Picardo Joins Stargate Atlantis Cast + McGillion Back For More

The SciFi Channel announced today that Robert Picardo, The Doctor from Star Trek Voyager, has been tapped as a full-time cast member for the 5th season of Stargate Atlantis. Picardo’s recurring character Richard Woolsey is stepping in as head of the Atlantis Expedition. SciFi also announced that former SGA cast member Paul McGillion (who has a small part in the new Star Trek film) will reprise his role as Carson Beckett for five episodes.

Picardo has appeared numerous times on both Stargate Atlantis and Stargate SG-1. His character Richard Woolsey is taking over the Atlantis Expedition from Amanda Tapping’s Samantha Carter. Tapping, who joined the cast for the 4th season, will appear in some episodes, but is leaving to do a new show on SciFi called “Sanctuary” (as reported in our recent ‘SciFi Saturday’ column).

Although Picardo is the first Trek actor to join the cast full time, he far from being the only Star Trek/Stargate crossover. Previous Trek stars who have gone through the gate include: Jolene Blalock (ENT: T’Pol), John Billingsley (ENT: Phlox), Rene Auberjonois (DS9: Odo), Armin Shimerman (DS9), Marina Sirtis (TNG: Troi), Colm Meaney (DS9: O’Brian) and Connor Trinneer (ENT: Tucker). In addition Trek regular guest stars John de Lancie (TNG: Q) and Dwight Schultz (TNG: Barclay) have also shown up on a Stargate.

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Robert Picardo To Join Cast

Show Will Hit 100th Episode This Season

SCI FI Channel’s recent People’s Choice Award winner, Stargate Atlantis, will begin production later this month on its fifth original season. The new 20-episode season will include the series’ benchmark 100th episode. Produced and distributed by MGM Television, Stargate Atlantis is filmed in Vancouver, Canada.

As Atlantis speeds toward its centennial episode, the Stargate universe promises new and surprising developments. The status quo is shaken following the events of season 4 (currently airing on SCI FI, Friday nights at 10pm) – some cherished friends are lost, others are found. New alliances are forged while new races are introduced.

Robert Picardo, whom Stargate fans will recognize as International Oversight Committee rep “Richard Woolsey,” joins the Stargate Atlantis cast this season as Woolsey assumes command of the Atlantis expedition. The team, led by Lt. Colonel Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett), Teyla (Rachel Luttrell), Ronon (Jason Momoa) and Dr. Jennifer Keller (Jewel Staite), must adjust to his unique leadership style.

Fan favorite Paul McGillion, will return for five episodes to reprise his role as the beloved “Dr. Carson Beckett.” Amanda Tapping (“Colonel Samantha Carter”), who remains a fixture of the Stargate universe, will appear as a special guest star in several episodes this season and Stargate SG-1 star Michael Shanks (“Dr. Daniel Jackson”) will appear as a special guest in episodes as well.

Stargate Atlantis follows the adventures of an intrepid team of military and civilian explorers who travel the distant Pegasus galaxy by means of a Stargate, a portal created long ago by a highly advanced alien civilization called the Ancients. In their never-ending quest to seek out other technologies left behind by the Ancients, the Atlantis team encounters alien cultures – some friend, some foe.

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Picardo on Atlantis
Here is a 2007 video interview from TrekNews.de where Picardo talks about his role on Stargate Atlantis

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Colonel Carter is leaving? demoted? killed off (shudders, I hope not)?

AWEsome!!

Picardo was one of the few good things about Voyager. Have only seen a handful of episodes of SG: A. Might have to check it out next season.

This is just SOOOO cool. I’m still a big fan of Picardo and seeing him as a regular on a SciFi show again is brilliant!

However, it seems as if the Stargate universe is a nothing but a vast recycling ground for SciFi alumni. Come on. How many former Trek actors, Farscape actors, Andromeda and Firefly actresses (talking ’bout female doctors!) and former X-Files stars are ending up on Stargate these days?

SciFi is currently running a web series called “Sanctuary” which Tapping stars in. They have ordered 13 episodes as a full blown TV series,so I figure that’s why Tapping’s status on the show is changing. I believe the deal she has on Atlantis now is that she only appears in 1 out of every 3 episodes.

