Stargate Reboot Trilogy Plans Announced

Producer Dean Devlin has confirmed that, after this summer’s ‘Independence Day: Resurgence,’ he and director Roland Emmerich intend to return to their earlier sci-fi blockbuster, ‘Stargate.’

The 1994 movie starred Kurt Russell and James Spader as a soldier and an Egyptologist who venture into another world through a portal left on Earth by aliens thousands of years in the past.

Celebrated for its state-of-the-art special effects, it was a reasonable box office success, earning almost $200 million worldwide, and Devlin and Emmerich had originally intended to make two sequels.

However, these plans were scuppered when – without Emmerich or Devlin’s involvement - the franchise was taken to television: first with the series ‘Stargate: SG-1,’ followed by ‘Stargate: Atlantis,’ and finally ‘Stargate: Universe,’ which came to a total of 354 episodes.

This, it seems, was always a disappointment for the creators of the franchise – and now, Devlin tells Variety they hope to complete their original vision of a ‘Stargate’ trilogy.

The producer says, “[‘Stargate’] was taken away from us, and it’s tough to have your children raised by other parents, even if they do a very good job.

“For us, it’s not putting down what has been done. It’s to let us finish telling our story.”

To this end, Devlin and Emmerich have hired ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ screenwriters James A. Woods and Nicolas Wright to pen a new ‘Stargate’ screenplay.

However, unlike ‘Independence Day: Resurgence,’ the new ‘Stargate’ will not be a direct sequel, but a back to square one reboot – and Devlin insists this was the only approach that made sense.

“It’s not a story that can take place 20 years later. So the only way to really tell that trilogy is to go back from the beginning and start the story all over again.”

The original 1994 movie works very much as a standalone story, but Devlin explains the reboot will be approached explicitly with continuation in mind.

“Today, studios tend to not think of movies as trilogies or sequels (but) as cinematic universes. So as we’ve been developing it, we found all these avenues that allow it to expand.

“The foundation is exactly the same as what we wanted to do, but now the possibilities are much wider.”

Still, while work is commencing on a new ‘Stargate’ trilogy, no timeframe has been laid out for the movies to arrive, and director Emmerich warns fans against expecting anything too soon, noting, “It took very long for ‘Independence Day,’ so [Stargate] will probably also take equally long.”

In the meantime, ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ opens in UK cinemas on 23 June.

Picture Credit: MGM/Studiocanal

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