The crew from
Gateworld spoke to executive producers Martin Wood & Amanda Tapping at Creation Entertainment Official Stargate Convention.
“Do we see it returning? I’d love to see it return. It was never an intention to end the show after Season Four,” Tapping said. “In all honesty, we’re not going to be on TV screens in the fall. We know that. It’s really just been a logistical [nightmare] and a heartbreaking, soul crushing play-out of events. But the truth of the matter is Syfy was not able to make a decision in a timely fashion as to whether or not we were coming back for the fall. They had their whole crunch going on with Comcast taking over at NBC. So they weren’t able to give us a decision.”
“Our financers were getting really nervous about whether or not the show was coming back. And even though Syfy doesn’t have to tell us until July, telling us in July means the show is not coming back in the fall because we can’t possibly do it,” Tapping said. “In that time period where the financers were getting nervous and Syfy wasn’t giving us a decision, our studio came up for lease. And our studio is very expensive. They wanted us to sign a year-long lease and pay three months in advance. And our financers were like “Why would we do that? We don’t even know if the show’s [returning].” So they released the studio.
Martin Wood is quick to stress that while the series’ fate continues to remain unknown, it has nothing to do with Syfy’s overall happiness with the series and its performance.
“We’re at the point of where art and business collide,” Wood said. “[We got] a call from the head of the network, Mark Stern. He called to say ‘I have to admit that Season Four was your best season ever. It was amazing. We loved what Season Four was doing.’ But his hands were tied at that point. He couldn’t make a decision on it. Because he wasn’t available to do that. Or rather, the decision-making capability wasn’t available to him. I think given their feelings about the show, they certainly would have brought it back. But again, that’s the point where art and business collide.”
