It’s already been over two years since Stargate co-creator Brad Wright revealed that he’s in talks with MGM for a potential new Stargate series. And though the project hasn’t been officially greenlit yet, former Stargate executive producer Joseph Mallozzi said that things have advanced since Wright’s initial conversations with the studio.
In a number of comments on Reddit last September, Mallozzi wrote that “things have progressed” since Wright announced in September 2018 that he was once again in talks with MGM. However, “the pandemic has thrown a wrench into things (across the industry),” and that has affected the development of the potential new Stargate series.
Despite the setbacks, Mallozzi revealed that they’re about five chevrons into the 7-chevron dialing sequence. “How much progress and how close are we? Well, someone asked me how many chevrons have been locked. I told them five,” he wrote.
While details about the project are being kept under wraps, Mallozi wrote on Reddit that the potential new Stargate series will not be a reboot that would wipe out the events and characters of Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007), Stargate Atlantis (2004-2009), and Stargate Universe (2009-2011).
Instead, it will be “a new show set within the established Stargate universe that would appeal to new fans, but also reward long-suffering fans with guest appearances, cameos, easter eggs and the answer to many of their burning questions” from the first three series of the sci-fi franchise.
Mallozi echoed the same sentiment in a tweet that read: “If the new Stargate series Brad Wright is working on gets off the ground, we’ll be seeing quite a few familiar faces.”
Mallozi also replied to a fan on Reddit that the potential new Stargate series will answer what happened to the Destiny crew. He also confirmed it on Twitter, writing that Wright “already has a plans for the Destiny” should the project is picked up to series.
When asked if there’s any way fans can help to make the new Stargate series official, Mallozi answered, “…Pestering Amazon, Apple, and Fox for when the time comes… [but] not yet.”
The last Stargate series, Stargate Universe, was canceled by Syfy in 2010 after two seasons. And in an interview with Nerks of the Hub Podcast in January 2019, Wright said that MGM’s bankruptcy in 2010 was one of the main reasons why Stargate Universe didn’t get a third season.
“What happened with Stargate Universe is MGM went through a major restructuring — basically a structured bankruptcy — that changed everybody,” Wright recalled at the time. “Everyone who I knew at MGM simply was gone within a month of this event. And so even Syfy — who wanted to talk about a third season, or at least have the conversation — really had no one that they could talk to. It was kind of sad. And it was kind of a perfect storm of not great ratings and the studio disappearing.”
Though a comic book series set after the end of Stargate Universe resolved the cliffhanger at the end of the show, the original creators and writers of the TV series were not involved in the book.