Stargate Atlantis

Lore & Background

Stargate Atlantis follows the events of Stargate SG-1's seventh season finale 'Lost City' and eighth season premiere 'New Order', in which the cast discovered an Antarctic outpost created by the Ancients. In the pilot 'Rising', Dr. Daniel Jackson locates Atlantis, and Stargate Command sends an international team to investigate. The series centers on Major John Sheppard and his team, who use the Stargate to explore planets in the Pegasus Galaxy, based in the Lost City of Atlantis on the planet Lantea. The city was abandoned 10,000 years ago after the Ancients lost a war to the Wraith, and was submerged beneath Lantea's ocean, which in the Stargate universe is the source of the Greek myth of Atlantis.

Episodes feature self-contained stories that also contribute to the larger storyline of the war against the Wraith and the search for a means to destroy them. Each season includes a two-part episode, and some episodes have direct continuity with previous ones. Episodes begin with a cold open, sometimes preceded by a recap. The opening credits feature an original theme by Joel Goldsmith, though they were cut at the start of season 2 and restored after the mid-season two-part episode. The series was filmed in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Reader's Guide

Stargate Atlantis was a ratings success for the Sci Fi Channel and was particularly popular in Europe and Australia. Although it received little critical response, the series was honored with numerous awards and award nominations over its five-season run. The show's cancellation led to the intended direct-to-DVD movie Stargate: Extinction being cancelled as well. The series is notable for expanding the Stargate franchise into a new galaxy, introducing the Wraith as a major antagonist, and featuring a rotating leadership among the expedition, including Dr. Elizabeth Weir, Colonel Samantha Carter, and Richard Woolsey. Its legacy includes a dedicated fan base and continued recognition within the science fiction television genre, though no further installments were produced after the cancellation of Stargate Universe.

Did You Know?

• The series was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper as a spin-off of Stargate SG-1.
• All five seasons were broadcast by the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States and The Movie Network in Canada.
• A planned direct-to-DVD movie titled Stargate: Extinction was cancelled.

Origins & Production

Stargate Atlantis emerged as the third major entry in MGM's Stargate franchise, building on the 1994 feature film and the long-running Stargate SG-1 series. Brad Wright, who co-created SG-1 with Jonathan Glassner, teamed up with Robert C. Cooper to develop this spin-off. The production was based in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, giving the series a distinctly Canadian production identity even as it aired on American and Canadian networks. In the United States, all five seasons ran on the Sci-Fi Channel, while Canadian viewers tuned in via The Movie Network. The series launched on July 16, 2004, and concluded with its final episode on January 9, 2009, spanning roughly four and a half years of weekly storytelling. Each episode opened with a cold open, sometimes preceded by a recap, and featured an original theme composed by Joel Goldsmith. A notable production quirk was that full end credits were trimmed at the start of season two but restored after the mid-season two-parter.

The World of Lantea

The narrative foundation of Stargate Atlantis is rooted in the crossover between SG-1's seventh-season finale "Lost City" and its eighth-season premiere "New Order," in which the SG-1 team uncovered an Antarctic outpost built by the Ancients. The pilot episode "Rising" then sees Dr. Daniel Jackson pinpoint the location of Atlantis itself, prompting Stargate Command to dispatch an international expedition. The city sits on the planet Lantea and was constructed millions of years ago by the Ancients, an advanced civilization. Ten thousand years before the show's present day, the Ancients were driven into exile after a prolonged war against the Wraith, a powerful enemy. They submerged their city beneath Lantea's ocean before departing, a detail that, within the Stargate universe, serves as the origin of the Greek myth of the Lost City of Atlantis. The expedition, led by Dr. Elizabeth Weir, must survive in this new galaxy while deciphering Ancient technology, all while cut off from Earth due to the immense power requirements of the Stargate to Lantea.

Three Seasons of Escalating Conflict

The first three seasons chart a steadily intensifying war. Season one introduces the expedition's first allies, the Athosians, and its first true enemy, the Wraith, before the Genii—a militaristic human civilization at a 1950s technological level—emerge as another threat. The season ends with a siege of Atlantis, broken only when Earth's battleship arrives. Season two brings the starship Daedalus and a Zero Point Module restoring contact with Earth. Sheppard is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and Ronon Dex, a human freed from Wraith captivity, replaces the missing Lt. Ford. The central thread is Dr. Beckett's retrovirus, an incomplete weapon that nearly turns Sheppard into an Iratus bug before a developed version is tested on a Wraith named Michael, whose faction betrays the team. Season three introduces the Asurans, self-replicating nanobots, as a new threat. A botched experiment drains the lone ZPM, and a lost Ancient vessel seizes control of the city. General O'Neill and Richard Woolsey are sent to negotiate, forced into hiding after the Ancients are killed by an Asuran assault. The finale opens with Earth launching a first strike against the Asurans.

Reception & the Road to Cancellation

Stargate Atlantis proved a ratings success for the Sci-Fi Channel, finding particularly strong audiences in Europe and Australia. Despite this commercial performance, the series received relatively little critical attention, yet it was still honored with numerous awards and nominations across its five-season run. Structurally, each episode delivered a self-contained story while also advancing the larger war against the Wraith, and every season featured a two-part episode, with some installments maintaining direct continuity with the one before. The franchise's future, however, proved short-lived. With the cancellation of the spin-off Stargate Universe, the intended direct-to-DVD Stargate Atlantis movie, Stargate: Extinction, was also cancelled. That decision effectively sealed the fate of the Atlantis storyline, leaving the five broadcast seasons as the complete narrative arc for Major Sheppard, Dr. McKay, Teyla Emmagan, and the rest of the Pegasus Galaxy expedition.