Stargate Universe, the latest of three Stargate series, ended in 2011 after just two seasons, leaving fans with a major cliffhanger. A third season seems unrealistic since it's been more than a decade since the show ended, but there have been hints about how the story could have progressed. Nevertheless, recent developments suggest that fans of the Stargate franchise may have reason to hope for new stories in the future.
Stargate Universe was the third Stargate show, and whilst the original series Stargate: SG-1 and the first spin-off Stargate: Atlantis were pretty similar in terms of humor and setting, Stargate Universe had darker, more character-driven storytelling, which was obviously inspired by the critically acclaimed Battlestar Galactica and also a bit by Star Trek: Voyager (resulting in some people calling it Battlestargate Voyager).
The main story of Stargate Universe follows a team of soldiers, scientists, and civilians who are stranded on an ancient spaceship called the Destiny, several billion light years away from Earth. The Destiny is on a pre-programmed mission to explore the universe, and due to a lack of energy, the team is unable to return home. The protagonists face many challenges as they try to survive on the ship, including limited resources, malfunctioning technology, and hostile alien threats.
Stargate Universe was cancelled after two seasons, with the final episode "Gauntlet" airing in 2011. One major issue was the show's ratings, which were lower compared to the previous Stargate series. The show also received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, with many people criticizing it being too slow-paced and lacking the action and adventure of SG:1 and SG:A.
Stargate Universe: Season 3 Unlikely, But New Hope For The Franchise
Let's be clear on this: It is very unlikely that Stargate Universe will ever be continued. Besides the fact that it happens very rarely that cancelled shows get renewed (but it can happen, as The Expanse and Lucifer proved), it is even more unlikely for shows that stopped several years ago, since the actors not only turn older but are also usually busy with new projects, which makes it almost impossible to get them all back at the same time.
A possible solution for that would be to bring the show back as an animated series, but it just doesn't look like this is ever going to happen.
Anyway, there is good reason to be optimistic about the future of the franchise. In 2021, Amazon bought MGM, the studio which currently owns the rights to the Stargate franchise. There have already been some rumors about Amazon planning a new Stargate project recently, and it would just make no sense for Amazon to ignore one of the biggest sci-fi franchises in history, so in the end it will be more a question of when there will be a new Stargate movie or series than a question of if it's gonna happen at all.
Furthermore, it's been more than a decade since the last Stargate series (to be honest, we don't count Stargate Origins here and everyone who's seen it will know why), so it would be a great timing for a reboot or a new show.
Stargate Universe Season 3: Possible Story Continuation
If you watched Stargate Universe and you liked the show, you'd probably be interested in how the story would have continued and ended. As you remember drone ships guarded every star in the galaxy, which is why to get to the next power source, the crew of the Destiny had to move to another galaxy, which is three years away.
Therefore, the crew put themselves into stasis pods, hoping to wake up in said galaxy, safe and sound. Unfortunately, this ending was left open and fans never got to find out what the crew's fate would really be.
Though there is no official information about what would have happened in season 3, SG:U writer Joseph Mallozzi once revealed some ideas that he and the writer's team had to solve the critical situation of Eli and the Destiny crew. Here are some of the mentioned scenarios:
- Eli fixes a pod, gets in stasis just like everyone else and the crew wakes up between three and a thousand years later.
- Eli manages to extend the life support, so he can stay awake for the whole three years until the Destiny reaches the new galaxy.
- Eli survives by uploading his consciousness to Destiny's computer.
- An outside force (either a squad from earth or an alien species would have been an option) enters the Destiny, eventually resulting in the crew's rescue.
When it became clear that season 3 wouldn't happen, the idea for two SG:U movies came up, with the first one to focus on the crew's rescue and the second one on the completion of Destiny's mission. But, as we all know, that remained a pipe dream until today.
Side fact: Thanks to an interview, we also have an idea about how the other Stargate spin-off, Stargate Atlantis, would have continued – more on that here.
Although a third season of SG:U is basically off the table, there is a realistic chance that a future Stargate show or movie will somehow pick up the story of Stargate Universe as part of a side plot and let us know what happened to the Destiny and its crew. Besides that, our fingers are crossed as we hope to finally get new stories from the Stargate franchise sometime soon.