Stargate Origins was announced yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con and, as the name suggests, it’s set to explore events that set the rest of the franchise in motion. A short teaser trailer used to announce the project seems to depict the discovery of the titular portal in Giza, Egypt, during the 1920s.
The series will center on Catherine Langford, a character who will be very familiar to longtime fans of the franchise. Having witnessed her father uncover the Stargate when she was a child, she spent much of her life attempting to unravel its mysteries.
“We’ve been eager to revisit the Stargate franchise, and create an all-new story that honors the founding mythos and gives loyal fans more mystery and adventure,” said Kevin Conroy, MGM’s president of digital and new platforms. “We view Stargate Origins as a thank you to fans who have been keeping the spirit of the franchise alive for nearly 25 years.”
Stargate Origins will be the centerpiece of a brand new streaming service dubbed Stargate Command, according to a report from Comic Book Resources. The platform will offer up a mix of free and paid content, ranging from classic episodes of the various series that make up the franchise, to behind-the-scenes footage.
Stargate was a 1994 sci-fi movie starring Kurt Russell and James Spader that eventually spawned three live-action television spinoffs: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. The entire franchise has produced more than 380 episodes, so there’s plenty of content to warrant a franchise-specific streaming service.
Stargate Origins is being written by Mark Ilvedson and Justin Michael Terry, with Mercedes Bryce Morgan taking on directorial duties. There’s no exact date on when the series will air, or how many episodes have been commissioned for its first season, but it’s expected to debut via Stargate Command sometime this fall.