This Is Why There’s No New Stargate Yet

I know this has become something of a punchline lately, but I’m going to once again ask the question that has plagued the minds of fans for many years: Where the hell is new Stargate?

In the golden era of streaming and franchise revitalizations, how did a piece of intellectual property as valuable and widely beloved as Stargate get left behind? Is it merely a result of bad luck, or are there other factors in play? Most importantly: Is it too late for Stargate to make a proper return?

I share in the frustration of watching this incredible franchise be continuously overlooked by its management, and I understand the fear that the chance has passed for a proper continuation of the franchise as we knew it. From the outside things appear pretty bleak. However, I still very much believe we will get new Stargate in one form or another … eventually.

But given the current circumstances at Amazon MGM Studios – and the entertainment industry at large – there are likely a few factors to blame for this lack of new developments since Amazon closed its purchase of MGM in March of 2022. Before we dive into those current factors, let’s take a step back and review the chain of events that resulted in Stargate entering this extended state of limbo — despite the fact that, not too long ago, it was one of the most successful and longest-running sci-fi franchises on the air.

It’s been almost thirteen years since Stargate Universe signed off with its series finale “Gauntlet” on the Syfy Channel. This episode marked the end of a sprawling and wildly successful shared universe of television series – let’s call it the “Wright/Cooper” era, after showrunners Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper. It encompassed three television shows, 17 seasons of television, and two direct-to-DVD movies between 1997 and 2011.

Despite Stargate’s long-lasting success … MGM’s bankruptcy at the end of 2010, rapidly evolving market factors, SGU’s declining ratings, and the Syfy channel’s change in brand strategy forced the Stargate franchise – along with the crew of the Destiny – into stasis.

The first sign of hope for Stargate came in 2014, when MGM announced that Stargate feature film director Roland Emmerich was looking to reboot the franchise with a big-budget theatrical movie – a film that was also intended to launch a brand new Stargate trilogy. It was an unexpected chance for Emmerich and writer-producer Dean Devlin to realize their original vision for the Stargate trilogy that never was (while also breathing new life into the dormant franchise).

Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how much you care about the canon of the television universe – that proposed reboot fell apart a couple of years later, and MGM went back to the drawing board.

The studio landed on Stargate Origins – a short-form digital web series that chronicled the adventures of a young Catherine Langford and her father after they make an accidental trip through the Stargate (a whole decade after they first discovered the device in Giza, Egypt). Origins was released in 2018 and was distributed on the recently launched Stargate Command, a digital subscription platform for all things Stargate.

Origins was a modest success (as far as Web series go) and was also turned into a feature-length cut that was released on VOD platforms like iTunes – broadening the series’ reach. There were rumors that more Origins-type series were on the way, like an “Origins” story about the Jaffa that would have seen Christopher Judge reprising his role as Teal’c. But for whatever reason, those series never came to pass, and Stargate Command shut down the next year.

But 2018 was still a hopeful year for the franchise, as long-time Stargate writer and series co-creator Brad Wright announced that he was once again in talks with MGM about a potential project. By early 2020 Wright had completed a pilot for a proposed fourth Stargate series — a series that would have continued the canon of the television universe and included appearances from several legacy characters.

But just as Wright completed his pilot and took his script to streamers and networks, the COVID pandemic hit. Film and TV production shut down (along with the rest of society), plunging the entertainment industry into a period of extreme uncertainty. Wright’s fourth Stargate series failed to find a distributor.

If there was any hope that the pandemic’s end would bring about renewed interest in Wright’s proposed series, that hope was dashed in May of 2021 when it was announced that Amazon had cut a deal to acquire MGM for $8.45 billion. During a massive acquisition like this one, projects without an active green light are typically shelved and subject to review by the new owners — owners who often have a different vision for the studio and its future projects.

Wright himself later admitted that the acquisition of MGM (and the regime change within the studio) almost certainly doomed his fourth series, saying that “all the players have changed in the interim so it’s likely destined to gather dust.”

But with all of that information in mind … now it’s 2024. Amazon’s acquisition of MGM has been complete for two years, and a slew of movies and TV shows (including some franchise projects) have already begun to move forward. Even if Amazon MGM Studios has permanently scrapped Wright’s fourth series — which in my opinion would be a huge mistake — it is surprising that the studio has offered no update regarding Stargate’s future.

So what’s the hold up?

As far as I can tell, these are the most likely factors:

(1) Stargate Might Not Be An Immediate Priority

While Stargate is one of the more noteworthy franchises in MGM’s library, it might take a back seat when it comes to the studio’s most urgent objectives. So far that appears to be on the theatrical side.

With something like the Rocky franchise, MGM has a successful and active series of theatrical films — the Creed movies — which gives that franchise a lot of momentum and makes the next step very clear. But Stargate has been on the shelf for over a decade (aside from Stargate Origins) … and that creates an extra set of challenges.

