Jessica Steen Explains Why Stargate Recast Her Character Dr. Weir

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Jessica Steen explains why Stargate recast her character Dr. Weir

• Thread starter DiipuSurotu
• Start date Jul 10, 2021

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DiipuSurotu

Banned Oct 25, 2017 53,148

One of the bigger unanswered questions from the long history of the Stargate film and television franchise has to do with the recasting of a major character. In 2003 Stargate SG-1 was getting ready to launch its first spin-off series, featuring a new team and a new galaxy of adventures. Actress Jessica Steen was cast to portray Dr. Elizabeth Weir, a linguist and a civilian diplomat put in charge of Stargate Command by the newly inaugurated President Henry Hayes (William Devane). Steen's was a pivotal role, as General Hammond was reassigned and the Goa'uld Anubis invaded Earth. The SG-1 team, meanwhile, was flying off to try and find the lost city of the Ancients. Weir was a linguist and a civilian diplomat, and something of a fish out of water at the S.G.C. But the writers had long-term plans for the new character: Weir would join the spin-off series the next year, leading an expedition to the lost city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. This plan was in place when the casting call for "Dr. Theresa Weir" went out in the summer of 2003. (The character's name would be changed during production.) The actress signed on not just for SG-1's season finale, but with an additional piece in her contract that paid her not to take other jobs while the new series entered pre-production. Dr. Weir was to be the crossover character bridging Stargate SG-1 into Stargate Atlantis. But when SG-1 returned in 2004 to kick off Season Eight with "New Order," followed by the series premiere of Atlantis, Steen was gone — replaced by actress Torri Higginson. Viewers, however, had loved Steen's on-screen performance. So what happened? Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Jessica Steen attributes her character's recasting not to the performance, nor to personality conflicts on set (where she got along swimmingly with everyone). Instead, it came down to two things: frustrating the producers with excessive questions, and giving them the impression that her commitments were elsewhere. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

More at:

Jessica Steen Finally Reveals Why Stargate Recast Dr. Weir » GateWorld

Eighteen years after "Lost City," the first actress to play Dr. Elizabeth Weir explains why her character was recast for the spin-off series. www.gateworld.net Banish if ancient

Wrexis

Member Nov 4, 2017 33,070 Gotta admit, being at Burning Man was not what I expected.

Since 1998 Steen had been personally and professionally committed to Burning Man, a massive event where she helped to organize and host an interactive acting community. Burning Man focuses on community, creative arts, and self-expression, today drawing nearly 80,000 people to the Nevada desert each year. After learning months later that she had been released from her contract Steen paid a visit to long-time Stargate producer N. John Smith ... He said, 'They felt [that] you were more committed to naked drugging in the desert than you would be committed to doing the show the way they needed you to." Click to expand... Click to shrink...

VAD

Member Oct 28, 2017 6,431 Holy shit that's wild, she got dropped because she was a die hard fan of the Burning Man. She had to lie to the production she went to help organize the festival on her days off.

Cipherr

Member Oct 26, 2017 14,755 It was wild how she was great in the episode for that season finale of SG1 then got recast like that. I never knew this. Weird.

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor

Member Oct 25, 2017 48,298 I thought Higginson did a great job, but that Burning Man stuff is wild.

Cipherr

Member Oct 26, 2017 14,755 What's kind of annoying about this is that Higginson didn't even stay. Like, the show was only 5 seasons and they recast at episode 1 to another actress for Weir, then to changed the base runner to Carter, then to Woolsey.

Joni

Member Oct 27, 2017 19,508 That seem like sensible reasons to prefer a recast. And something that could have been solved if both parties had talked better. OP OP

DiipuSurotu

Banned Oct 25, 2017 53,148

Cipherr said: What's kind of annoying about this is that Higginson didn't even stay. Like, the show was only 5 seasons and they recast at episode 1 to another actress for Weir, then to changed the base runner to Carter, then to Woolsey. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Huh? No, Higginson was in SG-1 Season 8 and then stayed in Atlantis for 3 seasons.