Picardo’s Richard Woolsey should be a great addition to the show. His character is a combination of pragmatic sensiblities and the prickliness of a porcupine. I can just see the (creatively speaking) sparks flying between him and Ronon Dex.

Sounds good to me!

#4: “How many former Trek actors, Farscape actors, Andromeda and Firefly actresses (talking ’bout female doctors!) and former X-Files stars are ending up on Stargate these days?”

Someone has to keep them employed– I’d much rather see them doing sci-fi than soap operas.

Robert Picardo – along with Jeri Ryan far and away the best things to happen to Voyager, he is very underrated.

Other SciFi actors on Stargate SG-1/Atlantis

* John de Lancie (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager)
* Jolene Blalock (Star Trek: Enterprise),
* John Billingsley (Star Trek: Enterprise)
* Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager)
* Rene Auberjonois (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
* Armin Shimerman (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
* Marina Sirtis (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”)
* Dwight Schultz (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”)
* Brent Stait (Andromeda)
* Lexa Doig (Andromeda)
* Steve Bacic (Andromeda)
* Morena Baccarin (Firefly)
* Adam Baldwin (Firefly)
* Claudia Black (Farscape)
* Michael DeLuise (seaQuest DSV)
* Michael Ironside (seaQuest 2032)
* Colm Meaney (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
* Connor Trinneer (Star Trek: Enterprise)
* Jewel Staite (Firefly)
* Robert Patrick (The X-Files)
* Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files)

Thanks, Wikipedia!

Great a base run by an accountant and holographic Dr. wonderful. I am sad to See Carter ( Tapping). Sh eleft because they could not work outa deal SG-A wanted priority and she said no with regerts see her interview on gateworld.

I am very happy that becket is back.
Yes there are a lot of recyled Scifi stars in atlantis that is part of what is appealing to the show. the other is thatthey rarely take themselves seriously.

Wh o would win in a fight the Daleks, Kilingons or the Wraith? not to mention the Romulans, Ori, Replicators, or Cybermen and/ ort the g’ould?

—–and a partridge in a pear tree!

Great interview video. Picardo is a funny guy.

> Paul McGillion (who has a small part in the new Star Trek film) will reprise his role as Carson Beckett for five episodes.

Didn’t Carson Beckett die. Oh, I forgot… This is scifi.

I’m sorry, I’ve caught this show on Scifi a few times and it just BAFFLES me why anyone would like it.

The writing and dialogue are generic, the characters are dull, and all anybody seems to do is stand around in a boring control room. Where does the fun and adventure come in??

After such witty and interesting shows as Buffy and Angel and DS9, I would hope we scifi fans would have developed slightly higher standards by now. The Stargates are a definite step back.

I’m famliure with Bob before he did Trek

He’s been in just about EVERY Joe Dante film there is

( and then some )

He’s a lot of fun

– W –
* heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh *

Anthony what about still keeping this a Trek site but also doing daily Scifi news articles like this one but also about other Scifi TV show news?

A fun memory of Robert Picardo was from his first appearance at Starbase Indy’s annual TREK convention (during the early days of the series).

Someone in the audience asked if he had seen the new action figure of the Doctor. He replied he had not. One of the fans chimed in they were for sale in the dealer’s room, and he promptly ran up and gave one to the actor.

Picardo (while holding and looking at the figure) then replied with his typical deadpan voice, “Gee, just what I’ve always wanted… to play with myself.”

The audience lost it…

I really liked Robert Picardo also. I was never much of a VOY fan but his portrayal of the Doctor was outstanding.

However for some reason VOY is much more entertaining ten years later. Maybe the Trek franchise really did need to take a breather…

I forgot to say adding Scifi Movie news article also.

#8:

You forgot Ben Browder (Farscape).

y#16: “However for some reason VOY is much more entertaining ten years later. Maybe the Trek franchise really did need to take a breather…”

Yes, lacking a steady diet of new episodes has left me wanting more, yet another reason I am very much looking forward to the new movie… hoping that Abrams et al., can revive the franchise.

The animated series Gargoyles had nearly the entire cast of TNG at one point. :)
Nichelle Nichols and Avery Brooks also voiced characters on the show.

#20 – Thanks for confirming that fact. It did seem like a lot of TNG alumni were involved…

I met Robert Picardo as a kid when he was on Voyager. He was in a doctor’s office for his daughter where my sister was going. We talked for about 20 minutes, what a great guy. Then about a year later my parents and sister ran into him again at a hotel and said they had met him at the doctor’s office and he asked about me since he remembered I was the huge Star Trek fan.

