List of Stargate Atlantis characters

The characters from the Canadian military science fiction television series Stargate Atlantis were created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper. The series follows the adventures of a human expedition to the lost city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. The Stargate has brought humanity into contact with other cultures, including new and powerful enemies: the Wraith, the Genii, and later the Asurans and a lost tribe of Asgard, all while trying to uncover the secrets the Ancients left behind.

Stargate Atlantis has a small cast, amounting to ten main cast actors over its five-season run. Most characters are introduced in outgoing expeditions outside the city of Atlantis.

Contents

Main characters

John Sheppard

John Sheppard is a USAF Lieutenant Colonel (ranked major in season 1). He was an experienced and a talented US Air Force Officer in Afghanistan, though his reputation was somewhat tarnished when he disobeyed a direct order in an unsuccessful attempt to save the lives of several US servicemen. When called upon to transport Brigadier General Jack O'Neill in to the research base that had been established at the nearby Ancient defense facility, he inadvertently discovered that he not only had the ATA gene (the genetic factor necessary to activate Ancient technology), but that he was naturally proficient at using it. After some doubts, he finally joined the expedition to Atlantis, although Colonel Marshall Sumner made it clear he was not pleased about Sheppard's involvement in the mission. He later became the new military commander of Atlantis following Sumner's death.

John Sheppard is played by Joe Flanigan

Elizabeth Weir

Shortly after Dr. Elizabeth Weir was sent to lead the research envoy studying the Ancient defense facility that had been discovered in Antarctica, the Ancient city of Atlantis was re-discovered in the Pegasus Galaxy. Dr. Weir was placed in command of the expedition that was sent through the Stargate to explore Atlantis. As a diplomat, Weir sought treaties with the human populated worlds in Pegasus, one of them being the Athosians. There was often tension between her and the leader of the Athosians, and the latter eventually left the city to live on the mainland. At the end of Season 3, she was left in a coma when a beam that the Asurans had created targeted the Control Room of Atlantis, hoping to destroy Atlantis for good. She eventually survived with several nanites that had remained in her system successfully repairing the damage and injuries she had received. She then joined Sheppard's team during a mission to Asuras where they were hoping to get a ZPM to help Atlantis recover once again. In the end, Weir sacrificed herself so that the team could get to safety despite Sheppard's refusal to leave her behind. Her final appearance was in Ghost in the Machine where she returned to the team in a new body but possessing the original Weir's consciousness, personality and memories.

Elizabeth Weir is played by Torri Higginson

Samantha Carter

Samantha "Sam" Carter is an astrophysicist and USAF Colonel. Samantha Carter is SG-1 team member and later, at an unknown point after the end of the Ori conflict in Stargate SG-1, Carter is promoted to a "full bird" Colonel and is transferred to the Midway space station to oversee the final stages of completion. The IOA appoints Carter as the new commander of the Atlantis expedition early in Season 4 of Atlantis. At the end of the first episode of season five Carter is recalled to Earth for a Tok'ra extraction ceremony concerning the final Ba'al clone.

Samantha Carter is played by Amanda Tapping

Richard Woolsey

Richard Woolsey is a former member of the NID and the United States representative to the IOA. Richard Woolsey is part of an IOA panel that recalled Dr. Weir to Earth to explain her failed alliance with the Wraith. He genuinely respects Weir and attempts to defend her actions, but must defer to his IOA colleagues. The IOA dispatched him to Atlantis to evaluate Weir's ability to command. While evaluating Weir's abilities, he made a rather poor impression on the expedition members. However, he ultimately sides with Weir by sending the IOA a report modified to favor Weir and keep her in command of Atlantis. Later Richard Woolsey becomes the new commander of the Atlantis expedition after Colonel Carter is reassigned.

Richard Woolsey is played by Robert Picardo

Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay is a Head Scientific Advisor of the Atlantis expedition and a member of Sheppard's team during seasons one through five. Dr. McKay is one of the most arrogant and condescending personalities found in the Stargate franchise. He once identified himself as a Mensa member and believes himself to be the smartest person in the city, as mentioned in a conversation between Dr. Weir and Carson in "Hide and Seek". What makes it worse for his fellow team members is that, while he does not possess the wisdom of many of the other characters, in terms of raw intelligence or at least the occasional fits of insight/brilliance, he is. Despite his irritating demeanor, many members of the Atlantis expedition are on friendly terms with him, and McKay is able to keep steady relationships and is close to the people he works with, having referred to them as a surrogate family in a message to his estranged sister Jeannie.

