Michael Shanks played the role of Dr Daniel Jackson for the first five seasons of Stargate SG-1, before his character was killed off after exposure to radiation. That didn’t stop the character from making the odd appearance in season 6 and for returning for good in season 7. Bryan Cairns spoke to the actor about saying a final farewell to the show.

Stargate SG-1 has now wrapped after 10 seasons. What do you recall about your final day of shooting?

Christopher [Judge], Amanda [Tapping], and myself did something we had done when we came to Vancouver for our first camera test. They’d said to us, “Want to check out the sets?” So we went up to the briefing room and looked down at the view of the Stargate from up there and went, “Oh my God! This is surreal.” It was quite incredible for us to know all this was being devoted to us and the characters.

Once we were wrapped, the three of us snuck back on top, looked at the Stargate again, just going, “Let’s take this in. This is the end of something that has been a significant part of our lives for a long time.” Then, of course, we stole stuff from upstairs. Souvenirs. I stole the red phone from the General’s office!

This isn’t the first time that you’ve said goodbye to Stargate. With the two TV movies completed, does this really feel like the end?

It is hard to say. I think for a lot of us who have been here through the years, we said goodbye so many times, found the possibility of being cancelled so many times…We were literally sick of saying goodbye. It really doesn’t seem to hold the same weight anymore. It is kind of like my character dying so many times; it loses its dramatic impact when you know he will probably come back. Nobody wants to get too nostalgic. We’d go, “Oh screw it! We’ll see each other again!”

It hasn’t been a tearfest like it was before. It is like, “Hey man. Stay in touch.” It has been a little lighter, but I don’t know if it is because we’re not recognising the impact it should have been. It feels like we are shooting another season right now...It might all of a sudden sink in. They are already talking about doing more of these darn things, so I am not going to get weepy again.

In the last few seasons, Daniel had been killed, ascended, and turned into a Prior. Have you been put through the wringer again in the movies?

In season 10, he confronts an Ancient directly, whereas before he would seek to negotiate and find the idealistic approach. This time, he confronts them and says, “You need our help as much as we need yours because after they are done with us, they are going to come after you. Helping us also means helping yourself.”

In The Arc of Truth, he gets another confrontation. You see him at his weakest, where he says, “Enough! Help us!” The way Daniel would have done things before, and the way he handles it in that situation, is much more confrontational. Going and talking to God and saying, “Why do you stand still, do nothing, and allow all this evil to happen” is a nice scene to play.

In the second one, Continuum, while I was doing 24, these guys went up to the Arctic so I couldn’t come. Rats. As a result of that, the way the original script was written, that all the characters are walking through the Arctic, they couldn’t have that anymore. So Brad wrote something that justified Daniel not being there. The way he does that is there is water coming into this ship that they are in and it is sinking. Daniel steps in it, is going to lose a leg, and be without it for most of the film.

Brad asked me afterwards, “How do you feel about that?” and I went, “Oh, this is great. It gives me something very different to play with the character, where he’s thrust back into a changed reality with a missing leg and is forced to live his life as a normal civilian.” So we get to see more of a dark, bitter aspect of the character than we’ve seen before.

And it must have been a good opportunity to show a greater range…

Absolutely. And then the psychology of what goes into that…To be told to live your life missing a leg, as a normal civilian, can lead you down a dark path. The character has always been so idealistic and optimistic about things, so we see him go to a darker, bitterer place.

Did you have to do any research to realistically portray this alternate Daniel?

Yeah, my grandfather, who actually fought in World War II, had been missing a leg. He’s gone now, but as a kid, I remember thinking in terms of what he had to deal with on a daily basis. This was a really great opportunity to access those memories and bring some of that back.

Of course, I worked on the walk…It was a little bit tough, but we got through it. It was nice to play that realistic scenario as opposed to using your imagination and wrapping your mind around this possibility.

Was it hard to leave Daniel in such a dark place when he is usually so hopeful and optimistic?

Well, the good thing about that script is it is resolved. It doesn’t necessarily become an aspect of the character for a long term basis. That gets reset so it is a nice thing to play, and then you go back and play the character you’ve become attached to.

Was there anything else that you still want to explore with Daniel?

I don’t know. Because of the nature of the character being curious, idealistic, there is still a tremendous amount he is capable of. The aspects I want to show of the character he’s demonstrated a lot in this last script. The writers can still surprise you with something you haven’t seen before.

How open were the writers to hearing your ideas about Daniel?

The writers and executive producers have been very open to saying, “My office door is always open. Please come talk to me because these are your characters. We want you to be happy playing them and satisfied where they are going.” That is a wonderful benefit and responsibility.

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