After Roland Emmerich said, “No, thanks” to a TV continuation of his modest box office hit “Stargate,” Showtime set about doing it anyway. The network brought in Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner to create what became “Stargate SG-1,” and as it turned out, this was just the beginning of what quietly became one of the most sprawling sci-fi empires of the early 2000s.
“SG-1” eventually moved to the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) but the network cancelled the show after its tenth season. By that point, however, it had already spawned the spin-off series “Stargate Atlantis,” which debuted in 2004, alongside a couple of direct-to-TV films. More spin-offs would come, too, with “Stargate Universe” debuting in 2009 and “Stargate Origins” arriving in 2018.
In all, then, the “Stargate” universe is impressively expansive. But just because the franchise kept growing doesn’t mean things panned out exactly how Wright and Glassner had hoped. For one thing, after “Stargate Universe” was taken off the air, Wright planned for what became a canceled “Stargate” movie that would have brought every show together. Perhaps more importantly, it would have provided a conclusion to the cliffhanger ending of “Universe,” wherein crew member Eli Wallace’ (David Blue) fate remained unconfirmed.
But this movie could also have provided us with some closure on another storyline that, while not as consequential as wrapping up Wallace’s story, remains somewhat of a cliffhanger in and of itself.
The Aschen were one of SG-1’s most formidable enemies
The fourth season of “Stargate SG-1” featured an episode entitled “2010,” in which we see an alternate timeline wherein Earth has formed an alliance with an advanced race of humanoids known as the Aschen. The seemingly benevolent race soon reveal a more sinister purpose however, as they have been quietly sterilizing humans in order to one day take over the planet. Thankfully, the SG-1 crew manage to get a message back in time to their past selves, thereby averting the doomed future depicted in the episode.
But that wasn’t the end of the Aschen. In season 5, the race returned for an episode entitled “2001.” This time SG-1 encounter the Aschen on the planet Volia and once again form an alliance. But as the episode goes on, the crew discover that their new allies may well hail from the very planet they were warned against visiting in “2010.” Thankfully, the crew have given the Aschen a list of Stargate addresses that lead to increasingly perilous locations, beginning with a black hole. After SG-1 manages to escape back to Earth they seal the portal shut, leaving viewers to wonder what became of the Aschen and whether they did, indeed, use that list of lethal Stargate addresses.
According to Brad Wright, there were plans to continue the Aschen story — especially since their fate was left hanging in the balance. Though they failed to conquer Earth during their two appearances, the likelihood that they were completely wiped out after SG-1’s escape in “2001” seemed slim. So, what were the Aschen doing for the last five seasons of the show? Unfortunately, “SG-1” wasn’t exactly the kind of show where things always went to plan. At one point, Teal’c actor Christopher Judge pitched a spin-off that would have changed the franchise, and “SG-1” constantly dealt with what proved to be a huge problem of finding new locations to shoot various alien worlds, often leading to last-minute decisions being made. The Aschen also fell victim to the show’s constantly changing nature, too, and the question of what happened to the race after “2001” went unanswered, despite Wright’s plans to address it.
The Aschen never got their grand finale in Stargate SG-1
Plans for various “Stargate” films continued throughout the 10-year run of “SG-1.” Indeed, one classic “SG-1” episode was even supposed to be a theatrical movie. However, plans changed constantly, and that was certainly the case with the Aschen.
In a 2023 interview with GateWorld, Brad Wright was asked about the Aschen and the rumors that their storyline was originally planned to span three episodes. The show creator seemed to confirm such rumors, saying that the Aschen story “could have” unfolded in a trilogy, adding: “I could have probably come up with another Aschen story. Because they would have been angry with what we did to them after ‘2001.’” Lamentably, that story was never wrapped up, with Wright explaining that his idea for a third entry in the trilogy was too close to another storyline that ended up in one of the direct-to-DVD “Stargate” movies. He said:
“The story that sort of came to mind in terms of the Aschen coming directly without a Stargate to Earth ended up being a component of one of the direct-to-video movies … indirectly. I mean, I can’t even say it’s the same. But it just felt like it stepped on it. So I think that that was the reason. And I may even be wrong about that.”
According to Wright, then, one of the “Stargate” movies basically used his idea for the Aschen coming to Earth following their defeat in “2001,” presumably to wage war on humanity the old fashioned way, rather than using their slow sterilization technique. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have come up with another idea. Once “SG-1” was cancelled, there was still the prospect of other direct-to-video films. Alas, that prospect slowly dwindled as time went on, with Wright explaining that, “It was purely the collapse of the DVD market that triggered the sidelining of those projects.” Had DVDs remained popular, we not only would have had Wright’s film that united all the “Stargate” shows, we might well have seen the finale of the Aschen narrative. As it stands, however, it’s one of the “SG-1” storylines that was left hanging.