Amazon MGM Studios has handed its Stargate revival to Jac Schaeffer, the creator of WandaVision and Agatha All Along. The decision comes four months after Amazon scrapped a series built by veterans of SG-1 and Atlantis, and it lands in the middle of a fan campaign that put a banner over Culver City and nearly 124,000 names on a petition.
Amazon said last November that it wanted to honor the franchise’s legacy. Here is what happened between that announcement and this one.
Amazon Gives Stargate to Schaeffer Under Her Overall Deal
Variety reports that Schaeffer is developing a new Stargate series for Amazon MGM Studios under the overall deal she signed with the studio earlier this year. A writers’ room is expected to open in the near future. Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell of Safehouse Pictures, who were attached to the earlier series, will executive produce alongside her. Reps for Amazon and Schaeffer declined to comment.
Variety calls this Amazon’s second attempt at a new Stargate series. The first came from Martin Gero, and Variety says that project “ultimately did not move forward.”
The Franchise Team Amazon Built, Then Scrapped
Amazon ordered Gero’s Stargate straight to series in November 2025 for Prime Video. Gero started in the franchise as a story editor on Stargate: Atlantis, and he announced the order this way:
“Twenty years ago, my first real job in television was as a Story Editor on ‘Stargate: Atlantis.’” … “I’m beyond thrilled that Amazon MGM Studios has entrusted me with guiding this incredible franchise into its next phase.”
Stargate co-creator Brad Wright and longtime producer Joe Mallozzi were consulting producers, and Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, who made the original film, were executive producers. Nick Pepper, Amazon’s head of US SVOD TV development, described the goal:
“In partnership with our extraordinary creative team of Martin, Tory, and Joby, we’re honored to open this next gate to bring a visionary new chapter of this beloved franchise to our global Prime Video audience, one that honors the series’ rich legacy while propelling it into an ambitious and emotionally resonant future.”
The writers’ room for season one was assembled in January. In March, Gero announced production designer Nathan Crowley and VFX supervisor Mohen Leo, and a London shoot was planned for this fall. CBR reports the project was 20 weeks into preproduction when Amazon cancelled it on June 2.
Variety’s source gave Amazon’s reason: executives were concerned that Gero’s take “would not have broad appeal beyond the franchise’s already dedicated fanbase.” Deadline tied the decision to executive turnover. Pepper and Matt King, who ran the revival, had left, and the genre portfolio now sits with Blair Fetter, who started in February. Deadline also reported that the studio may bring Stargate back with another showrunner, “possibly someone who does not have history with it and would give it a fresh new perspective.”
Amazon had passed over a revival script from Wright in 2022 and solicited pitches from newcomers instead.
A Résumé Built on Witches and Sitcom Hexes
Variety lists Schaeffer’s credits: WandaVision, the first Marvel series on Disney+; Agatha All Along, where she was showrunner, writer, executive producer and director; the screenplay for Disney’s animated featurette Olaf’s Frozen Adventure; and the 2019 comedy The Hustle, a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. None of them is military science fiction.
WandaVision took Wanda Maximoff and Vision, two characters with decades of comics history, and rebuilt them inside a run of sitcom pastiche. Agatha All Along took the witch who turned out to be the villain of that series and made her the lead of a story about a coven. The Evening Standard called it “the queerest MCU outing by far.”
Stargate SG-1 followed a United States Air Force team through the gate for ten seasons, and Atlantis added five more. SG-1 starred Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping and Christopher Judge. Nothing in the report connects Schaeffer to either series.
The Fans Fought, and Amazon Moved On
After the cancellation, fans organized #SaveStargate. By late September, GateWorld reported, the campaign had run several tweet storms, raised almost $20,000, flown a banner over Culver City and gathered a petition nearing 124,000 signatures. The banner read “#SaveStargate. Fans Want Martin Gero.” Organizer James Kerfoot explained the push:
“There is a global fanbase that is still going strong nearly thirty years after Stargate SG1 first premiered.”
He also described what the campaign was asking of Amazon:
“We hope Amazon MGM hears us and realizes that current fans are the best free advertising they could ever ask for. Times Square is just the next stop, not the last one. We’re not going away anytime soon.”
Amazon’s stated reason for cancelling was that Gero’s series would not reach past the franchise’s dedicated fanbase. Its next move was to look for a writer, and Deadline reported that the studio might pick one without history in the franchise. Variety’s report on Schaeffer is the first named result of that search.
Amazon scrapped Martin Gero’s Stargate over concerns it would not reach beyond the franchise’s dedicated fanbase. If the new series is built to win people who never watched SG-1, what does Amazon expect the people who did to do?
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