Stargate SG-1 Creator Reveals Plans For Revival Series
Stargate SG-1 fans have a lot to look forward to in the new revival project. Here are the details.
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Brad Wright is the co-creator of Stargate SG-1 and other projects within the franchise. As far as Stargate goes, he’s one of the bigger influences on how the story in that universe has progressed. Fortunately for fans, he is still talking about Stargate and his ideas for it. In fact, in a new interview with SYFY, he shared that he has plans for a revival and has even written a pilot. He makes it clear that while that pilot could be the franchise’s revival, he’s open to other ideas moving forward as well. The scripted pilot sounds promising though, and he shared details about what it contains and his vision for a new series. For example, his current pilot includes characters from the original SG-1 series. He names Michael Shanks (who played Dr. Daniel Jackson), Richard Dean Anderson (who played Colonel Jack O’Neil), and Amanda Tapping (who played Major Sam Carter).
Why does he want to bring back original Stargate SG-1 characters for his revival? Because he sees those characters as still being around. Brad Wright said, “Bring in a new guard? Absolutely. But not at the expense of the pre-existing characters, who I think would still be very much on their game and still firing on all cylinders.” Brad Wright makes it clear that he’s still invested and passionate about the Stargate universe and characters, by adding statements like: “Of course there would be a General Carter, why wouldn’t there be? Who else would run the whole shebang other than her?”
Brad Wright seemed to be moving forward with new ideas for a Stargate SG-1 revival just before things became complicated at the studio behind the franchise. Stargate is owned by MGM. Brad Wright has worked with them since 1994. Then, in early 2021, Amazon announced a merger agreement with MGM. Amazon began a purchase deal for over $8 billion. That put franchises like James Bond and Stargate in a tricky place, since it hasn’t been clear what Amazon sees for their future.
However, Brad Wright is still pushing ahead with his plans. He just doesn’t see a world where Amazon won’t understand the value in a revival project like he wants to do. “Long before there were multiple Star Treks on the air at the same time, as there are right now, we had Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis on Friday night at the same time. That’s something that has become a bit of a big deal in science fiction television,” Brad Wright pointed out to SYFY. There aren’t a lot of television shows with active spinoffs on at the same time, especially with science-fiction. The dedicated Stargate fanbase could make a revival an easy decision. “I can’t imagine Amazon not doing something with the franchise, or empowering MGM to do something with the franchise for [them].”
Clearly, Brad Wright believes that the franchise has a future, which is promising. He also has a lot of ideas for what that future includes. While he pointed out that he wants to use Stargate SG-1 characters in a revival, he also shared his thoughts on what has happened with the world. As a science-fiction franchise, the universe of course includes technology, which has changed by this time. He has taken that into consideration while planning new projects.
“I think the trick to anything would be that it’s high time the world found out about the Stargate program, for better or for worse,” Brad Wright said about his Stargate SG-1 revival plans. “Keeping all of that technology from the world at a time when we could really use it, at a time when climate change is a genuine threat, at a time when there was a pandemic that we sure could have used a fix for, for example. The world needs to find out. The secret needs to get out especially since we have come so far and will have come so far after another 11 or 12 years.”
The way Brad Wright plans to bring in current world events to update the universe is something that will definitely be interesting to see. It sounds like he wants to bring in as much of Stargate SG-1’s past as possible, while also taking into consideration the changes his audience has gone through. While Brad Wright has been clear that he sees a revival project in the future, he doesn’t put any kind of timeline on it. In fact, he says that he is quite willing to be patient.
In the meanwhile, Stargate SG-1 fans have the new reunion episode. The unique project used a script written by Google AI, and included the same actors Brad Wright wants to include in his revival project, alongside other cast like Jewel Staite and Rodney McKay. The project streamed on The Companion on November 6, 2021.