On television, we haven’t seen any official announcements related to MGM’s legacy properties (aside from a James Bond reality competition show). MGM’s currently active projects are either brand new, or holdovers from before the sale (Vikings: Valhalla, Wednesday, etc.).

If the studio is going to pass on the Brad Wright series … there just isn’t a clear or immediate path forward for Stargate. Sure, that opens the future to a variety of possibilities. But it also means the studio will have to put more effort first into long-term franchise planning.

That’s not to say Stargate is not important. I still believe that Stargate is on Amazon MGM Studios’ post-acquisition “To Do” list. It just means the studio must manage more considerations before putting something into production, and are more likely to take their time with it.

Given Stargate’s extended absence, a failed revitalization — or major strategic misstep — could mean the end of the franchise as we know it.

Sure, Stargate was a modest theatrical hit in 1994 and made for some iconic television shows in the 90s and 2000s — but I’m not sure if Stargate has deep enough roots to take a major tumble in its next outing and live to tell the tale. As a result, whatever comes next for Stargate might be a make-or-break moment for the franchise.

So how does Amazon MGM Studios ensure that their new Stargate project successfully revitalizes the franchise? First and foremost, a major decision must be made regarding franchise canon: Do they stick with the well-established canon from the Wright-Cooper era, or do they attempt to recapture what made Stargate great by wiping the slate clean and starting fresh?

While I’ve previously made it clear that I think the television canon must be sustained, I recognize that Amazon MGM Studios might have a different perspective. For new Stargate to be successful, it needs to appeal to a wide range of viewers — both die-hard fans and casual audiences alike. So Amazon MGM Studios might feel like they are limiting the future of the franchise (and alienating potential new viewers) by sticking with the Wright-Cooper timeline and its dense, layered mythology and extensive cast of characters.

There’s also the question of format: Is Stargate a strong enough brand to relaunch with a series of theatrical films, or should it remain an episodic television series? Or is it wise to relaunch the franchise with a major blockbuster release (to reintroduce Stargate on a bigger scale) before segueing into an original series on Amazon Prime Video?

While we are mostly in the dark regarding the studio’s decision-making process, some rumors surfaced at the end of 2022 that shed light on what may have been transpiring behind the scenes. Apparently, at that time several groups were pitching to Amazon MGM Studios about their ideas for new Stargate content — including The Expanse television series creators Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, some undisclosed producers from Amazon’s The Boys, and JJ Abrams’ production company Bad Robot.

The fact that Amazon took pitches from TV creatives instead of just hiring filmmakers to execute a predetermined, corporate vision for Stargate is certainly an encouraging sign. It suggests the studio is open to different takes on the material, and is looking for an established partner to help them “crack” the best way to revitalize the franchise.

Despite Amazon being one of the biggest and most successful companies on planet Earth, all is not well with its entertainment division and streaming service, Amazon Prime Video.

While most streaming services have been shelling out billions each year to attract top talent and produce the hottest content possible (in the hopes of staying competitive with Netflix), 2022 was a wake-up call for many of these platforms. The COVID-era streaming boom was over, and streamers started hemorrhaging subscribers as the market became oversaturated (and economic factors like inflation tightened consumer spending).

All of a sudden investors were looking for profitability rather than some fantasy of rapid, exponential growth (which could justify the enormous budgets). While Amazon MGM Studios is backed by a cash-rich parent company, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reportedly had concerns about the studio’s liberal spending … questioning if it was yielding a worthwhile return on investment.

Just a few weeks ago the studio laid off several hundred employees — including some senior executives — and reorganized its leadership structure, further indicating an attempt to streamline their operation in 2024. They also introduced a controversial change to Amazon Prime Video … requiring existing subscribers to now pay an additional $3 per month to watch content without ads.

Given these less-than-favorable indicators Amazon MGM Studios may be re-evaluating how quickly to move on Stargate, and just how ambitious they want to be when it comes to the franchise. Or perhaps they have settled on how to proceed with Stargate … but are currently in a holding pattern to see how the dust settles before moving forward.

While Stargate has always been known for its thrifty use of its budget — and ability to create impressive, planet-hopping adventures with limited resources — we are now living in a different era of filmmaking. Production costs have gone up across the board, and even if Stargate is revived as a modest streaming series it could come with a much heftier price tag.

Furthermore, given how streaming series have become more ambitious (in an attempt to compete with the scale of theatrical films), viewers now expect a certain standard of quality from their premium shows … especially if it’s from a major franchise. Were Stargate to make a return on Prime Video — and compete for the affection of new viewers — it would need to hold up against the latest offerings from Star Wars, Star Trek, and other major sci-fi franchises.

If it is a major theatrical film, on the other hand, Stargate will need to deliver compelling, blockbuster-scale action to appeal to a wide range of casual viewers (as these kinds of films must attract an enormous global audience to even turn a profit).

