Stargate Universe

Stargate Universe (abbreviated as SGU) is a military science fiction television series, part of the Stargate franchise. The series was greenlit on August 22, 2008 and debuted on October 2, 2009 in the United States and Canada as a two-hour movie, to be followed by regular weekly airings on Syfy in the United States and Space in Canada. The series will premiere on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 6, 2009 and on Sci Fi in Australia on October 9, 2009. Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper and Carl Binder serve as executive producers and writers. Stargate Universe started filming on February 18, 2009.

Stargate Universe follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team on board the Ancient spaceship Destiny. Transported to Destiny in a distant corner of the universe and unable to return to Earth, members of the team are forced to remain on the vessel and fend for themselves. The announced main cast is Robert Carlyle as Dr. Nicholas Rush, Justin Louis as Colonel Everett Young, David Blue as Eli Wallace, Brian J. Smith as Lieutenant Matthew Scott, Jamil Walker Smith as Master Sergeant Ronald Greer, Alaina Huffman as Lieutenant Tamara Johansen, Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong, and Ming-Na as Camille Wray.

Premise and themes
Stargate Universe is set on the Ancient ship Destiny, which was part of an Ancient experiment to seed the galaxies with Stargates millions of years ago. While several ships were sent to seed the galaxies with Stargates, the  Destiny was to follow a programmed mission to explore these galaxies until the Ancients ascended and left the ship unmanned. In order to reach this ship, an address would have to be dialed consisting of nine chevrons, a possibility that had been unknown in the previous Stargate series.

The series begins when a team of soldiers and scientists from present-day Earth step through the Stargate to find the Destiny after their base is attacked. They are unable to maneuver the ship or even return to Earth, but they can use the Stargate to visit planets when the Destiny comes into the range of another Stargate and stops for brief periods of time. Life support including air supply is also a problem at first. There will be three major deaths in the pilot episode and one suicide by episode six. The writers have discussed the possibility that each season represents a voyage of the Destiny through a different galaxy.

Stargate Universe is written to appeal to both veteran fans and newcomers. It will be firmly entrenched in established Stargate mythology without relying on it too often. Although it will still have the familiar Stargate themes of adventure and exploration, the show will focus mostly on the people aboard the ship. SGU will be more serialized than its predecessors, but the writers attempt to resolve each character story within the episode. There is a conscious effort to avoid making SGU too serialized, and the serialization will mainly stem from character development. The industry describes the show with the buzz words "dark and edgy". According to Robert C. Cooper, the essence of the story is "that sort of fear and terror of a tragedy combined with the sense that there is hope for us in the basic ways in which human beings survive". The increased levels of drama will still be balanced with humor to avoid pretentiousness. The differences between good and evil will be less apparent, as the ship will be populated with flawed and unprepared characters who were not supposed to go here. According to Brad Wright, the show will "hopefully explor[e] the truly alien, and [avoid] the rubber faced English-speaking one". There will be aliens, but not a single dominant villain race like SG-1 ' s Goa'uld and Atlantis ' Wraith.

