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Stargate is coming back as a digital-only prequel series

Stargate is coming back as a digital-only prequel series

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Stargate Origins will launch in 2017 on MGM’s new digital platform

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The long-running science fiction franchise Stargate will be returning later this fall with a new digital show from MGM called Stargate Origins. The announcement was made today at San Diego Comic-Con, during a 20th anniversary retrospective on the series Stargate SG-1.

Each episode of Origins will run 10 minutes in length, with the first season of 10 episodes available exclusively on a new website called Stargate Command. According to MGM’s announcement, Command will also be an official destination for all things Stargate, including a “variety of Stargate assets and content from the franchise’s nearly 25-year history.”

“We’ve been eager to revisit the Stargate franchise and create an all-new story that honors the founding mythos,” MGM’s president of digital and new platforms Kevin Conroy said in a statement. “We view Stargate Origins as a thank you to fans who have been keeping the spirit of the franchise alive for nearly 25 years.” The move to a digital platform is similar to the strategy that CBS is taking with its new Star Trek show, Star Trek Discovery, which will begin streaming later this year on CBS All Access. While Stargate Origins will begin filming this fall, MGM didn’t announce a release date.

Stargate SG-1 was based on the 1994 Roland Emmerich film Stargate, and followed a team of specialists who traveled through the titular portal to explore new worlds and face off against various enemies. The show ended up lasting for 10 years, and spawned the spinoffs Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate Universe. Origins will actually be a prequel to the original film, focusing on a younger version of the character Catherine Langford (first played by Viveca Lindfors). In the franchise’s mythology, Langford’s father initially discovered the Stargate, with Origins following the adventures that lead her to becoming the Stargate expert that appears in Emmerich’s movie.

MGM resurrecting the franchise will no doubt come as welcome news to its passionate fans. The last show, Stargate Universe, ended on a cliffhanger in 2011, and while there’s been talk about a new series of films nothing concrete has appeared until now other than comic book releases. It’s not clear what Stargate Origins means for the films in development, but the news of both the new series and website seem to indicate that MGM is aware that there is a market for new stories set in the universe.