That being said, I do think the film industry is currently learning an important lesson: bigger doesn’t always equal better. Not every franchise project needs to gross $1 billion at the global box office, or become a Stranger Things-sized hit on streaming. Besides, the more responsibly priced a production is, the fewer patrons it needs to be considered a “success …” so perhaps Amazon MGM Studios will apply this lesson to new Stargate.

Still, no matter what approach the studio takes, it’s clear that a new project will require a significant investment. Complex sets, practical “alien” locations, state-of-the-art visual effects (or something like the volume from The Mandalorian) … it ain’t gonna be cheap.

I don’t want to spend too much time talking about last year’s labor union contract debacles, but it is important to note just how much damage the strikes inflicted on the entertainment industry as a whole.

Regardless of where you stand on the merit of the demands of SAG and the WGA, more than $6 billion dollars of value is estimated to have been lost as a result of the strikes. Months went by where writers were unable to write and actors could not act, and as a result Hollywood’s entire development and production infrastructure ground to a halt.

Once the strikes were resolved there was a ripple effect, too. Projects that were already green-lit were reevaluated or outright canceled. Scheduling for actors, sound stages, and other production necessities was a nightmare … further delaying the return to business as usual. And thanks to the changing economics of streaming – along with the contraction of the film industry as a whole – studios were forced to reconsider what kind of content they wanted to prioritize, and how much they were willing to spend on it.

So regardless of where Stargate was in its development process at Amazon MGM Studios in early 2023, the strikes have almost certainly delayed or complicated the franchise’s path back to our screens.

Okay, phew … that was a lot. I’ll give everyone a second to catch your breath, because there is one last factor I want to address regarding Amazon MGM Studios’ radio silence.

While it is not something I take pleasure in saying, I think it is entirely possible that Amazon MGM Studios does not recognize the value of Stargate and its fan base and does not understand the untapped potential of this franchise.

If you’ve been a part of Stargate fandom for long enough, you know that the franchise has been underestimated since day one. Even after Stargate proved itself with several successful series in the 2000s, MGM exec Charlie Cohen repeatedly had to go to bat for Stargate with his bosses who did not understand why the franchise was being treated as such a priority.

Even now, despite the absence of new narrative content, the digital footprint of Stargate fandom online remains impressive and robust. Fans showed the studio during the #WeWantStargate fan campaign (which trended globally on Twitter) that there were plenty of consumers still interested in the future of the franchise. I’ve also heard rumors that the viewership for Stargate SG-1’s tenure on Netflix was excellent, and I’m willing to bet that Stargate licensing and merchandising (which have notably increased in recent years, despite no new productions) have been a solid source of passive income for the studio, too.

Unfortunately, it’s unclear whether this kind of data is reaching the high-level executives who make decisions regarding the franchise’s future. And besides, an argument can be made that while such data is emblematic of a strong fan base, a healthy fan base alone doesn’t always create enough viewers to justify an expensive new movie or television show. But while new owners undervaluing a golden asset is a story as old as time itself, oversight is no excuse for continued inaction.

Stargate is a long, storied, and globally recognized powerhouse of a franchise. Amazon bought MGM specifically for its IP and extensive library of content, so to think that it has a successful, multi-faceted franchise on its hands that it can reactivate — immediately increasing the value of the legacy shows, while also guaranteeing a built-in viewership for the new shows — should be considered a prime opportunity (pun intended). Stargate could even become a flagship franchise for Amazon Prime Video in the same way that Star Trek is for Paramount+, and Star Wars and Marvel are for Disney+. But after two years of radio silence, I worry that Amazon fails to recognize this.

Now before I continue, I want to make one thing clear: I do not believe that fans are owed anything by Amazon MGM Studios. Entitlement is a dangerous thing to hold on to, and it is far too common in today’s world of supercharged Internet fandoms.

That being said, I am imploring Amazon MGM Studios to realize what they are sleeping on. If they can find a way to respect the legacy of the Wright-Cooper era and recapture what made the franchise so great, then I think they will be astonished by the results (and what an asset it will be to their streaming service).

I also want to implore Amazon MGM Studios to consider one last factor: time.

The longer they wait to produce more Stargate, the less likely it is to be successful. On one hand, if the studio wants to continue with the Wright-Cooper canon then the window is rapidly closing, especially for the aging actors to reprise their roles as legacy characters. On the other hand, if Amazon wants to do a full reboot … well, that reboot’s prospects are largely dependent on people’s attachment to — and memory of — the franchise. And if most Stargate fans have either died, moved on, or no longer hold an emotional connection to the franchise … then why even bother reviving it?

Simply put: the longer Stargate sits idly on the shelf, the more devalued the brand becomes. Stargate fans are loyal and long-suffering, but they’re also starting to lose hope. So please, Amazon MGM Studios — while we understand the complexities of reviving a dormant franchise (and the industry factors currently in play), don’t let Stargate remain dormant any longer.