There were concerns that it would only appeal to hardcore fans.
Amazon’s fledgling Stargate series, announced last November, has been canceled, Variety reported. The new show was met with enthusiasm by franchise fans and would have been helmed by Martin Gero, who worked on Stargate: Atlantis back in the early 2000s. However, Amazon execs were said to be worried that the new series would only appeal to hardcore Stargate fans and lacked broad appeal beyond that.
“Sadly, it’s true. Amazon has elected not to move forward with the new Stargate seeries,” said executive producer Joseph Mallozzi on X. “As of today, officially, that original vision is no more. 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.”
Amazon was looking to develop projects in the Stargate universe starting back in 2022, when it acquired the IP with its purchase of MGM. It would have made sense to use the well-known franchise to expand its sci-fi offerings, as it doesn’t currently have a hit in that genre as it did with The Expanse, which ended in 2022.
Nothing was ever announced about the plot for the new series and where it would fit into the Stargate timeline. However, Mallozzi said that Gero developed the series over two years, “ultimately crafting a show that offered a fresh jumping-on point for new viewers while deeply respecting existing canon.”
For the uninitiated, the franchise revolves around the titular Stargates, transportation devices created by ancient aliens that act as galaxy-spanning wormholes. It started with a 1994 movie starring James Spader and Kurt Russell, followed by the Stargate SG-1 series, starring Richard Dean Anderson. There have also been four other TV shows and two direct-to-video movies.
