If long-time Stargate creator and executive producer Brad Wright has anything to say about it,
the franchise will be back with a brand new show – and Daniel Jackson will likely be a part of it.
Wright teased the news directly to actor Michael Shanks on his new audio podcast for The Companion,
"Brad Wright's Conversations in Sci-Fi." Shanks appears in the show's debut episode,
and Wright spoke about how easy it is to write for Daniel's voice.
Stay tuned to hear exactly what he said, and what it means for the next Stargate series.
Brad Wright has been working on a long-gestating Stargate project for more than two years now.
Despite the delays caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, he's still working to get it picked up
by a broadcaster or streaming platform.
This new tease suggests that he already has at least one script in the works,
and that the character Daniel Jackson appears in it.
Wright first announced that he was back working with MGM on a new Stargate project
in early 2019. This signaled a creative pivot away from Stargate Origins,
the 2018 Web series that MGM put out on its own dedicated streaming platform, Stargate Command.
Neither Wright nor any of the TV shows' creative team were involved in that project ...
which admittedly had a lukewarm reception by fans.
While the studio itself has been silent on the development of new Stargate content,
from time to time the producers of the television franchise have given fans some updates –
at least enough to let us know that it's still a live possibility.
In June of 2020 Wright confirmed on Twitter that he was still trying to get the project off the ground.
And he reiterated this in a live Q&A with readers of The Companion last November.
As anticipated, however, the impact of the pandemic on global film and television production disrupted the process significantly.
Brad Wright: "I know a lot of people are going to ask about a new Stargate project.
And the fact is, I just want everybody to know,
that MGM and I are working on something. It's just too early to talk about.
And it's partly too early because there is a pandemic going on.
And that's kind of ground a few things to a halt.
"But we are working on something. It's very exciting. It's something that we have been talking about for a while now.
And I love it — I'm excited to have the possibility of making it someday soon."
Meanwhile, former Stargate executive producer Joseph Mallozzi told fans as recently as
September of 2020 that he thought the new show was at least getting closer to a pick-up.
When asked just how close he thought it was, he said he thought that there were "five chevrons locked."
What does that mean? Well, assuming Mallozzi is alluding to a standard 7-chevron Stargate address,
that puts development progress around 70 percent of the way there.
That doesn't mean that an official announcement is just around the corner.
But it does suggest that we might be at the point that MGM is pitching Wright's fully-formed idea
to networks and potential streaming partners.
In this new conversation with actor Michael Shanks in March of 2021,
Wright teased that he wants the character of Daniel Jackson to play some role in the new series.
Here's a promo clip from the podcast, which The Companion provided to GateWorld:
Brad Wright: "Writing you – and I have written you more recently, to tease that – I gotta say how easy
it is when you're writing a familiar character. When you're writing a character you've written
10,000 lines for. Because I can hear your voice very, very clearly when I'm typing.
And ... sorry for all the words! [Laughter] But you can do it.
So it's your fault. You know what I mean?"
So what has Wright been working on lately? Well, as he's told us, it's probably the pitch for his
fourth live-action Stargate series, and that likely includes one or more draft scripts.
We don't expect Shanks to be a permanent, full-time cast member on a new show.
But with the new series set in the same universe, Daniel – and also many other Stargate favorites –
could turn up at any time. That's if Wright's proposed new series comes to fruition.
Brad Wright is the father of Stargate's television universe. Previously he co-created Stargate SG-1
with Jonathan Glassner. Then in 2004 he co-created Stargate Atlantis with Robert C. Cooper.
And the two also collaborated on 2009's Stargate Universe.
His three decades working in science fiction also include The Outer Limits,
and the Netflix time-travel drama Travelers.
Wright has stated publicly that his next Stargate project will indeed be a continuation of the universe
that he and his creative team built over the course of 14 years – and not a reboot.
Shanks' appearance as Daniel Jackson would help to cement that fact for both long-time fans and newcomers alike.
Jackson was an original character held over from the 1994 Stargate movie
(where he was played by James Spader). The character has played a role on all three television series.
In addition to co-starring in nine seasons and two movies for SG-1, Shanks put in multiple guest appearances on its spin-off shows.
He and fellow SG-1 co-star Richard Dean Anderson appeared in the pilot episodes
for both Atlantis and Universe, providing familiar faces to help launch the new stories.
In 2008 Shanks also appeared in the Atlantis mid-season two-parter.
And on SGU he had smaller roles in the episodes "Human," "Subversion," and "Incursion, Part 1."
Since his time on Stargate, Michael Shanks starred in the supernatural medical drama Saving Hope,
as well as the Robert Cooper-directed event series Unspeakable.
Shanks also recently had a recurring role in the second season of the Netflix sci-fi drama
Altered Carbon, alongside The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Anthony Mackie.
Be sure to catch Brad Wright's full conversation with Michael Shanks on "Brad Wright's Conversations in Sci-Fi."
It's available now at TheCompanion.app. The 35-minute premiere episode is available for free.
And subscribers to The Companion can also access a 75-minute extended cut.
If you'd like to see more Stargate content on YouTube, be sure to give this video a Like
You can always find the latest news about the upcoming Stargate project over at GateWorld.net.