Amazon Abruptly Cancels ‘Stargate’ Revival, Citing Lack of “Broad Appeal”
Amazon closed the gate on a revival fans were looking forward to; a Stargate series that was well into development is no longer happening. The reasons are varied, but they boil down to one thing: the appeal was not broad enough for the studio’s new heads of television.
The proposed series from noteworthy SG-1 writer Martin Gero was meant to be a continuation that fit within the franchise’s established canon, rather than the full reboot studios usually desire. Amazon executives championed it at the time of its announcement, but the show’s development fell prey to regime change.
Amazon MGM Studios Head of Television Peter Friedlander was supposedly a big believer in the new Stargate, as were other key executives. However, he shook up his entire division last year, resulting in the departure of several top executives and a total restructuring in how shows are run. In the process, he killed whatever chance the series had.
Friedlander switched to a “genre system” and appointed Blair Fetter to serve as the new Head of Worldbuilding & Genre Series. Fetter’s position put him in charge of several programs and a few massive sci-fi/fantasy properties, including Stargate, Blade Runner 2099, and God of War.
According to an inside source, Fetter didn’t see the appeal of Gero’s vision, as he felt it catered too hard to the existing fanbase. People involved or who have a history with the franchise, like veteran cast member Michael Shanks, came forward to stick up for Gero. They counterargue that Gero’s story was solid enough for unfamiliar newbies to understand and follow while staying true to core fans’ expectations.
Gero’s years of involvement with Stargate – working his way up from a writer to a co-executive producer across three different spinoffs – allayed fans’ concerns about how faithful the revival would be. Unfortunately, Fetter allegedly concluded Gero went so lore-heavy that no amount of notes could rein him in: Therefore, cancellation was the only option.
Stargate is one of the longest-running sci-fi franchises in history, spinning off from the 1994 film and boasting three main live-action television series, starting with SG-1 and wrapping up with the decidedly darker and 2000s Battlestar Galactica-inspired Stargate Universe.
