Stargate is a series of movies, TV shows, and books that mix science fiction with military themes. It is owned by Amazon MGM Studios. The idea for the franchise came from a 1994 movie directed by Roland Emmerich and written with producer Dean Devlin. StudioCanal holds the rights to the original film. The story centers on a device called a Stargate, which is based on a scientific concept known as an Einstein–Rosen bridge. This device allows travel across space almost instantly. The first movie, Stargate, was released on October 28, 1994, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco. It made $197 million worldwide. In 1997, Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner created a TV show called Stargate SG-1 as a follow-up to the movie. Other shows in the series include Stargate Atlantis (2004), Stargate Universe (2009), and a prequel web series, Stargate Origins (2018). The franchise also includes books, video games, comic books, and direct-to-DVD movies such as Stargate: Children of the Gods, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, and Stargate: Continuum, which ended the first TV show after 10 seasons.
In 2011, Stargate Universe, the last TV series in the franchise, ended. Brad Wright said there were no plans to continue the story in future projects. In 2016, the comic publisher American Mythology began publishing new Stargate Atlantis stories that fit the official story. In 2017, this expanded to include new Stargate Universe comics, which resolved the unresolved ending of the show. The main story lasted more than 15 years, including 18 seasons (364 episodes) of TV and 22 comic book issues as of January 2020. However, some other media, like the 2002 animated series Stargate Infinity, either ignore or reset parts of the main story while keeping key elements, such as the Stargate device.
In November 2025, a new series was announced. It will be led by Martin Gero, a veteran of the franchise, and produced by Amazon MGM Studios, which now owns the rights to the franchise.
Premise
The Stargate franchise is based on a device called the Stargate, which is a ring-shaped portal created by an ancient alien race. This device allows people to travel quickly across space through wormholes that can be activated between any two Stargates connected in a network. The shows usually take place in the same time period as when they were made, using real-world technology in a science-fiction setting. Most versions of the franchise follow a similar story structure, showing the adventures of a main team in different episodes, either as standalone stories or part of ongoing storylines. The main differences between the shows are their settings and the main villains they face.
Franchise releases
Because many creators have worked on the Stargate franchise separately over the years, the different productions sometimes don't match up. Although there isn't an official set of rules, the three live-action series are the most popular among fans.
Theatrical films
The 1994 movie Stargate, directed by Roland Emmerich and co-written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin, follows the first discovery of the Stargate on Earth and the first journey to another world. The story follows a team led by Colonel Jack O'Neil (played by Kurt Russell) and including Egyptologist Daniel Jackson (played by James Spader) as they travel through the Stargate to the planet Abydos. There, they find a society of humans who speak ancient Egyptian, ruled by an alien from space who pretends to be the ancient Egyptian sun god Ra. The team works to free the people from the alien's control and kills the alien. Most of the team returns to Earth, but Daniel chooses to stay with the people of Abydos.
Television
In 1997, Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright created Stargate SG-1, a TV show that continued the story from the original Stargate movie. Some actors from the movie returned, including Daniel Jackson and Jack O'Neill, whose name was spelled with an extra "L." The setting changed from a fictional military base in Creek Mountain to Stargate Command, located in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. For the first eight seasons, the show focused on Stargate Command fighting the Goa'uld, a race of beings that included the alien Ra and their leaders, the System Lords. They worked to free enslaved humans and Jaffa, a group of mutated humans forced to serve the Goa'uld. In the final two seasons, the main threat became the Ori, inspired by Arthurian legends.
The series first aired on Showtime on July 27, 1997, and later moved to the Sci-Fi Channel after its fifth season. It starred Richard Dean Anderson as O'Neill and Michael Shanks as Jackson, along with Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, and Don S. Davis as new characters Samantha Carter, Teal'c, and George Hammond. The cast remained mostly the same for most of the show’s run, but some changes occurred. Michael Shanks left after Season 5 and returned in Season 7, while Corin Nemec took his role temporarily. Don S. Davis left at the end of Season 7, and Richard Dean Anderson took over his character’s story. In Season 9, Anderson left, and new actors Beau Bridges and Ben Browder joined. Claudia Black became a regular cast member in Season 10 after appearing in several episodes.
MGM spent about $1,400,000 on each episode and considered Stargate SG-1 one of its most important projects. The show ended in 2007, but two direct-to-DVD movies, The Ark of Truth and Stargate Continuum, were made to wrap up the story.
Stargate: The Ark of Truth was written and directed by Robert C. Cooper. It ended the Ori storyline and was released on DVD in March 2008. Stargate: Continuum, written by Brad Wright and directed by Martin Wood, cost $7 million to make. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in July 2008. This movie is a time-travel story and the second sequel after The Ark of Truth.
Stargate: Children of the Gods was written by Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright and directed by Mario Azzopardi. It was a re-edited version of the original Stargate SG-1 pilot episode, released on July 21, 2009. New scenes and visual effects were added, and some changes were made to make the episode suitable for children.
Stargate Atlantis was a spin-off of Stargate SG-1. Initially, a movie was planned to connect the two shows, but later, the movie became part of Stargate SG-1’s finale. The setting of Atlantis was moved to the Pegasus galaxy, allowing both shows to exist in the same fictional universe. The series followed an international team of military and scientists exploring the Pegasus galaxy to find the Lost City of Atlantis. They fought the Wraith, an alien species that needed to feed on humans to survive.
Atlantis premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel in July 2004, starring Joe Flanigan and Torri Higginson. Other actors included Rainbow Sun Francks, David Hewlett, and Rachel Luttrell. In later seasons, new cast members joined, and some left. The show ended in January 2009 after five seasons.
