Stargate Universe

"Where will Destiny take you?"

- Tagline

Stargate Universe is the title of the third live action science fiction television series in the Stargate franchise. Produced by MGM, the show entered production in early 2009, and premiered on October 2, 2009 on Syfy and Space, and on October 6, 2009 on Sky1 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Stargate Universe is filmed and produced in Vancouver, Canada, as were the preceding series.

Development
thumb|right|200px|Stargate Universe trailer. According to show-runner Robert C. Cooper, the "series maintains the spirit of Stargate, but opens up a whole new 'universe'." It is currently being developed as "a completely separate, third entity" - as opposed to Stargate Atlantis, which was created as a spin-off from the first series Stargate SG-1.

Robert C. Cooper has revealed that the new series will revolve around the ninth chevron on the Stargate and will take place during the present time and not be in the distant future. It would be the first time that this topic is used in a series of the franchise. According to him, "It plays a major factor in the third series". The current plan for the series is to follow a single story arc per season, with 20 episodes per season. The show began production in early 2009 and principal photography began on February 18, 2009.

Plot
During an attack on the Tau'ri outpost of Icarus Base, the base personnel manage to dial a ninth chevron Stargate address, which had been the ultimate purpose that Icarus Base was constructed for. Forced to evacuate and, with no where else to go, the evacuees emerge through the Stargate on an unmanned spaceship called Destiny. The Destiny was launched by the Ancients at the height of their civilization, several million years ago, as a grand experiment set in motion to explore the universe, which was never completed. This group of evacuees soon discover that the ship is unable to return them to Earth, and they must now fend for themselves aboard the Destiny.

The crew will travel to the far reaches of the universe, connecting with each of the previously launched Stargates, thus fulfilling the Destiny's original mission. Challenges will arise though as the ship comes into range of Stargates placed centuries ahead of the Destiny and the crew is unable to control the ship's navigational schedule. If someone is left behind, there is no way to go back for them, adding to the drama of encountering new races, enemies and adventures. According to an interview with Robert Carlyle, Universe will be darker than the other series. It will be about a crew being ill-equipped on board the Destiny in the far reaches of the universe. It will deal less with alien encounters and have more to do with human survival.

Main Characters

 * Robert Carlyle has been cast as Dr. Nicholas Rush, "the ship's brilliant Machiavellian scientist".
 * Louis Ferreira has been cast as Colonel Everett Young, "an experienced and married Stargate team leader". - Early casting documents described the character as a former SG team leader who is the temporary commander of a secret, off-world base. He has been married just two years to his wife, Emily.
 * Brian J. Smith has been cast as Lt. Matthew Scott, a junior member of the Stargate team thrust into the role of leader well before he's ready.
 * Alaina Huffman has been cast as Lt. Tamara Johansen, a field medic assigned to treat the seriously wounded.
 * Jamil Walker Smith has been cast as Master Sergeant Ronald Greer. Sergeant Greer was named Ron “Psycho” Stasiak in early casting documents.
 * David Blue has been cast as Eli Wallace. The character is described as “a total slacker who just happens to be an utter genius with anything he puts his mind to — mathematics, computers, video games. A lack confidence has left him with an acerbic sense of humor.”
 * Ming-Na has been cast as Camile Wray, a human resources executive with the IOA.
 * Elyse Levesque has been cast as Chloe Armstrong, daughter and aide of a U.S. senator.

Secondary Characters

 * Julia Benson as Vanessa James
 * Patrick Gilmore as Dale Volker
 * Lou Diamond Phillips has been cast as Colonel David Telford, a lifelong military man. Telford is the would-be commander of the Destiny expedition and is left behind when the base is attacked. He works from Earth to try to bring the crew home.
 * Peter Kelamis as Adam Brody
 * Jennifer Spence as Lisa Park
 * Haig Sutherland as Hunter Riley
 * Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman as Airman Darren Becker

Guest Stars

 * Richard Dean Anderson as Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill in "Air", "Earth" and sporadically throughout the first season.
 * Gary Jones as Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman
 * Michael Shanks as Doctor Daniel Jackson in "Air", "Human", and "Subversion".
 * Amanda Tapping as Colonel Samantha Carter in "Air" as the commander of the George Hammond and in the season finale, "Incursion, Part 1".
 * Bill Dow as Bill Lee
 * Martin Christopher as Major Kevin Marks in Air, Part 1 as the Pilot and Weapons Officer of the George Hammond.
 * Kirby Morrow as Captain Dave Kleinman. This will be his first appearance since The Return, Part 2
 * Robert Picardo as Richard Woolsey
 * David Hewlett as Dr Rodney McKay

Webisodes
Airing in tandem with the first season of Stargate Universe are a series of 30 brief interdependent Kino-related webisodes. These brief segments are usually continuations of an episode that aired just prior to the webisodes release. However, some contain content relatively unrelated to recent episodes.