Main cast

 * Robert Carlyle as Dr. Nicholas Rush – The "ship's brilliant Machiavellian scientist" whom producer Joseph Mallozzi had first mentioned in his blog in mid-November 2008 as Dr. David Rush. The ship's crew believe Rush to be losing his mind, but he does things for a reason. Carlyle explained in an interview that after the death of Rush's wife, Rush is driven by the opportunity to explore the galaxy. Mallozzi rectified casting reports in mid-December 2008 that Rush "is not the leader of the unplanned expedition. That honor falls to Colonel Everett Young. For now. But things could have a way of changing on board a ship manned by a disparate group with very different agendas…". Although a confirmed main character, Rush was not included in the initial casting character breakdowns. Wright and Cooper intended the character to be very different from any previous main characters in the Stargate franchise, "somebody who is not the hero, not the villain, and more of a very flawed and complex person". About a year before being cast, Scottish actor Robert Carlyle wanted to try something new in his career and approached television companies in Los Angeles. They offered him several parts, but Stargate Universe had the greatest appeal to him as "suddenly a drama [was] opening up in space, [and] in the past that was something that was slightly missing from the genre". He was aware of the success of the Stargate franchise and had seen "quite a bit of SG-1, plus a bunch of Atlantis". Carlyle accepted the role because of Wright and Cooper's take on the drama and direction of the show, and he is "[honestly] more than prepared" to play the character for possibly many years. Carlyle will keep his Scottish accent for the role.
 * Justin Louis as Everett Young – Described in the initial character breakdown as a "handsome, capable, former SG team leader" in his 40s who holds the rank of Colonel. He is "like the Jack O'Neill of ten years ago" yet has sharper edges. At the beginning of Stargate Universe, he has been married for two years and is the temporary commander of a secret off-world base. Young is Rush's nemesis on the ship.
 * David Blue as Eli Wallace – Named Eli Hitchcock in the casting call, Eli Wallace is a "total slacker" in his early twenties and an "utter genius" in mathematics, computers and other fields. He is a social outcast with an "acerbic sense of humor", and lacks confidence in his intelligence. The character breakdown compares him to "Matt Damon's character from Good Will Hunting with a little Jack Black thrown in". He will be the main source of comic relief in the show. David Blue, a self-declared fan of the science fiction series, has seen all SG-1 and Atlantis episodes.
 * Brian J. Smith as Matthew Scott – A skilled and well-trained Airman and junior SGC member in his early twenties holding the rank of First Lieutenant. He is "mentally unprepared for the urgency of the situation" aboard the ship. He was named Jared Nash in the initial casting call. Before being cast, Brian J. Smith had been working as a stage actor in New York for a year and a half and had seen a couple of Stargate episodes. Smith taped his Stargate Universe audition and was invited to a screen test in Los Angeles. He received the news of being cast a few days after the screen test. He prepared for the role by doing military research. He had not seen the Stargate TV series before being cast, but caught up with much of SG-1 afterwards.
 * Jamil Walker Smith as Ronald Greer – In early casting documents named Ron "Psycho" Stasiak, Ronald Greer is a "big, strong, silent" Marine aged 20 with a mysterious past who lacks control over his temper in non-combat situations. The character breakdown compares him to Eric Bana's character "Hoot" in Black Hawk Down. His rank is Master Sergeant.
 * Elyse Levesque as Chloe Armstrong – She is a "stunning and sexy" daughter of a US Senator around her twenties, whose character is tested "after her father's tragic death and the dire circumstances of being trapped on a spaceship". Her father (played by Christopher McDonald) had political oversight over the Stargate project trying to dial the ninth chevron. Before the producers settled on the final name, the character was named Chloe Carpenter and Chloe Walker. Levesque's "wonderfully nuanced audition" convinced the producers to cast her, as she demonstrated an "impressive range in two very different [and] demanding scenes".
 * Alaina Huffman as Tamara Johansen – Named Tamara Jon in the character breakdown, she is an SGC field medic in her early twenties with off-world experience. Friends call her "T.J.". She finds herself the most medically experienced person aboard the ship after the death of the Icarus' Base doctor in the pilot episode "Air" (according to co-creator Robert C.Cooper). She has a modest background, yet is "beautiful, tough, smart and capable", but also has a secretive past with another member of the Destiny's new crew. At the beginning of the series, she is overwhelmed by the lack of medical knowledge, experience, medicine and supplies aboard the ship. Her rank is First Lieutenant. Mallozzi considered Huffman's audition in December 2008 "so good that, quite frankly, we would've been crazy not to cast her".
 * Ming-Na as Camile Wray – An IOA accountant who becomes the highest-ranking IOA member left stranded on the ship. She has "a false sense of importance and superiority to the other military and civilian population along with a stubborn way of asserting it". Wray was first mentioned in Mallozzi's blog in late November 2008, and was initially considered as a potentially recurring character. She will appear in at least the pilot episode, "Earth" and the mid-season two-parter. She is the first open gay character in the Stargate franchise. Her long-time partner back on Earth, Sharon, will first appear in "Life" in a possibly recurring role. Mallozzi thought in December 2008 that the character "has a lot of potential for getting under Young and co.'s skin. She's a definite love her or hate her type of character, one who'll prove the bane to many a series regular, and probably some viewers as well." While Ming-Na is confirmed to appear in several SGU episodes after her character's initial conception as a potentially recurring character in the pilot episode, she was confirmed as a main character in May, 2009.

Recurring cast

 * Lou Diamond Phillips as David Telford – A proud and "stubbornly confident" life-long military man holding the rank of Colonel. Telford's given name was first disclosed by Joseph Mallozzi as "Zak, Zach, Zac, [or] Zack", but the official MGM website names him "David". The cast status of Lou Diamond Phillips as a permanent or recurring SGU actor is unclear. Philips was named in a press release along with the confirmed main cast in February 2009, but he appears in only five of the first nine shot episodes. He played the title role in a new stage musical in May 2009 and was a contestant in I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here! in June 2009, both shows taking place during the shooting period of SGU. On September 22 2009, a press release by Syfy detailing their October schedule, confirmed that Philips would indeed be a guest star.

Crossover appearances and guest stars
From the beginning, Robert C. Cooper ruled out the permanent inclusion of any well-known characters from the two previous Stargate series, although "there will certainly be plenty of opportunity for cross over, and there certainly might be some familiar faces in the premiere and in subsequent episodes". Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson), Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter) and Gary Jones (Walter Harriman) will make cameo appearances in the pilot episode. Richard Dean Anderson (Jack O'Neill) will appear in multiple SGU episodes including the pilot and "Earth". Shanks will make another guest appearance during the second half of the first season. Brad Wright approached Robert Picardo (Richard Woolsey), who declared his interest in appearing early on in the show. Ona Grauer, who played the Ancient Ayiana in SG-1 and Atlantis, will appear in an early Universe episode.

