Richard
Dean Anderson, the star and an executive producer of SCI FI Channel's
original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that he has reduced
his shooting schedule in the upcoming eighth season, but not necessarily
his appearances in the show's episodes. Speaking in an interview on
the show's Vancouver, B.C., set, Anderson (Jack O'Neill) said that
he has reduced the number of days he shoots in Canada to allow him
to spend more time at his home in Southern California, where he cares
for a 5-year-old daughter.
"We
worked out a schedule that has me working essentially three weeks
out of the month and then having a week off," Anderson said.
"And even, like, three or four days per week that I'm working,
and then that one week off. So I have weekends with my daughter, and
then I'll have some time in midweek. ... So it became very workable
and acceptable."
Anderson
added that he appreciated that the show's cast and crew have accommodated
his schedule "by creating nothing but hardship for themselves,
primarily." Among other things, producers schedule scenes featuring
Anderson's character from several episodes on the days when he's in
Vancouver and work around him on other days. That allows O'Neill to
appear in almost all of the episodes.
Anderson
also discussed a few spoilers for the upcoming two-hour season premiere.
By the episode's end, O'Neill wins a promotion and a new job. "The
cliche that I reference in talking about the character now in his
current position is that of a fish out of water," Anderson said.
"O'Neill, on paper, really doesn't belong in [that] position.
... But he's, you know, embraced it as much as he can. ... [But] in
so many ways [he] would rather be on the front lines. He'd rather
be a man of action than a man of great thought or great organization.
... But ... we've made the adjustment, I think, and accommodated the
character quirks that I've developed over the years, and to a great
degree I think that it's been successful. People are pretty happy.
The writers were having a ball in the beginning, because they all
know me well enough to know that I'd be putting a certain twist to
it. But I still wanted to be respectful to the Air Force." Stargate
SG-1 returns with a two-hour episode at 9 p.m. ET/PT July 9.