Casting has been completed on SCI FI Channel’s highly anticipated original series, Stargate Atlantis.
Joe Flanigan leads the cast of heroes, who will undertake humanity’s greatest and most dangerous
mission yet. Atlantis will debut with a two-hour premiere in July '04, and feature crossover appearances
by members of the Stargate SG-1 team.
Following its premiere, 18 additional original episodes of Atlantis will air during the show’s regular
Friday 10PM ET/PT slot, as a companion series to the new eighth season of Stargate SG-1, giving
SF fans a double dose of Stargate adventures.
Stargate Atlantis is the newest addition to the hit franchise that introduced audiences to instantaneous
travel to thousands of worlds through an ancient portal called the Stargate. Atlantis will take viewers
to a completely new galaxy of Stargates for the adventure of a lifetime.
When a secret base, abandoned by the original builders of the Stargates, is found buried in the ice
of Antarctica, the newly formed Stargate Atlantis team is born. The team's discovery leads to a
daring expedition to the distant Pegasus galaxy, where they encounter a primitive human civilization ...
and a sinister new enemy that threatens human life everywhere.
The Stargate Atlantis mission is headed by Dr. Elizabeth Weir (Torri Higginson), a specialist in diplomatic
relations. Her political savvy is balanced by the go-with-your-gut bravado of her military counterpart,
Major John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), a courageous and gifted pilot. Rounding out the crew are
Rainbow Sun Francks as Lieutenant Aiden Ford, the enthusiastic young officer who becomes Sheppard’s
second-in-command, and David Hewlett, reprising his recurring Stargate SG-1 role of Dr. Rodney McKay,
a clever and quick-witted astrophysicist. Rachel Luttrell plays Teyla, a beautiful young leader among the
primitive alien civilization that the Atlantis team encounters.
In a special guest-starring role, SF favorite Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The X-Files)
will appear as Colonel Marshall Sumner in the two-hour Stargate Atlantis premiere event.
Currently in production in Vancouver, British Columbia, Stargate Atlantis will be distributed by MGM
Worldwide Television Distribution. Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper serve as executive producers
on the new series. Cooper is currently the Stargate SG-1 executive producer; Brad Wright is Stargate
SG-1 co-creator and served as the series' executive producer for six seasons.
MGM Worldwide Television Distribution handles global distribution of film and television product as
well as co-productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. The company also distributes NBC
Enterprises-produced programming in all territories outside of North America.
SCI FI Channel is a television network where "what if" is what's on. SCI FI fuels the imagination
of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy
programming, as well as a dynamic Web site and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 82
million homes, SCI FI Channel is a program service of Universal Television Networks, part of the
Universal Television Group, a division of Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE), the U.S.-based film,
television and recreation entity of Vivendi Universal, a global media and communications company.
