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In the maturing years of Stargate SG-1, as the series entered the home stretch of its 10-season run on the Sci-Fi Channel (precursor to today’s SYFY), ideas for a spinoff series to build on the show’s success had become a frequent favored topic among producers.
As we all know now, two spinoff ideas eventually won out. Stargate Atlantis enjoyed a five-season run (from 2004-2009) that partially overlapped SG-1’s final seasons, while Stargate Universe arrived in 2009, putting a two-season spotlight on the eccentrically brilliant Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle).
Yet in addition to their many shared-universe features, all three series had one more thing in common: the appearance, at one point or another, of Stargate SG-1 mainstay Dr. Samantha “Sam” Carter (Amanda Tapping). And thanks to a recent look back at the series from fellow SG-1 actor Peter Flemming, we now know that at least one of those early spinoff ideas involved pairing Carter alongside Flemming’s character (N.I.D. Agent Malcolm Barrett) for a buddy-chemistry partnership in the same thematic vein as The X-Files’ Mulder and Scully.
Sleuthing out aliens on Earth: The Stargate SG-1 spinoff that never was
Speaking with fan webcast Dial the Gate (via GateWorld), Flemming said he never was too sure just how seriously the producers were about launching a spinoff teaming himself with Tapping’s SG-1 character. But back in the days when those early next-step ideas were still being discussed, a Barrett-Carter partnership didn’t seem all that farfetched as the basis for a new Stargate series.
“Who knows if it would have had legs? Who knows what would have happened?” said Flemming. “As I watch a few of the episodes with Amanda and I, there’s definitely a fun little chemistry there that could have [gone] a lot of different ways.”
Looking deeper into the franchise’s what-might-have-been possibilities, Flemming said that he and Tapping were actually “in the front line” — right alongside Stargate Atlantis — as the would-be anchoring actors for one of SG-1’s future spinoffs. There seemed to be plenty of appeal in pairing Barrett and Carter in their own Stargate series — after all, it could have served viewers with a weekly dose of detective mysteries, all led by a duo of close-knit humans seeking to sleuth out alien secrets right here on good old Planet Earth.
“They were coming up with different ideas for a new Stargate show. In around the fifth and sixth year [of SG-1] they were starting to think, ‘What can we piggyback off this?’ … So it turns out that myself and Amanda Tapping were in the front line — with Atlantis — to have our own spinoff piggyback show.”
Sam Carter, of course, crossed over to figure prominently in the events of Stargate Atlantis, with Tapping appearing throughout the show’s first three seasons before her character took on an even more significant role in Season 4. Flemming also showed up for flyby appearances in a pair of Stargate Atlantis episodes… though at that point, the idea of putting both front and center for their own buddied-up Stargate spinoff had given way to Atlantis’ larger Lost City storyline centered around Major John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan).
“Of course Atlantis won… and turned out to be a fantastic show,” reflected Flemming, casting a nostalgic look back at the X-Files-style Stargate spinoff that never was. “But [Atlantis’] competition… at that time, without a name attached to it, was Barrett and Carter.”
Looking for your next science fiction streaming binge? Watch SYFY’s original series The Ark, from Stargate franchise creative veterans Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner. Catch The Ark’s first two seasons on Peacock here!
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