I cannot say enough good things about Robert Picardo as a person and as an actor. My fiance and I still to this day wish they could write his character into every episode of every Trek show. Long live the Doctor.

#12,, I coundnt agree more.
^
I’m glad Picardo is getting work but Stargate the tv shows are horrible to say the least. I’m constantly amazed that crap show is still on tv.
^
Unforgivable to cancel Farscape in sake of that garbage.

#12,, I coundnt agree more.
^
I’m glad Picardo is getting work but Stargate the tv shows are horrible to say the least. I’m constantly amazed that crap show is still on tv.
^
Unforgivable to cancel Farscape in sake of that garbage.
^
Ben Browder will always be John Chriton to me.

Great actor. Interesting character. Wrong choice to command the Atlantis Expedition

#12 “I’ve caught this show on Scifi a few times and it just BAFFLES me why anyone would like it”

In the 1 year hiatus between ST:VOY and ST:ENT I was suffering SciFi, or more accurately Star Trek, withdrawals.

I had seen the odd episode of Stargate-SG1 on cable. I had not enjoyed the movie much. My local store had a sale on with full seasons of SG1 for $29 or something like that. Anyway I bought Seasons 1 to 3 and that was it. I was hooked. I realised, like the transporter in Star Trek, that the Star Gate was a good devise to get your cast to the action quickly each week. So stories moved along at a good pace.

It is important to see the episodes of early seasons of SG1 concurrently if you are to follow what happens in the future and the Stargate universe as a whole. The mythology involving the Egyptians, the Goa’uld and the pyramids etc. is very smart and convincing.

I realised that an advantage Star Gate had over Star Trek was that it’s stories are told in today’s timeline. We boldly visit these new worlds and civilizations weekly and are able to reference many of the technological discoveries with a perspective of today. That’s where Jack O’Neil comes in brilliantly as the non–tech savvy team leader who asks the important questions like “What the …”

There are many references to Star Trek and other Sci-Fi shows because there can be. This is in our time frame and Universe. We just don’t know (the general population) that it’s all happening. One of my favorite moments is when Amanda Tapping’s character is trying to come up with a name for the new “Warp Speed” battle ship they’ve just built. She looks to Jack and he’s about to open his mouth when she interjects “ and`no … you can’t call it the Enterprise!”

Stargate is well written, is funny and entertaining. Although I say again you really need to follow the shows in order in the first seasons to understand all the mythology. It will be good to see Picardo in the chair of Atlantis. He is a great asset to any show.

Kevin,

Glad you enjoy the shows, but to be honest, like some of the other posters here I’m at something of a loss to see the appeal of these shows, aside from the attractive casts and production values. They seem to share most of Trek’s (particularly modern Trek) weaknesses, while lacking its idealism and the inherent interest of seeing what the future might look like. (For this reason, I don’t find, as you do, the modern-day setting to be an advantage at all.) It’s an okay time-waster, I suppose, but compared to a really revolutionary genre series like Ron Moore’s Galactica, to me the Stargate franchise just feels like more generic “sci-fi” television.

Interesting choice for CO of SG:A, should make for some nice character conflicts and plot lines! Congrats on the promotion, Robert Picardo! Such a great personality, and fun to watch!

Although I am rather sad and disappointed at the same time to hear about Samantha Carter/Amanda Tapping’s leaving, as it seems like we were just getting used to her in the Atlantis environment, and even then she seemed highly underused. I would like to have seen a few more stronger stories with her more in the forefront. Glad to hear she’ll still be around, but I hope she’ll still be human, and doesn’t become the next replicator simbot.

Another good example of humor in Stargate is from the SG-1 pilot. Carter is explaining some bit of tech to O’Neil and said that they “McGyvered” it. The look on Anderson’s face is priceless.

I gotta be careful reading this stuff lol, as I’ve only seen the first two seasons of Atlantis so far. Anyway, glad that Picardo is joining the cast. Woolsey seems quite an interesting character who is developing into more than the ‘mild villain’ he was introduced as.