Stargate Universe was the third live-action Stargate series. It began in October 2009 after Stargate Atlantis was canceled. The show followed a group of people stranded on an ancient spaceship called Destiny, far from Earth. It had a darker tone than previous series and focused on the characters’ relationships.
In July 2017, a web series called Stargate Origins was announced. It is a prequel about Catherine Langford and was released online in February 2018. The cast included Ellie Gall as young Catherine Langford, Connor Trinneer as her father, Professor Paul Langford, and others.
Reception
Stargate earned $16.7 million during its first weekend and $196.6 million in total. Critics had mixed opinions about the movie. Some, like Roger Ebert, did not like it, but other reviews were positive. This led to a 46% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Although the movie was meant to start a trilogy, the creators, Emmerich and Devlin, later worked on Independence Day instead. They did not return to Stargate until 2006, when Devlin showed interest in making more movies. In the time between the movie and the planned sequels, the copyright holder, MGM, continued the story with the TV series Stargate SG-1 without input from Emmerich or Devlin.
Stargate SG-1 won the Saturn Award for Best Syndicated Television Series multiple times. Its cast also won awards for acting. Recently, the show was praised for its visual effects, which improved as the budget increased. On August 21, 2006, the Sci Fi Channel said it would not renew Stargate SG-1 for an 11th season because of low ratings. Many fans were upset and created websites to show their support. Production spokespeople said they were considering all options to continue the series, including digital broadcasting. Executive producer Robert C. Cooper told a fan site he was working to keep SG-1 going. However, no network or company has ordered new episodes yet, so the show is paused until a new buyer is found. Sci Fi has also blocked other networks from taking over the show, citing an original contract with MGM. Atlantis was as successful as SG-1, with strong ratings and viewership. In 2008, the Stargate franchise won a Constellation Award for Outstanding Canadian Contribution to Science Fiction Film or Television.
The average number of people watching Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis worldwide was about 10 million each week. According to co-creator Brad Wright, the shows are popular in Great Britain, Germany, France, and Australia, but viewership has been decreasing in Canada. By 2006, about 30 million Stargate DVDs were sold worldwide.
The DVD of Stargate: The Ark of Truth earned $1.59 million in rentals during its first week in the US, and $1.38 million in the second week. By the third week, it earned $1.19 million, totaling $4.16 million in rentals. It also made $9 million from sales. Stargate: Continuum made over $8 million in the US. Critics gave it mostly positive reviews. A third movie featuring the character Jack O'Neill was planned but put on hold.
In 2010, Stargate was estimated to have contributed about $1 billion to the economy of British Columbia.
Literature
There are three series of novels connected to the Stargate franchise. One series is based on the original Stargate movie, and two series are based on the television shows Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. A series of books written by Bill McCay was published from 1995 to 1999. These books were not officially approved by the movie’s creators but followed the story of the film.
From 1999 to 2001, ROC published four novels connected to Stargate SG-1, written by Ashley McConnell. In 2004, Fandemonium Press, a UK-based publisher, began a new series of officially licensed books tied to Stargate SG-1. Because of a conflict with ROC’s license, these books were sold in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK but not in the United States. In 2006, Fandemonium books became available in the US. The official Stargate Magazine, published by Titan Publishing, started including short stories written by Fandemonium authors in its 8th issue. These stories alternate between SG-1 and Atlantis.
In 2003, Avatar Press began publishing comic books based on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Five comic books have been published so far, with stories written by James Anthony and artwork by Jorge Correa. In February 2008, Big Finish Productions announced plans to release officially licensed audiobooks featuring actors from the shows reading new stories. The first two audiobooks, Gift of the Gods and A Necessary Evil, are available on CD and digital download. Gift of the Gods is read by Michael Shanks, and A Necessary Evil is read by Torri Higginson.
Unrealised films and series
In 2006, Dean Devlin said that Bill McCay had made a deal with MGM to create new movies that would continue the story from the 1994 Stargate film. Devlin explained that two movies would follow the original story but would not include the stories from the SG-1 and Atlantis TV series, which featured actors Kurt Russell and James Spader. Devlin later said he was sorry about giving MGM control over the Stargate franchise. He described plans for three movies: the first would use Egyptian mythology, the second would use other mythologies, and the third would connect all of them.
In 2011, Devlin said he still hoped to make the sequels. He had originally planned the movies as a trilogy but had not been able to complete the second and third films. He said the new movies might change slightly from the original plan because many years had passed. He wanted to explore how the Stargates were created and where else they existed in the universe.
In 2016, Devlin told Empire that plans for a new Stargate series had been delayed. In 2018, Brad Wright, who worked on the SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe TV shows, was approached by MGM about continuing the franchise. In 2019, SG-1 actors Amanda Tapping and Richard Dean Anderson said they had talked to Wright and wanted to return to the franchise. Wright said his plans with MGM would continue the TV series, not start over from the beginning.
In 2020, Joseph Mallozzi, a writer and producer for the Stargate TV shows, said Wright’s project was close to becoming a fourth Stargate series. Wright confirmed in November 2020 that he was working on a new TV series with MGM, which would continue the story from previous shows, not restart it. He said the coronavirus pandemic had slowed progress. In 2021, Wright said his script would include characters from SG-1, such as Daniel Jackson, Cameron Mitchell, Samantha Carter, and Jack O’Neill, and he hoped actors like Michael Shanks, Ben Browder, and Amanda Tapping would return. Wright also said he wanted Amanda Tapping to direct the series, though Tapping said the project was not yet in production.
In 2022, Amazon bought MGM, including the Stargate franchise. Mallozzi shared details about Wright’s new series on social media. However, in November 2022, Wright said his revival project was likely not happening after Amazon’s purchase.