Meredith Rodney McKay is played by David Hewlett

Ronon Dex

Ronon Dex is a Satedan warrior and a member of the Satedan military where he held the rank of Specialist. Approximately seven years before Ronon's first contact with the Atlantis Expedition, the Wraith attacked Sateda. Ronon remained behind with Melena to fight the Wraith, but the Wraith defeated Satedan forces and Melena was killed before Ronon's eyes in an explosion. Ronon was later captured by the Wraith who instead of feeding on him turned him into a Runner, implanting a tracking device in his upper back and setting him loose to be constantly hunted. He later became a permanent member of Sheppard's team, replacing Aidan Ford who had gone rogue.

Ronon Dex is played by Jason Momoa

Teyla Emmagan

Teyla Emmagan is the leader of the Athosians, a human race of farmers, hunters, and traders from the planet Athos in the Pegasus Galaxy. After a Wraith attack on Athos, Teyla and the Athosians settle in Atlantis. Friction in "Suspicion" causes the Athosians to leave Atlantis and settle on the mainland. Teyla stays with Sheppard's team, but later helps with evacuating the Athosians from the mainland several times in the face of various threats. In season 1's "The Gift", Teyla and the Atlantis expedition learn that her ancestors were experimented on by a Wraith scientist, and that Teyla is one the few Athosians who possess trace amounts of Wraith DNA which enable her to sense the Wraith through their telepathic network.

Teyla Emmagan is played by Rachel Luttrell.

Carson Beckett

Carson Beckett is a Head Medical Officer of the Atlantis expedition. Beckett was born with the Ancient Technology Activation (ATA) gene, which gives the carrier the ability to access Ancient technology. At the beginning of Stargate Atlantis, Beckett is a doctor with an extended knowledge of medicine and just discovered the Ancient gene. Elizabeth Weir selected him for the Atlantis Expedition and stationed him at the Ancient outpost in Antarctica, where the SG-1 team had defeated the arch nemesis Anubis in the Stargate SG-1 season seven finale, "Lost City". In "Hide and Seek", he creates a gene therapy that emulates the ATA gene in normal humans with a 48 percent success rate. Later, during Beckett's capture on the planet M8G-352 in season 3's "Misbegotten", Michael took some of Beckett's DNA to make a clone. In the Season 3 episode, Sunday, Beckett is killed by an exploding tumor but his clone later returns to join the Atlantis team.

Aiden Ford

Aiden Ford is a USMC Lieutenant. Ford served in the Stargate Command (SGC) before and is twenty-five years old at the beginning of the first season. The only family that Ford mentions are his grandparents. Ford served as John Sheppard's second-in-command after the events of "Rising" until a Wraith feeds upon Ford during a Wraith attack on Atlantis in season 2's "The Siege, Part 3". An exploding grenade blows them off a building into the ocean, and Ford's unconscious body and the still attached Wraith are recovered nearly an hour later. Ford is diagnosed to have survived an overdose of addictive Wraith enzyme and as a result begins undergoing mental and physical changes, one of which involves his left eye turning completely black. He eventually leaves Atlantis for good, embarking on a quest to get more enzyme for himself. He later returns halfway through Season 2 where he captures Sheppard's team and recruits them into helping him destroy a Hive Ship. The mission gets off to a bad start with many of Ford's men dying or being captured. The Hive Ship Ford was on is soon destroyed and it is presumed that Ford is dead.

Jennifer Keller

Jennifer Keller is a Head Medical Officer of the Atlantis expedition. During her schooling years, she is three years ahead of her class, having graduated high school at the age of 15 and earns a Bachelor's degree before she becomes 18. She is then trained to be a doctor, where she soon becomes Atlantis' Chief Medical Officer, with some reluctance after former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carson Beckett died in an explosion. She also says that she is no Carson, but Dr. Weir assures her she will do just fine. One of her first duties is to try and save Dr Weir's life, after she is critically injured due to the Asuran beam grazing the tower before the city can escape from the Asurans. She talks with McKay and tells him that he could save her life with Replicator nanites that once infected her. Towards the end of the fifth season, she starts a romantic relationship with fellow expedition member Rodney McKay.

Recurring Earth characters

Recurring military characters

Recurring scientist characters

Other recurring Earth characters

Stargate crossover characters

Several characters who may be better known for their role in Stargate SG-1 have made appearances in Atlantis. They are:

Recurring alien characters

Ancients

The Ancients are the original builders of the Stargate network, who by the time of Stargate SG-1 have Ascended beyond corporeal form into a higher plane of existence. The humans of Earth are the "second evolution" of the Ancients. The Ancients (originally known as the Alterans) colonized the Milky Way galaxy millions of years ago and built a great empire. They also colonized the Pegasus galaxy and seeded human life there, before being driven out by the Wraith. The civilization of the Ancients in the Milky Way was decimated thousands of years ago by a plague, and those who did not learn to Ascend died out. With few exceptions, the Ascended Ancients respect free will and refuse to interfere in the affairs of the material galaxy. However, their legacy is felt profoundly throughout Stargate universe, from their technologies such as Stargates and Atlantis, to the Ancient Technology Activation gene, that they introduced into the human genome through Crossbreeding.

