Stargate Atlantis cast meet at Comic-Con 2021 to share their best stories

It’s been 12 years since Stargate fans traveled the Pegasus Galaxy with Syfy Stargate Atlantis. The impact of the network Stargate SG-1 (itself a spin-off of the 1994 Roland Emmerich film Star gate) introduced a new team of soldiers and servicemen who made their way through the Stargate to the distant galaxy of Pegasus to an advanced city abandoned by the Ancients (a first race of advanced humans). There, they encountered a dangerous new enemy, the Wraith.

At this year’s Virtual San Diego Comic-Con, the show’s cast gathered for a panel discussion on the series. Moderated by David Read of the Dial the Gate YouTube channel, the meeting included David Hewlett (scientist Rodney McKay), Torri Higginson (leader of the Elizabeth Weir expedition), Rachel Luttrell (Athosian leader Teyla Emmagan), Paul McGillion (physician Carson Beckett ), Rainbow Sun Francks (Marine Lt. Aiden Ford), David Nykl (Scientist Radek Zelenka) and Robert Picardo (IOA Oversight Representative and Expedition Leader Richard Woolsey).

Read kicked off the chat by checking in with the cast to see how they had weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and what they did, before returning to the show that brought them all together: “Is it hard to believe that the fans are still in [Stargate Atlantis] almost as fiery as when it was broadcast [17 years ago]? ”

Hewlett noted that people don’t say “hey, you’re on this show,” they say, “hey, you’re on that show my parents were watching! And Nykl noted that the pandemic has made it harder to connect with fans outside of conventions – it all happened on Zoom. He also noted that there had been persistent discussions about the return of the Stargate franchise following the news that Amazon had bought MGM, which he said was proof that the fandom was flourishing. That said, he said he hadn’t heard anything official about the future of the franchise.

“It’s amazing how he survived and thrived,” Higginson said. “I think SG-1, who went for [10] years, that’s been a lot of cementing of this franchise. To me though, it seems unbelievable that it’s 17 – it seems longer. Looks like there is another life.

Read moved on to Picardo, asking if he knew what he was getting into when he joined another sci-fi franchise (he was probably best known for playing EMH in Star Trek: Voyager) late Stargate SG-1‘s run: “Does any part of you like to be known for science fiction – and only science fiction?”

Picardo noted that it was important to have had a number of roles before getting into science fiction. “Let’s face it, after seven years Star Trek in my forties I was considered a sci-fi guy. There’s no way to turn around after that. You have a dedicated audience that really only knows you about it. So I had no illusions about it. He noted that he was primarily interested in seeing how the fandom responded, and explained that he rarely meets a Star Trek fan who has not seen Star gate, and vice versa. “It certainly goes both ways. For me the weird part was just playing a character who was introduced and was so obnoxious, then when they said they wanted to turn me into a leader, I thought, everyone hates me – I didn’t. no personality, i’m a coward, no leadership skills, and i’m an asshole.

But playing a character who would fundamentally reinvent himself in the later stages of his career was what made it fun for the actor. “Starting this job in your mid-50s and having to become a leader at that point in life was a good analogy to what happened after the 2007 financial crisis, where a lot of people my age and up had to come back. backward. in the workforce, so I thought it was an interesting time to play a character like that.

When MGM debuted Atlantis, Stargate SG-1 was already on the air for five years. “You were the upstarts,” Read asked Luttrell, “you had something to prove, how did it feel to jump into all of this, and as an alien?”

Luttrell noted that she jumped into the show without being aware of the larger story. She had seen the original Star gate movie and I enjoyed it, but I didn’t know anything about SG-1. “I arrived completely naive,” she said. “I think it was really good, because I didn’t feel the pressure to take on this company and this big fandom. It probably took me until Episode 5 before I realized the impact of Star gate and I am happy about it. Once I did, the pressure set in.

She said this fandom really developed when she attended her first convention with the cast – San Diego Comic-Con. Higginson and Hewett broke in and noted that the studio had given them plenty of free alcohol the night before and that they had endured a severe hangover the next day. “I thought no one was going to be at this convention because they’re all mad at us for killing SG-1“Higginson recalls,” and then we went out and it was like a football field full of people, and I was so hung over I couldn’t speak. “

“I remember being terrified,” Luttrell said. “I remember sweating so much on stage. It was so overwhelming.