Cipherr

Member Oct 26, 2017 14,755

DiipuSurotu said: Huh? No, Higginson was in SG-1 Season 8 and then stayed in Atlantis for 3 seasons. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Im mixing two things together, but what Im saying is in addition to recasting Weir from the story in the OP, they didn't keep Weir all 5 seasons of Atlantis, they swapped to Carter then to Woolsey. I found it disjointing when watching it. I really liked Weir, and it was annoying to me how they replaced her, then brought her back for an ep or two as Replicator Weir. They kept Hammond on SG1 leading the base for a long time but Weir couldnt last 5 seasons. I hated that.

Patryn

Member Oct 25, 2017 2,554

Cipherr said: Im mixing two things together, but what Im saying is in addition to recasting Weir from the story in the OP, they didn't keep Weir all 5 seasons of Atlantis, they swapped to Carter then to Woolsey. I found it disjointing when watching it. I really liked Weir, and it was annoying to me how they replaced her, then brought her back for an ep or two as Replicator Weir. They kept Hammond on SG1 leading the base for a long time but Weir couldnt last 5 seasons. I hated that. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

They did that partially because they still had Amanda Tapping under contract for another year but knew SG-1 was ending. As Atlantis was lower rated than SG-1 (IIRC), the hope was for a ratings bump. But bringing on Tapping's cost meant cutting costs elsewhere and Weir took the hit.

CD_93

Member Dec 12, 2017 3,368 United Kingdom

Cipherr said: Im mixing two things together, but what Im saying is in addition to recasting Weir from the story in the OP, they didn't keep Weir all 5 seasons of Atlantis, they swapped to Carter then to Woolsey. I found it disjointing when watching it. I really liked Weir, and it was annoying to me how they replaced her, then brought her back for an ep or two as Replicator Weir. They kept Hammond on SG1 leading the base for a long time but Weir couldnt last 5 seasons. I hated that. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

The Higginson situation was handled very poorly. That it came about just after writing out another popular character just made it worse. Didn't enjoy the show quite as much after S3. Which is a bummer because Atlantis is actually what got me in to Stargate.

Quinton

Video Games Journalist

Verified Oct 25, 2017 25,382 Midgar, With Love

Patryn said: They did that partially because they still had Amanda Tapping under contract for another year but knew SG-1 was ending. As Atlantis was lower rated than SG-1 (IIRC), the hope was for a ratings bump. But bringing on Tapping's cost meant cutting costs elsewhere and Weir took the hit. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Atlantis' ratings were kind of crumbling and hit their lowest point a few episodes into season 4. (I believe "Doppelganger" with 0.9 was the nadir. Oh, how times have changed.) But it did bounce back somewhat, and when TiVo and similar DVR recording devices began being taken into consideration it was illustrated that SGA never really lost that much of its audience; they simply time-shifted. This was tough to lure lucrative advertising deals with and common across the industry at the time. It was essentially the precursor to the streaming explosion a few years later. I guess I threw all that exposition out in the above paragraph to say that I think Tapping's arrival truly did help. Adored Weir, though. Maybe my favorite character on the show, that one. The continued sidelining of her as the series went on can't have been fun for Higginson. I'm glad she came back for the fourth-season two-parter, at least. That said, it's nice to finally have some insight into why Jessica Steen was replaced. Steen made an excellent first impression in "Lost City," and while Higginson won me over with ease, I would have loved to see Steen's take move forward as well. The actresses brought pretty different dynamics to Weir.

mbpm

Member Oct 25, 2017 31,589 Huh. So it was some job politics stuff. OP OP

DiipuSurotu

Banned Oct 25, 2017 53,148 I think Steen had a more "classic 90s" hairstyle that made the character seem somewhat more movie-like (90s movie-like I guess lol). Higginson had a more modern hairstyle and it seemed to fit a TV show more. You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit Pinterest Tumblr WhatsApp Email Share Link

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