Stargate Atlantis: “The Shrine”
One of our favorite episodes of Stargate Atlantis is “The Shrine,” an emotional episode that frequently makes best episode lists. Written by series co-creator Brad Wright, this remarkable hour saw Dr. Rodney McKay contract an alien disease that robbed him of his mental faculties. Known in the Pegasus Galaxy as the “second childhood,” it impacted Rodney like a rapid-onset dementia.
“The Shrine” is a career performance for actor David Hewlett, made all the more poignant by the opportunity to play opposite his real-life sister, Kate Hewlett, who played Jeannie Miller. Kate talked about working opposite her brother on this remarkable episode with “Dial the Gate.”
Before she received the episode’s script Hewlett talked with her brother about it, and “David said, ‘I can’t get through this thing without crying — every time I read it I’m crying,’” she said. “And then I read it and had the same experience. … David is just so good, so I felt like I was watching my brother deal with dementia. That’s what I felt like I was watching, and it was very emotional. And then I got to run out and leap into [Jason Momoa’s] arms!”
Check out this clip from the conversation:
In the episode Rodney’s sister Jeannie is rushed from her home on Earth to the city of Atlantis, in order to say goodbye to her brother before his mind is completely lost. Hewlett said that even rehearsing these scenes on set together proved difficult for the real-life siblings.
“I hadn’t been acting for that long, and in rehearsal when you’re doing the blocking you’re just supposed to ‘mark’ it — you’re suppose to save your performance for when they’re filming,” she said. “But the first time we said those lines out loud together we were a mess … and the cameras were off.”
Head over to “Dial the Gate” on YouTube to find the full interview with Kate Hewlett. While you’re there, subscribe to GateWorld’s YouTube channel for more Stargate content!