Stargate

• Stargate: Timekeepers is a live strategy video game in development since May 2021 for the PC from Slitherine and CreativeForge Games.
• Stargate SG-1: Unleashed is an adventure game featuring the original SG-1 team for Android and iOS developed by MGM and Arkalis Interactive.
• Stargate: Resistance is an online, third-person shooter. It was released February 10, 2010. It has since been cancelled due to contracts with MGM. It is still downloadable, however.
• Stargate Worlds was a Stargate-universe massively multiplayer online role-playing game in development before its cancellation. The writers and producers of Stargate viewed Stargate Worlds as running side by side with the show in complete canon.
• Stargate SG-1: The Alliance was a computer game based on the Stargate universe, which was due to be released in late 2005, but was canceled.
• A Stargate Trading Card game was released in May 2007. It is available in both Online and Print forms. Designed by Sony Online Entertainment – who also run the Online version of the game – and published by Comic Images.
• A Stargate Role-Playing Game (RPG) was produced by Alderac Entertainment. It was considered canon by both the publishers, and the staff of MGM.[25] However, when Sony bought MGM, they lost the license to produce Stargate RPG products and the RPG license is unassigned.
• Two video games based on the film were published by Acclaim Entertainment: a 1995 eponymous side-scrolling platformer for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Sega Genesis, and a Tetris-like puzzle game for the Sega Game Gear and Nintendo Game Boy.
• There are three simulator-style amusement park rides named Stargate SG-3000 located at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, Six Flags Great America, and Six Flags Marine World.
• A Stargate pinball game has been produced by Gottlieb.

In 1994, the military science fiction feature film Stargate was released, directed by Roland Emmerich and co-written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. The film lays the foundation for all the Stargate productions that come after it, by explaining the notion, function, and history of the Stargate.

The film begins with the unearthing of the Stargate in Giza in 1928. In a present day (1994) military base in Creek Mountain, Colorado, discredited Egyptologist Daniel Jackson (James Spader) enables use of the Stargate when he recognizes that symbols on the cover stones are asterisms in a three-dimensional coordinate system. A probe sent through the first Stargate connection revealed survivable conditions on the planet Abydos (which was believed to be billions of light-years away, in the Kaliam Galaxy on the far side of the known universe). A team led by Colonel Jack O'Neil (Kurt Russell) is then ordered to step through the Stargate and identify potential military threats on the other side. Jackson accompanies them to operate the other Stargate with his knowledge of the coordinate system.

The team discovers a slave civilization serving an alien who is posing as the Egyptian god Ra (Jaye Davidson). Ra and his minions have taken human form, dominating the slaves with brute force. With the help of the locals, O'Neil's team is eventually able to instigate a slave rebellion, overwhelming Ra's forces. Ra escapes in his mothership, but O'Neil is able to teleport a nuclear warhead on-board Ra's ship in orbit and detonate it. With Ra dead, the civilization can live in peace; O'Neil and his team return home through the Stargate, but Daniel Jackson stays on the planet with a young local woman named Sha'uri.

In 1997, MGM Animation was reportedly in development on an animated direct-to-video entry in the franchise titled Stargate: The Young Explorers. However, the project never passed the development stage.[26]

After Bill McCay had written a series of five novels continuing the story the original creators had envisioned, and despite the success of the Stargate television series, in 2006, Dean Devlin said: "He has struck a production deal with MGM and is developing the long-delayed sequel feature films that will pick up the story from the 1994 original."[27] According to Devlin, two movie sequels would have picked up the story from the 1994 original, but not the mythology of the SG-1 and Atlantis series, with the original stars Kurt Russell and James Spader. Devlin regretted giving MGM control over the franchise.[27] The first film already tapped into Egyptian mythology; the second one would have moved into other mythologies; and the third would have then tied all the mythologies together.[28] Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis producer Brad Wright said in 2002 that "Devlin can wish to do a sequel to Stargate all he wants. MGM owns the rights, and I doubt very much that they'll ask him to do it. He knows better."[29]

Plans for producing two sequels of the original film were announced by the original film's creator Dean Devlin at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con. He was in talks with MGM to produce four films and he wanted two of them to be the final two films in his envisioned Stargate trilogy. In an interview with Sci Fi Wire, Devlin said that, should the sequels be made, he hoped to enlist Kurt Russell and James Spader. Both Russell and Spader expressed interest, Devlin revealed. "They've always said they wanted to do it. The irony is actually because it was 12 years ago that we made Stargate, [and] part two was actually supposed to take place about 12 years later. We were just going to kind of age them up as actors. So it actually works out really nicely." These sequels would bypass the 12 years of mythology created by SG-1 and Atlantis if they are ever produced.[27]

