Director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin has some very big plans for the Stargate franchise. The two filmmakers are now working hard to reinvigorate the sci-fi series they created back in the mid-90s, bringing it back with a whole new trilogy of movies. What may surprise you, however, is that the plans they are moving forward with are the ones they originally envisioned back when the first film was being made.
Speaking with the Portland Business Journal (via Giant Freakin Robot), Devlin revealed a few key details about his ideas for the future of Stargate, the most significant being that the new plans are actually the old plans. Discussing returning to the sci-fi genre after spending some time away, the producer discussed how the original Stargate was made very differently than blockbusters are today, and that progress on the small screen helped handcuff any progression of theatrically released feature-length movies. Said Devlin,
“We did the original Stargate as an independent movie. It was a surprise success. Shortly before the movie came out, the financiers who were frightened the movie might not do well sold the film to MGM. When the film came out, it was a hit and spawned TV shows. Of all the projects I’ve ever done, Stargate is the only one from the beginning intended to be a trilogy. We always wanted to do parts two and three, but the thinking was they didn’t want to do anything other than the TV series. So literally for 20 years I’ve been chasing this project. Twenty years later, we can’t really do part two. We have to start over from the beginning. So let’s reboot the series, put in all the things we couldn’t the first time, and set it up properly.
In discussing how the Stargate franchise would up heading to television, one can’t really argue with Devlin’s point. Stargate-SG1, which first started airing in 1997, was seen as a follow-up to the 1994 movie, and lasted an impressive 10 seasons. That series was followed by Stargate Atlantis, which ran from 2004 to 2009, lasting five seasons. Most recently the franchise launched Stargate Universe – which debuted just a few months after the end of Atlantis – but that run only lasted 40 episodes.
So here is the big question: if the shows are historically far more popular than the original film ever was, is it really a good thing that the reboot if going to be more closely related to the latter? It’s certainly interesting that this is an idea that Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin have been sitting on for two decades, but is it really the proper direction? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.