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Last week’s Stargate rumor just got backed up by someone who worked inside the franchise.
Jenny Stiven, who spent years working on Stargate, including MGM’s Stargate Command fan hub, appeared on the Dial the Gate YouTube channel and confirmed the creative brief behind Jac Schaeffer’s new series: no hard reboot, and it must stay within the TV universe canon.
“Safe House Pictures was given a creative brief that there is to be no hard reboot. Period. End of subject,” she said.
Asked to repeat it, she did.
> “Amazon gave Safe House Pictures a creative brief for this IP, for this series development, that said no hard reboot and it must be in the TV universe canon. Now, that’s it. There were no more instructions as far as I’ve had confirmed.”
Stiven stressed she no longer works on Stargate or for Amazon, but said the mandate is not a rumor on her end: “I’ve heard this now through two sources, one of whom does work with Amazon.”
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## Everybody Got The Same Brief
The brief is not new for Schaeffer. According to Stiven, it is the standing rule for the franchise.
“Everybody’s been given that brief is my understanding,” she said.
That includes Martin Gero on the canceled series, and _The Expanse_ writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, who Stiven says were handed the same brief when they pitched a couple of years ago and wrote a full series bible.
She also cleared up where things actually stand. Schaeffer did not come to Amazon with a Stargate idea.
“She was approached,” Stiven said. “There’s no pilot. She, this I do know, she did not come forward with a pilot to Amazon to pitch it.”
Safe House Pictures has been the production company and executive producer on Stargate since the start of Gero’s version, holds a three-series deal with Amazon, and was told to find the next writer after Gero, Brad Wright, and Joe Mallozzi were let go.
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Schaeffer is in pre-development, writing a pilot script and nothing more. Friday’s news was a Safe House media alert, not an official Amazon announcement.
The soft reboot talk is still just talk, she said, and it should not scare anyone.
> “I don’t want everybody to panic. What that just means is that it’s within the universe. It does not go outside the universe, but it may tell new stories with new characters. That’s it. The only thing I know for sure is that she’s been told no hard reboot. Stay within the TV universe canon.”
## Save Stargate Gets Credit For The Mandate
The exchange of the night came when Dial the Gate host David Read asked the question directly: did the Save Stargate campaign contribute to no hard reboot being a mandate?
“Yes,” Stiven said. “That’s all I can say.”
That lands days after fans torched the Schaeffer announcement with “DOA” and #RIPStargate, with much of the anger aimed at the idea of a reboot that throws out the franchise.
## Netflix Made An Offer For Stargate
Stiven also dropped a new one: Netflix came calling after the cancellation.
“I do know that Netflix offered for it immediately,” she said. “I don’t know if it was serious or not or if they were just stirring Amazon’s pot.”
Don’t expect Amazon to bite.
“Amazon doesn’t want to license the IP, let alone sell it,” Stiven said. “I mean, they just spent $2 billion to buy Bond back. I’m not equating Stargate to Bond, but Amazon’s very territorial about what they’ve bought.”
She did say Amazon plans on keeping Stargate for a while, and she left the door wide open on where it all goes.
“This particular fandom and this particular IP has had a lot of nine lives and I don’t think it’s over. I really don’t,” Stiven said. “My gut tells me that this isn’t in any manner, shape, or form a pause or the end at all.”
## About Matt McGloin
Matt McGloin is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Cosmic Book News, the independent entertainment news site he founded in 2008. He covers movies, comics, TV, video games and pop culture and has reported major industry scoops over the years, including revealing the Avengers: Endgame title ahead of its official announcement. Through Cosmic Book News, he helped Marvel Comics promote Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova through exclusive previews, artwork, and interviews, with the site also quoted in solicitations and on comic covers. He also reported on Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again retooling before it was later confirmed by the trades.