On July 4, 2011, Dean Devlin spoke out again saying he had not given up on the idea of sequels to his 1994 feature film. He talked about the idea again in a new interview with Collider. Devlin actually wrote it as a trilogy of movies, but was never able to do parts two and three. His hope was, as the series started to wind down, that perhaps it would be time to actually get to do parts two and three:

"I think it'll change a little bit from our original idea since so many years have passed. ...We wanted to explore the idea of how the Stargates were built originally, and where else in the universe they exist, and why they exist – and where else they exist on Earth. We had really planned out, as a trilogy of films, to allow this mythology to grow bigger and bigger."[30]

It was announced that MGM and Warner Bros. are partnering with both Emmerich and Devlin for a reboot of Stargate as a trilogy with Emmerich directing and Devlin producing.[31] However, Devlin told Empire Online in November 2016 that the plans to make a reboot of a potential new series were stalled.[32]

At the Gatecon fan convention in September 2018, Stargate SG-1 producer Brad Wright announced that MGM had shown renewed interest in reviving the franchise, potentially on television rather than film.[33] In subsequent years, Wright and others involved in the various television series teased a possible fourth series that would continue the SG-1 narrative. In November 2022, Wright announced that his revival project was likely dead following the sale of MGM to Amazon in March 2022.[34]

It was reported in December 2022 that Amazon Studios and MGM were planning to reboot the Stargate franchise.[35][36]

The original starring cast of Stargate SG-1.

In 1997, Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright co-developed Stargate SG-1, a television series intended to continue the story laid down by the original film. Although new actors were cast, several roles from the film were reprised, including the main characters Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill (which was re-spelled to include an extra "L"). The Stargate Command setting was transferred from a fictional military facility located in Creek Mountain, to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Other variations and differences between the original film and SG-1 mostly concern the location of the planet Abydos, the alien Ra, the race of Ra's underlings (Jaffa), and Stargate travel.[37][38]

From the beginning, the purpose of travel through the Stargate was defined as finding allies and technology to defend Earth against others of Ra's race, now identified as the Goa'uld, snake-like creatures that can take humans as hosts by entering through the throat or the back of the neck. Goa'uld armies consist of the Jaffa, genetically engineered humans who carry larval Goa'uld in their chests; the Jaffa have been engineered to lack an immune system and will die in hours without a symbiote. As the first group to travel through the Stargate, Jack O'Neill is recalled to action along with Daniel Jackson, joined by Captain Samantha Carter, who created the program used to control the Stargate. They are soon joined by Teal'c, the First Prime- essentially the military leader- of the Goa'uld Apophis, who has long doubted the Goa'uld propaganda that they are gods and sees Earth as the best chance to oppose them, revealing that they are known in galactic myth as the "Tau'ri", the first evolved humans. In the course of their travels through the Stargate, this team meets the Asgard, a formerly humanoid race who have become the Roswell Greys after centuries of cloning to sustain their own lives, who protect various key planets from direct attack by the Goa'uld. The Tau'ri eventually learn that the Stargate network was created by another race, who they come to call the Ancients, who were the first humanoid race to evolve in this galaxy, and have since Ascended to a state of pure energy. Jackson Ascends after suffering serious radiation poisoning and is replaced by Jonas Quinn, a native of the planet Langara who defected to Earth, until he returns to human form a year later and Quinn is allowed to return home. The most prominent Goa'uld adversary of the Tau'ri is Teal'c's former master, Apophis, until his death at the start of the fifth season, after which the main villain becomes Anubis, a Goa'uld who was so evil other Goa'uld thought he was too extreme. The team also face the threat of the Replicators, an artificial life-form who are a persistent threat to the Asgard, and the reason the Asgard cannot do more against the Goa'uld. Anubis is revealed to be partially Ascended, but he is ultimately defeated shortly after the destruction of the Replicators, which also marks the final fall of the Goa'uld. The final two seasons pit Earth against the Ori, Ascended beings who believe that they have the right to force others to worship them, as well as the threat of Ba'al, the last major Goa'uld left active after the defeat of the System Lords. By this point the SGC is led by General Hank Landry and Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell has become the leader of SG-1 (he was expected to assemble a completely new team but Carter, Jackson and Teal'c returned to face the threat of the Ori), with former space thief Vala Mal Doran joining SG-1 for the final season.

