Stargate Was Meant To Kick Off An Entire Trilogy
Whenever Roland Emmerich comes up in a film discussion, talk turns to his entries in the disaster genre. Sometimes it's with fond remembrance, especially when it comes to discussing "Independence Day." Other times it's with scorn, especially when it comes to his take on Godzilla and that "Independence Day" sequel. However, Emmerich's sci-fi epic "Stargate" deserves to be the center of the Emmerich conversation. From its cast (the rapport between Kurt Russell and James Spader serves as a prelude to Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum's dynamic in "Independence Day"!) to its concept (a gate that teleports its users across the universe, blending science fiction with Egyptian mythology!), "Stargate" should be mentioned in the same breath as "Star Wars" and "Star Trek." It even inspired a wealth of television spin-offs, comic books, and video games.
Co-writer/producer Dean Devlin has revealed plans for a trilogy of "Stargate" films over the years — and those plans sound pretty amazing, even though nothing ever came to fruition. Not only would it have matched its fellow sci-fi franchises in terms of scale and creativity, but it would have also touched upon various myths throughout history.
There are other worlds than these
On the podcast series Dial The Gate, Devlin discussed how the different chyrons on the first Stargate were meant to enable travel to different worlds, which would have formed the basis of the sequels. Keeping in line with the first film, the sequels would have also explored different forms of mythology and how they connected to alien races:
"The original plan of the movie was to do three movies, and so to there was going to be three major addresses...And that's why we needed the nine [chevrons]...And one was an Egyptian, and our second was going to be a Mayan culture. And then the third was going to tie in almost every mystery that we've ever had on Earth! Whether it was Bigfoot, or the Yeti — we were going to tie everything together into a larger mythology. And it was going to be so much fun. It was going to be so wild. But we never got to go there. We never got to explore it."
I don't know about you, but I would have loved to see Stargate's take on Bigfoot. And given that the first film had its own take on the Egyptian sun god Ra, I'm willing to bet that Devlin and Emmerich would have done the same for other gods. Ever want to see the extraterrestrial version of the Mayan deity Quetzalcoatl? The possibilities seem endless!
A second life on the small screen
During an oral history for the 25th anniversary of "Independence Day" with The Hollywood Reporter, Devlin discussed the multitude of factors would lead to the plans for the "Stargate" trilogy falling apart. Chief among them was the development of "Independence Day: Resurgence" — things just "fell apart" as he and Emmerich were gearing up to give the world the long-awaited sequel (though given the reception to "Resurgence," they perhaps should have gone ahead and done the "Stargate" sequel instead).
"Stargate" eventually found a second life thanks to the television series "Stargate: SG-1" and its various spin-offs. In an interview with IGN, Devlin talked about how "SG-1" led to a different path for the franchise:
"I don't think it's a falling out, but I think it's simply that MGM decided to do the television series, which has become enormously successful, and I think that they would rather do movies based on the television series than based on the first film. I just think that's a choice. I mean, they've got a big franchise and they want to support it – I can't blame them for it."
Multiple attempts to revive the "Stargate" franchise have been launched over the years, including an attempted reboot by Emmerich. Given the love for reboots and revivals in current pop culture, I could definitely see another take on the franchise happening soon — and it could even use the ideas Devlin came up with back in the day.