender views, yet they did the entire run of 12 seasons with a diverse and inclusive cast that has never been matched by any other TV show to this day.
I for one would love to see a new stargate show but without the right people behind it sadly it'll probably mimic the recent abysmal crop of shows that are being trotted out week after week.
The Orville season 2 and New Horizons. It will surprise you how good it is for a newer show
Yeah. I wouldn't say as good as the best of Stargate but still pretty darned good considering all the the current stuff.
I agree with what you said but star trek,tng,ds9 and voyager where the most diverse shows on tv without doing so to fill a quota lol.
Not interested as long as he continues to insist that the gate be public knowledge. I'd rather a reboot than that (and I am NOT a fan of a reboot - but I would at least give one a chance as long as it largely adheres to the TV shows canon (at least the broad strokes - go'auld as snakes, asgard, nox, etc. all exist etc.) and not just the first movie)
I do like the idea of us building our own gates - although I think we should do it by finding a broken down seedship somewhere in another galaxy to give that SGU connection.
Yeah I can see they might have made some advacnements, but a human-built Stargate might not be the best way to go. One of my ideas actually was that they found the template for a newer generation of Stargate in the Atlantis database and used molecular construction chambers to fabricate one. But a totally human one - that sounds WAY TOO SOON. Probably would be a deathtrap, not to mention not as reliable as the Ancient versions. Could see a LOT OF PROBLEMS with it.