Richard Dean Anderson Joining The SG-1 Cast For New Stargate Episode

For almost a decade Richard Dean Anderson appeared as Jack O'Neill in Stargate SG-1.

By Charlene Badasie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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When SG-1 entered its ninth season, Richard Dean Anderson ended his status as star and producer of the series. Instead, he opted to make several guest appearances. Now, much like his character, the former SG-1 star is being coaxed of retirement for a special reunion of the popular sci-fi show. According to Gate World, he is set to suit up Jack O’Neill for version 2.0 of Stargate A.I. The project, which was a table reading of a script written by artificial intelligence, was such a hit last November that The Companion has decided to give it another shot.

Richard Dean Anderson will be joined by two of his former co-stars for the special SG-1 episode. This includes Michael Shanks who played Daniel Jackson and Amanda Tapping who starred as Samantha Carter. The special television show episode will be pre-recorded. There will also be a streaming premiere event in May – exclusive to subscribers of The Companion app.

Others set to make an appearance alongside Richard Dean Anderson are Brad Wright (co-creator of Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe) and Laurence Moroney who is the Lead A.I. Advocate at Google As a massive Stargate fan, Moroney has spearheaded the project by designing and implementing a series of A.I. He did this by feeding them the full catalog of SG-1 scripts to teach the system how to produce dialogue and stage direction.

Fans of Stargate SG-1 will be delighted by Richard Dean Anderson’s return – even though the special is essentially nothing more than a fun nostalgia project. The flagship series was never the same after he left. Still, during its ten-season run, the series was honored with various awards and nominations. It also spawned a few spin-offs such as Stargate Infinity, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, and Stargate Origins. And in 2008, two direct-to-DVD movies, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum, were released. Stargate SG-1 is also the only television show to be endorsed by the United States Armed Forces.

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For almost a decade Richard Dean Anderson appeared as Jack O’Neill in Stargate SG-1. Based on Roland Emmerich’s 1994 hit movie of the same name, the story centered on an ancient device that creates a portal through which time travel is possible. The spin-off series was set a year after those events. When the United States government realizes that a device called Stargate can tap into similar gadgets on several planets, they form a special operations team called SG-1.

The elite squad is tasked with exploring the galaxy and defending it against alien threats. Richard Dean Anderson’s Jack O’Neill led the show as an Air Force Colonel and an Air Force Special Operations veteran who led the original mission through the Stargate. In the pilot episode, the character was asked to serve as the leader of the SG-1 team even though he had retired. The actor appeared as a series regular from 1997 to 2005. After that, his time on screen was reduced so the actor could spend more time with his daughter.