The series debuted on Showtime on July 27, 1997, and moved to the Sci-Fi Channel after its fifth season.[39] It starred Richard Dean Anderson (as O'Neill) and Michael Shanks (as Jackson), alongside Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge and Don S. Davis respectively playing the new characters Samantha Carter, Teal'c and George Hammond. The cast remained fairly regular for most of SG-1's run, but experienced some changes. Michael Shanks left the show at the end of Season 5 and was replaced by Corin Nemec as Jonas Quinn. Shanks returned at the beginning of Season 7 and Nemec was written out. At the end of Season 7 Davis left the show and Anderson filled the gap he left in the story. Season 9 saw the departure of Anderson, but added new regulars Beau Bridges and Ben Browder. After a debut episode in Season 8, followed by appearances in eight episodes of Season 9, Claudia Black's popular reception earned her a position in the regular cast in Season 10.[40]

MGM put an average of $1,400,000 into each episode of the show, and regarded it as one of its most important franchises.[41] SG-1 was taken off air in 2007; however, two direct-to-DVD movies entitled The Ark of Truth and Stargate Continuum were made to tie up loose ends.

In June 2009, "Children of the Gods", Stargate SG-1's pilot episode, was re-cut into a Stargate SG-1 direct-to-DVD movie with brand new visual effects and scenes not previously included in the television version.[42]

The Stargate Atlantis series follows the adventures of the "Atlantis expedition", a combination of military forces and civilian scientists who travel to the Pegasus Galaxy in search of the Lost City of Atlantis, left behind by the most powerful race known to ever have lived, referred to as the Ancients, also known as Lanteans and Alterans. The finding of the city had been a plot arc for most of SG-1's Season 7, and the Ancients themselves had been a long-running facet of the SG-1 setting. Arriving at the city, the expedition discovers Atlantis rests at the bottom of an ocean, protected by shields keeping the city habitable. As the Atlantis expedition team explores the myriad corridors and equipment, they quickly drain the already nearly depleted power source (known as a ZPM) allowing the shields to hold and Atlantis to remain watertight. Through an emergency default program, Atlantis detects this sudden power drop and activates a failsafe, causing the city to surface and appear as an island in the middle of an ocean.

Using the Pegasus Galaxy stargate system, team members discover a new planet, where they explore, meet the indigenous population, and learn that the Pegasus galaxy is dominated by a terrible enemy known as the "Wraith". Although first encountered whilst in a long-term hibernation state, the expedition unintentionally and prematurely wakes the Wraith, alerting them to the reemergence of Atlantis, a new race of humans, and a potential new feeding ground: The Milky Way galaxy. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the team must defend and protect the city, the locals, and the entire expedition.

Stargate Atlantis was a spin-off television series from Stargate SG-1. A new feature film was originally intended to transition the two series after the sixth season of SG-1. Later, SG-1 was renewed for a seventh season, and the feature film was then planned to transition that season. Finally, when SG-1 was renewed for an eighth season, the intended film instead became the two-part season finale episode "Lost City", and the setting of Stargate Atlantis was moved to the Pegasus galaxy.[43] This allowed the two shows to exist side-by-side within the same fictional universe, and later the two shows even become interconnected. Atlantis was developed by most of the same people and in the same studios as SG-1.

Atlantis debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel on July 16, 2004, starring Joe Flanigan and Torri Higginson in the lead roles, with Rainbow Sun Francks, David Hewlett, and Rachel Luttrell alongside. Hewlett and Higginson's characters had previously appeared in SG-1 (though Higginson inherited the role from actress Jessica Steen). In Atlantis' second season, Paul McGillion and Jason Momoa (replacing Francks) were added as regulars. At the end of the third season, Higginson and McGillion were removed as regulars, both serving recurring roles in the 4th season. Season 4 brought in Amanda Tapping, reprising her role as Samantha Carter from SG-1, and Jewel Staite in a recurring role. Tapping left the show for Season 5 to concentrate on Sanctuary, and was replaced by Robert Picardo, who reprised his role as Richard Woolsey from both SG-1 and Atlantis. However, in late summer 2008 it was announced that SciFi would not renew Atlantis. The final episode aired on January 9, 2009.

The main cast of Universe. The series has a much larger main cast than previous Stargate shows.