Asurans

Artificial life-forms composed of nanites, introduced in season 3 of Stargate Atlantis. They are similar to the human-form Replicators of Stargate SG-1 and so are called that in the show. The Asurans were created by the Ancients to combat the Wraith but were ultimately abandoned for being too dangerous. Extremely aggressive, the nanites thrived and built an advanced civilization. In season 4, Rodney McKay activates the Asurans' attack code, causing them to attack the Wraith, but this eventually comes to threaten all the inhabitants of Pegasus.

Athosians

The Athosians are a group of hunters, farmers, and traders from the planet Athos. First introduced in "Rising", they are the first humans encountered by the Atlantis Expedition in the Pegasus galaxy. The Athosians were once technologically advanced, but reverted to a pre-industrial state to avoid the Wraith. Following their contact with the Expedition, the Athosians move to Lantea and their leader, Teyla Emmagan, joins Major Sheppard's team. In "The Gift", it is revealed that some Athosians possess Wraith DNA, resulting from an old Wraith experiment to make humans more "palatable". This allows these individuals to sense the presence of Wraith, to tap into their telepathic communications, and to control Wraith technology. In the third season episode "The Return", the Athosians are asked to leave Lantea by a group of surviving Ancients reclaiming Atlantis from Earth. The Athosian population is subsequently found to have disappeared from New Athos in "Missing". The search for the missing Athosians and their fate at the hands of the rogue Wraith Michael contributes to a major plot arc near the end of the fourth season.

Genii

The Genii appear to be simple farmers, but are in fact a military society with technology comparable to 1940s Earth. First appearing in "Underground", the Genii were forced to hide in underground bunkers due to Wraith attacks. They have since devoted their efforts to developing fission bombs with which to strike back at the Wraith. They become enemies of the Atlantis Expedition in the first season and once try to invade Atlantis,[22][23] though after a coup d'état in the second season they have been more favorable towards the city.[24]

Wraith

The main adversaries on Stargate Atlantis, the Wraith are the dominant species in the Pegasus galaxy. They are biologically immortal hive-based humanoids who feed on the "life-force" of humans, causing them to "lose years" in a way similar to aging. The Wraith drove the Ancients out of Pegasus 10,000 years ago, and now maintain the human worlds of Pegasus as sources of food. The arrival of the Atlantis Expedition in the Pegasus galaxy leads to the Wraith waking prematurely from their hibernation, and the human population of Pegasus is not enough to sustain all of them.

Other recurring characters

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Critical Mass" (Stargate Atlantis)
  2. ^ "Epiphany" (Stargate Atlantis)
  3. ^ "Michael" (Stargate Atlantis)
  4. ^ "The Intruder". Stargate Atlantis.
  5. ^ a b "Critical Mass". Stargate Atlantis.
  6. ^ "The Long Goodbye". Stargate Atlantis.
  7. ^ Colvin, Chad (May 2008). "Abstract Lorne: GateWorld talks with Kavan Smith". gateworld.net.
  8. ^ Kavan Smith interview in Stargate Official Magazine Yearbook 2006
  9. ^ "Runner" (Stargate Atlantis)
  10. ^ "Sunday" (Stargate Atlantis)
  11. ^ "Spoils of War" (Stargate Atlantis)
  12. ^ http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Kemp_%28Atlantis%29
  13. ^ Mallozzi, Joseph (December 8, 2008). "December 8, 2008: Ships and what if". Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog. http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/december-8-2008-ships-and-what-ifs/. Retrieved 2008-12-09. 
  14. ^ "Stargate Atlantis: Search and Rescue". Gateworld.net. 2008. http://www.gateworld.net/atlantis/s5/501.shtml. Retrieved 2008-12-09. 
  15. ^ "Awards for Stargate Atlantis". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374455/awards. 
  16. ^ Chuck Campbell speaking at the Pegasus 2 convention in the UK.
  17. ^ Genius at Work. Titan Magazines. September 2008. http://static.titanmagazines.com/ezine/news/2008/us_sept/extra_content_2.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=unknown&utm_campaign=20080919-The_Return_Of_Heroes. 
  18. ^ "Before I Sleep" (Stargate Atlantis)
  19. ^ "Missing" (Stargate Atlantis)
  20. ^ "The Kindred" (Stargate Atlantis)
  21. ^ "The Gift" (Stargate Atlantis)
  22. ^ "Underground" (Stargate Atlantis)
  23. ^ "The Storm" (Stargate Atlantis)
  24. ^ "Coup D'etat" (Stargate Atlantis)
  25. ^ "The Eye" (Stargate Atlantis)
  26. ^ "Stargate Atlantis: Season Two Preview". TV Zone Special #64 (Visual Imagination): pp. 76–77. 2005.