#27. Michael Hall
And I hate Moore’s “Galactica” … much preferred the original series. There you go. I must be into “generic” Sci-Fi as you put it. I didn’t like XFiles past season 2 either. And I love 60’s Lost in Space and Star Wars to so I suppose I am into the lighter Sci-Fi experience.

#29 Doug Abramson
Agreed!!

#12 Your opinion is defintiely in the minority on this one. Star GAte and and Atlantis have produced over a decade worth of quality seasons. Compare any season of SG and any season of Voyager and its a laugh. There are almost no filler episodes and we actually have three dimensional characters that are flawed.
AFter all these years the SG writers some how come up with fresh stories and ideas which has proven to be impossible for the Berman regime on trek. In my opinion SG is by far the most consistent and longest running scifi show in history.

I’m delighted to hear that Picardo is joining the cast, he’s a great actor (remember gremlins 2 – He was too funny). And he seems genuinely nice in interviews.
Best wishes to Bob.

I feel like the odd man out. Having never caught a single episode of any Stargate series, I have absolutely no opinion one way or the other. I feel like a kid left out of the snowball fight :)

Picardo, though … Him, I like. Here’s hoping that someday he ends up in a show I watch …

Role is a nIce win for Robert Picardo.

I do miss the Doctor Weir character, though.

Interesting news. I’m only luke warm on Atlantis but I was a big follower of SG-1.
Even though the show is made a mile away, season three of SG:A is just being shown here now. So we have not yet seen season 4 SG:A with Amanda Tapping. It’s not too surprising – at one point Canadian TV was 2 1/2 seasons behind showing SG-1!
If you enjoy TOS try the early seasons of SG-1. It has much the same spirit.

#32, you prove the point that the smart are outnumbered by the stupid.
Enjoy your lame show.
^
#34 check out “Motorama” Picardo plays a cop in that one. Its a cult classic.

For the longest time I had no interest in Stargate. I finally gave both series a try after speaking with people at the Vegas Trek convention. I was pleasantly surprised. I think I got into Atlantis a little more because it was fairly new and I didn’t have to catch up much. It has definitely picked up the pace in season 4. It’s on my regular viewing list now. Picardo plays a good role on that show, but it’s definitely going to be a shakeup when he takes command of the expedition. Not exactly your courageous leader type!

SG-1 is good also, but I came in at about season 8 so all of the references to previous years and situations had me baffled for awhile. But if you invest the time, you actually find it’s a very rich universe with interesting stories

Overall they’re not on the level of the Trek series or the new BSG (which totally blows the original series out of the water IMO). But I would much rather watch Stargate than one of the 817 crime procedurals or reality shows that clutter up the broadcast networks.

Just my 2 cents.

Anybody out there watching the Terminator series?

My wife and I have seen every episode of SG-1, and the only reason we don’t watch Atlantis is that we don’t have the money to start at the beginning.

I think with the addition of Picardo and Saite, we might just watch Season 5 for the heck of it.

stargate?

bleh… well, i suppose an actor has to eat.

too bad no has thought to re-do the old series ‘the starlost’ the way it was supposed to have been done.

at least we have bsg, i suppose…

-COOL NEWS !!!
I’m a huge fan of the old ‘holo-doc’ !

#39 yea I’m digging the Sarah Connor Cronicles. (Last episode was very cool).
^
Its “nothing like” any of the 3 films but its entertaining…

“And I hate Moore’s “Galactica” … much preferred the original series. There you go. I must be into “generic” Sci-Fi as you put it. I didn’t like XFiles past season 2 either. And I love 60’s Lost in Space and Star Wars to so I suppose I am into the lighter Sci-Fi experience.”

No worries, mate. :-) Like what you like, and be happy–it’s a fine thing there are currently genre shows in production that each of us can enjoy.

Should this not have been marked as a SPOILER! It’s really ruined that part of the story for me, and much of the rest of the season :( I happily read that Robert Picardo was going to become a full time cast member in Season 5, fine :) but then to read exactly how, with such a major role… whilst I am excited about him playing that role, I would rather NOT have been told about it, especially here of all places.

I’m sad to see Amanda Tapping go, but its cool she’s doing her own thing. I’ll have to get my fill of her in the new SG1 Ark of Truth movie out march 11th.. It looks pretty awesome from the clips: http://stargatehub.com/

A different look at Stargate Universe after seeing this you will appreciate the show that much more. http://www.koldcast.tv/video/2384