Stargate Universe is the third live-action Stargate series, and premiered on October 2, 2009. The series was pitched to the Sci Fi Channel in the fall of 2007, just before the writer's strike – which put a hold on the project. "The pitch was received very well," according to Stargate Atlantis co-creator Brad Wright. Sci Fi Channel ordered Universe after announcing the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis. Syfy announced on December 16, 2010, that they would not pick the show up for a third season.[44] The final episode aired May 9, 2011.

After the events of Stargate Atlantis, research into the Stargate's 9th and final chevron[45] leads to an expedition being stranded several billion light years from earth on board an Ancient ship called Destiny which has been traveling through the universe uncrewed for millions of years. The show follows the crew as they struggle to survive on board Destiny with no apparent way home. The show was intended to have a darker tone than its predecessors and delve more into the humanity of the characters and their relationships with each other.

Stargate: The Ark of Truth is a direct-to-DVD movie written and directed by Robert C. Cooper. The film is the conclusion of Stargate SG-1's Ori arc, and picks up after the SG-1 series finale, but takes place before the fourth season of Stargate Atlantis. The Ark of Truth was released as a Region 1 DVD release on March 11, 2008. Sky One has broadcast the film on March 24, 2008, to be followed by the Region 2 DVD release on April 28, 2008, with the Region 4 DVD release on April 9, 2008.[46]

Stargate: Continuum is a direct-to-DVD movie written by Brad Wright and directed by Martin Wood. Some scenes for this movie were already shot at the end of March 2007, but the original start date was set for May 22 at Vancouver's Bridge Studios. The production budget was $7 million.[47] The movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on July 29, 2008. The Region 4 DVD was released on August 6, 2008 with the Region 2 DVD released on August 18, 2008;[48] followed by possible TV broadcasts.[49] The film is a time-travel adventure and is the second sequel to Stargate SG-1, after Stargate: The Ark of Truth.

Stargate: Children of the Gods is a direct-to-DVD movie written by Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright and directed by Mario Azzopardi. The Stargate SG-1 pilot episode was re-cut as a third Stargate SG-1 direct-to-DVD special and released on July 21, 2009 by MGM Home Entertainment in 16:9 widescreen format. A few months before its release, executive producer Brad Wright announced it would be enhanced with brand new visual effects and scenes not previously included in the television version. The beginning was to be slightly altered, a new scene added, and the nudity scene taken out to make this episode suitable for children, with the final movie roughly seven minutes shorter than the original episode.

In April 2009, MGM confirmed a third SG-1 film that Brad Wright had first announced in May 2008.[50][51] Wright was set to co-write the film with former Stargate Atlantis executive producer Carl Binder,[52] with Martin Wood serving as director.[53] According to Wright, the film would center on the Jack O'Neill character and reunite as many of the SG-1 cast as possible, depending on the cost of the film and actor availability.[50] Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) had confirmed his and Richard Dean Anderson's participation.[54] Amanda Tapping confirmed her appearance in the third SG-1 film and the first Atlantis movie.[55] According to Wright, the character of Vala Mal Doran would not appear in this film.[53] The working title for the film, Stargate: Revolution was revealed by Joseph Mallozzi in his blog.[56]

According to Sci-Fi and Joseph Mallozzi, a Stargate Atlantis two-hour direct-to-DVD movie was given the go ahead after the series was cancelled at the end of its fifth season. More movies were expected to follow in the Atlantis series if the first movie was successful.[57] The rumored working title for the film was Stargate Extinction. By May 2009, the script for the film was finished.[58]

On April 17, 2011, Stargate writer and executive producer Brad Wright announced that the SGU movie is not going to happen. He also confirmed that the proposed Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis movies have been permanently shelved, along with another movie idea he had been trying to get a greenlight on that would have involved cast members of all three series. Still, Wright did not rule out future Stargate films, saying; "It's a franchise. Stargate is not over. Somebody smart from MGM is going to figure it out, and something will happen."[3]

In May 2014, MGM announced a re-imagined version of the original 1994 film to be produced as a trilogy with Warner Bros. Pictures. Emmerich will direct and Devlin will produce. This set of two sequel films to the original Stargate starring Kurt Russell and James Spader will take a dramatically different course than the SG-1 and Atlantis universe created in the following 15 years.[59] On November 17, 2016, Devlin told Empire Online that the plans to make a reboot and potential new series are stalled.[32]

Logo of Stargate Origins

In July 2017, a web series called Stargate Origins was announced at a San Diego Comic Con Panel celebrating the franchise's 20th anniversary. It focuses on the character of Catherine Langford and is a prequel both to the television continuity and to the original feature film. The shooting began in August 2017 and series premiered online at the Stargate Command website on February 15, 2018.[6][60][61]