Nykl noted that actors are generally unprepared for this kind of fan reception. “You kind of have to develop a third person,” he said. “It’s like your private self, then your character that you play on television, and a hybrid version of you on stage in front of 700 people. It was really intimidating. “

From there, Read raised a few questions from his viewers: The first to come out the door was “What part of your character did you like?” “

Luttrell said she loved every aspect of her character – I loved that they managed to create a strong, independent, intelligent, empathetic and compassionate character – a human being on many levels and on many levels.

Nykl noted – after some criticism from his fellow cast members – that his character was created to ensure that Hewlett’s character didn’t have all the science monologues, “they wanted a Mutt and Jeff routine.”

“[Our characters] were good at jokes, ”Hewett noted. “They loved their jokes. I loved the scenes whenever you have a few characters joking around. That was Game of Thrones’ call to me – apparently they made the shows too short so they had to go back and figure it out. They just knew you could have fun with it.

“And characters,” Nykl stressed. “You can go to high concept in space and wormholes and all that, but when you get behind the characters and start to know their stories, that’s what brings you there.”

“They’re all related too,” McGillion added. “Anyone can relate to certain characters, like with combat characters like [Aiden] Ford, and Teyla, then Jason [Momoa] when he was on the show, that aspect, and then like the two Davids, people could find a character that they identified with, and I think that’s why people were really drawn to that.

“I’ve always loved Ford’s relationship with Shepard,” Read noted. “There was a mentee quality there, even in that unique scene at the start of Season 5 where he dreams of Tayla and Ford breaks in his mind and says’ hey I’m here you haven’t got me. saved, you failed, you are not as perfect as you might think.

Francks recalled that it was fun coming back – the writers wrote it down for a quick scene, and he was happy to take the paycheck. “But let’s not neglect Ford’s relationship with Paul and Rachel,” he added. “These moments were really special for me. We laughed so much. Luttrell noted that they almost couldn’t be near each other because they would make each other laugh so much.

The puddle jumping scenes were especially fun for the group. McGillion recalled that they were often told to react to something like an asteroid coming at them. “We were like, ‘How big is it? Someone would jump like two feet, and Joe [Flanigan] would like to move a bit.

“” It was so BORING! “Said Nykl, mimicking the common comments. “Do that again, but this time with more talent! “

“It’s one of the standard issues when you get your first sci-fi job, related to the off-screen visual effect you’ll never see. Picard said. “The first time this happened to me on Star Trek was when I was supposed to fight… a monster on the holodeck, and I was like ‘what is that like?’ The visual effects guy kind of said “Kind of like a giant bunch of glowing linguine.”

“It’s like not everyone wants to look stupid when they go [mimed wide-mouthed surprise]”he continued,” but it looks just as silly if there’s this terrifying, ridiculous thing and you sort of go there, huh. ”

“It’s that journey of confidence that you have to have,” Higginson noted, “and that’s why season two is so much easier, because you watch it and you’re like,“ OK, these guys are doing good. things, ‘and I can do it without that pride and ego getting in my way. “

Read asked the panelists what memories had marked after all this time. Hewlett remembered all the time they spent running around puddles trying to sit up or crossing their arms in a scene on the control bridge.

“Don’t forget the tables in the control room – every time there was an evacuation, there was this fucking thing sticking out from the side that put you all the way down…”

“I am amazed to have had a child! Hewlett said. “What I liked was that the actors had a sense of humor about it. They all took it seriously enough to do the job well, but at the same time, we just had, we laughed Out of all the things I remembered were belly laughs where you just couldn’t stop.

The most exciting thing that has come out in recent years, Hewlett said, is the upcoming Stargate RPG game, which he’s playing. Via the Dial the Gate channel, Hewlett, Francks, Alexis Cruz (Skaara on SG-1), Simon Bailly (Ka’lel on SG-1), David Blue (Eli Wallace on Stargate Universe) and Julie McNiven (Ginn on Stargate Universe) ) performed together for a charity event last year. “I had no preconceived idea what it was,” said Francks, “I had never played D&D but had always wanted to do it, and when we did, I had the time of my life. ”

In closing, Nykl asked what the rumors were about the franchise returning now that MGM had been taken over by Amazon. Read explained that there is a series that is in development, but there has been no word on its status. “I can’t imagine having myself, sure, in it,” Hewlett said, “but it just seems crazy not to have – it’s such an iconic franchise. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t relaunch it d ‘one way or another. “