Christopher McDonald has been announced to guest-star as Chloe Armstrong's father, a United States senator who has political oversight of the Stargate program. The Grammy-nominated singer Janelle Monáe will play herself performing the songs "Many Moons" and "Sincerely" from her album Metropolis in the episode "Earth". Carlo Rota will play Carl Strom, head of the International Oversight Advisory (IOA). Reiko Aylesworth has been cast as Sharon, the long-time lesbian partner of Ming-Na's character Camille Wray. Aylesworth will first appear in the ninth episode, "Life", in a possibly recurring role.

Conception
Stargate producers Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper conceived Stargate Universe as "a completely separate, third entity" in the live-action Stargate franchise – as opposed to Stargate Atlantis, which was created as a spin-off from the first series Stargate SG-1. They wanted to produce a stylistically and tonally different TV series with a more mature and fresh story approach as not to get too repetitive. Wright and Cooper originally planned to write the pilot script for Stargate Universe during the summer of 2007, making a 2008 premiere possible. Since their ambitions with the previous live-action Stargate series were often restricted by the low budget and risked coming across as silly, they pitched the show as "an expensive series" to the Sci Fi Channel (now Syfy) in the last quarter of 2007. Although the pitch was well-received, the project was put on hold because of the on-going work on Stargate Atlantis and Stargate: Continuum, and the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The series was given the official greenlight for a 2009 debut by SyFy on August 22, 2008, shortly after the cancellation of Stargate Atlantis had been announced. Joseph Mallozzi explained that a new series would have lower salaries and licensing fees than a new sixth season of Atlantis would have had. MGM co-funds the project. According to co-star Robert Carlyle, each episode has a budget of $2 million US dollars.

Brad Wright pitched the series and its first five episodes to the Stargate Atlantis writers and producers in mid-September 2008. Wright, Cooper, and Carl Binder produce the show, while Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie serve as writers and consultant producers. Stargate Atlantis writers Martin Gero and Alan McCullough contribute scripts, but are not part of the regular writer staff. New writers are being auditioned for freelance scripts and possible staff positions. Author John Scalzi was hired as a creative consultant, "a background rather than foreground sort of job". Most of the Stargate Atlantis crew such as stunt coordinator James Bamford and composer Joel Goldsmith move over to Universe.

Casting
Short character breakdowns for the series regulars (created for casting calls) leaked on the internet on September 17, 2008. Joseph Mallozzi explained the largely negative initial fan reaction as a passionate response to the preceding cancellation announcement of Atlantis. Brad Wright dismissed negative comments as a sole reaction to the wording of the network; character breakdowns are written to aid casting directors and agents in the selection process, and "always sound shallow, and if they're written to appear 'deep' it's just ridiculous". Robert C. Cooper replied to concerns of young age that the SG-1 cast was also quite young in their first season. The producers were "looking for people who are a little more identifiable and contemporary," with an "everyman on the street point of view" after being challenged by the situation. Martin Gero considered Stargate Universe as an ensemble show, more than the previous two Stargate live-action series were.

Auditions were held in Los Angeles. The producers were looking for well-known names for the lead roles, but intended to mostly cast "either new faces, or people you've seen in other stuff but maybe aren't as aware of". BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor Robert Carlyle was the first announced series regular in mid-December 2008. The casting of Justin Louis, David Blue, Brian J. Smith and Jamil Walker Smith as series regulars was announced in mid-January 2009. The casting of Alaina Huffman and Elyse Levesque was announced in late February 2009, along with other actors whose status as regular or recurring cast has not been established. The cast is American (Blue, B. Smith, and J. Smith), Chinese-American (Ming-Na), Canadian (Louis, Levesque, and Huffman) and Scottish (Carlyle).

Writing and filming
The writers started spinning stories for the first season in mid-November 2008. The United States Air Force and Marine Corps reviewed the scripts. The projected film start of Stargate Universe was initially slated for February 4, 2009, but was moved to February 18, 2009. The show is filmed on stages 2, 4 (Destiny set) and 5 (Icarus Base set) at The Bridge Studios (SG-1 and Atlantis had been filmed at stages 5 and 6) and on location in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. Parts of an early episode will be filmed in and around Alamogordo, New Mexico from late April through early May 2009. Stargate Universe will show computer-generated worlds filmed in digital sets. Stargate Universe will have a markedly different shooting style for more reality and immediacy with inspiration from Cloverfield, as if "a documentary crew were to ride along on this adventure to outer space".

Pre-broadcast marketing
Syfy Wire published concept art of the Destiny in October 2008. The first promo picture of the cast (out of costume and in casual clothing) was released on March 20, 2009. The same day, Syfy began airing thirty-second trailers of Universe, showing various clips of the Universe team aboard the ship and the SGU Stargate with the first visual effects. MGM revealed its revamped Stargate Universe website on July 8 with an interactive virtual set tour of the Destiny, interviews with the cast, character profiles and videos. Joseph Mallozzi began posting concept art and behind-the-scenes photos of the SGU set on his blog afterwards. Brad Wright, Robert C. Cooper and most members of the main cast appeared at an SGU panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 24, 2009. Behind the scenes material is shot for future online and DVD use.