The cast includes Ellie Gall as the young Catherine Langford,[62] Connor Trinneer as Catherine's father, Professor Paul Langford,[63] Aylam Orian as Dr. Wilhelm Brücke, a high-ranking Nazi officer,[64][63] Philip Alexander as Captain James Beal, British officer stationed in Egypt,[65] and Shvan Aladdin as Wasif, a native Egyptian and a lieutenant in the British army.[65]

Stargate Infinity is an American animated science fiction television series created by Eric Lewald and Michael Maliani as a spin-off from its sister show, Stargate SG-1. The story arc in Infinity is set 30 years into the future and follows Gus Bonner and his team. Bonner's team was created after he was framed for a crime he did not commit. He escaped from Stargate Command (SGC) after the hostile alien race Tlak'kahn attacked the SGC to find the chrysalis. Together with his team he escapes through the Stargate with the chrysalis. From that point forward they go from planet to planet until they find the evidence to clear their names while learning about the unique cultures in the galaxy, so that they can one day return to Earth.[66] The story arc was never resolved because of low viewership ratings and the show was cancelled in 2003.

Stargate Infinity premiered in September 2002 as part of 4Kids Entertainment's FOX BOX Saturday morning line-up on FOX and went off the air in June 2003. Due to its lack of popularity the show is almost completely unrecognized. The series was cancelled before any of its story arcs could be resolved. The show was of low budget, which was constantly noted by the media.[67][68] DIC Entertainment released a 4-episode DVD on October 7, 2003 in Region 1. MGM Home Entertainment released a five disc season box set on August 13, 2007 in Region 2.[67] Shout! Factory, a company known for releasing cult animated series, acquired the rights to the show and released the entire series to DVD on May 13, 2008 in Region 1.[68] As of 2009, there is yet to come a release of Stargate Infinity package in Region 4, namely Oceania and Latin America.[69]

The writers and producers of Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe and the main canon of the Stargate franchise were not involved with Infinity, and neither MGM, the production teams nor the fans of Stargate consider Infinity to be an official part of the Stargate universe. According to Stargate SG-1 co-creator Brad Wright, the animated series should not be considered official Stargate canon. Commenting on it, he stated, "I don't have a problem with it. I'm just not involved."[70]

In September 2018, it was reported that SG-1, Atlantis and Universe showrunner Brad Wright had been approached by MGM about continuing the franchise.[33] The following year, SG-1 stars Amanda Tapping and Richard Dean Anderson further confirmed that they'd spoken to Wright and expressed their own interest in returning to the franchise in some capacity.[71] In January 2019, Wright elaborated that his conversations with MGM pertained to continuing the television franchise in a way that fully acknowledged the "several hundred hours of show that's already out there" and not simply honouring it.[72][73][74] In July 2020, SG-1, Atlantis and Universe writer-producer Joseph Mallozzi teased Wright's project, commenting that "we've never been closer to a fourth Stargate series." This continued in September 2020, when it was reported that whilst not currently involved in writing, Mallozzi had spoken to Wright about the development, confirming it to be a fourth television series which would continue on from where SG-1, Atlantis and Universe left off and include characters from those shows.[75][76]

On November 21, 2020, Brad Wright confirmed that he was developing a television series of Stargate with MGM and that it would be a continuation, not a reboot. He also confirmed that whilst things were progressing, the industry shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic was slowing aspects of the development.[77][78] In a series of podcasts in March and May 2021, Wright continued to offer small updates on the project, including that his script features the SG-1 characters of Daniel Jackson, Cameron Mitchell, Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill, with the hope that Michael Shanks, Ben Browder and Amanda Tapping all return in some capacity to their respective roles.[79][80][81] Wright also expressed that if the series does go ahead, he would want Tapping to direct, with it being clarified by Tapping that the series was not in active production, but still being worked on by Wright.[82][83]

In March 2022, Amazon completed a purchase of MGM, its library, and assets, including Stargate. Around that time, writer and producer on Stargate SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe Joseph Mallozzi teased Wright's pilot script for the new project on social media.[84] However, in November 2022, Wright announced that his revival project was likely dead following Amazon's purchase.[34]

In December 2022, Amazon Studios and MGM were reported to be taking pitches on a reboot of the Stargate franchise.[36] The creators of The Expanse, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, were on the short list of possible showrunners for the new Stargate.[35]