Amazon and MGM cancelled the Stargate revival series after it was already moving into production, leaving showrunner Martin Gero, his crew, and many fans standing out in the cold. The real twist of the knife was hearing that the new Stargate series was cancelled because Gero tailored it to please longtime fans of the franchise. However, Amazon may not have counted on Stargate fans’ passion, because the fandom heard about the cancellation and immediately went into action.
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A petition to save Martin Gero’s new Stargate show went up on Change.org a day after the cancellation was first reported. At the time of writing this, it has over 12,500 signatures and is climbing fast, clearly indicating that there is a passionate fanbase still out there who feel like the rug is being pulled out from under them.
Fans haven’t been the only ones to speak up: Stargate TV universe producer Joseph Mallozzi made a public statement, saying, “Creator Martin Gero developed a new Stargate series over two years, ultimately crafting a show that offered a fresh jumping-on point for new viewers while deeply respecting existing canon… We’ll never get the opportunity to introduce you to that world and those characters—or reintroduce you to, and check in with, some familiar faces from the past.”
Stargate SG-1 Star Reacts to Fan Petition to Save Revival
Now, Stargate SG-1 star Michael Shanks is speaking up: Shanks shared a fan’s social media post calling for fans to move on signing the petition, while adding his own words: “I’m gonna simply say this: if you are at all interested in a Stargate show with ANY of the original creators/performers involved, now is the time to say something. Otherwise it really will be the end of that chapter forever. Let them know you are THERE”.
In the petition, Stargate fans argue that the cancellation “is not only an insult to millions of fans who have kept the Gate active for over 30 years, but it is also a massive creative and financial mistake. A dedicated fanbase is not a liability—it is the strongest foundation a network can have… By locking out the creators who built the lore of SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe, Amazon risks turning Stargate into a soulless corporate product that nobody wants to watch.”
Behind the scenes, it seems the new Stargate show got the axe due to studio politics. Amazon has hired former Netflix executive Brett Fetter (Stranger Things, 3 Body Problem, The Haunting of Hill House) as its Head of Worldbuilding & Genre Series. However, Amazon TV executives Nick Pepper and Matt King, who were reportedly major backers of the Stargate revival series, have both left the company, and the new executive team supposedly thought that Gero’s version “no longer aligned with Amazon’s programming strategy.”
However, as fans are saying through this petition, Stargate is a franchise that has been building and expanding itself since director Roland Emmerich’s (Independence Day) 1994 sci-fi/fantasy film. The longevity has been sustained by a dedicated fandom, not because waves of newcomers have been flooding in with each new project. Cancelling this new series because it was custom-made for established fans seems wrong.
Stargate SG-1 is streaming on Prime Video, MGM+, Netflix, and Pluto TV. Discuss rebooting classic shows with us on the ComicBook Forum!
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Forum Conversation: Can legacy sci-fi ever be rebooted correctly?
Go to ForumRight?? I mean the tech and graphics pretty much give creators/writers a free pass to get super-cool and super-weird. Already happening, I mean Ruffalo’s having an oat milk latte in his trailer while we’re lulled into thinking he’s green.fingers crossed! Fun question.
I personally would LOVE some new things. I mean, after all, we’re already living in the future that a lot of older sci-fi imagined. I’d be wildly interested in seeing what new things we could imagine.