List of Stargate Atlantis characters

The characters from the Canadian-American

left behind.

Stargate Atlantis has a small cast, amounting to ten main cast actors over its five-season run. Most characters are introduced in outgoing expeditions outside the city of

.

Main characters

Character	Portrayed by	Seasons
		1	2	3	4	5
John Sheppard	Joe Flanigan	Main
Elizabeth Weir	Torri Higginson	Main			Recurring	Guest[a]
Teyla Emmagan	Rachel Luttrell	Main
Aiden Ford	Rainbow Sun Francks	Main[b]		Does not appear		Guest
Rodney McKay	David Hewlett	Main
Ronon Dex	Jason Momoa	Does not appear	Main[c]
Carson Beckett	Paul McGillion	Recurring	Main[d]		Guest	Recurring
Samantha Carter	Amanda Tapping	Guest			Main	Guest
Jennifer Keller	Jewel Staite	Does not appear		Guest	Recurring	Main
Richard Woolsey	Robert Picardo	Does not appear		Recurring	Guest	Main

Note

John Sheppard

John Sheppard played by Joe Flanigan is a USAF Lieutenant Colonel (ranked major in season 1). He is an experienced and a talented US Air Force Officer in Afghanistan, though his reputation is somewhat tarnished when he disobeyed a direct order in an unsuccessful attempt to save the lives of several US servicemen. When called upon to transport Brigadier General Jack O'Neill into the research base that has been established at the nearby Ancient defense facility, Sheppard inadvertently discovers that he not only has the ATA gene (the genetic factor necessary to activate Ancient technology), but that he is naturally proficient at using it. After some doubts, he finally joins the expedition to Atlantis, although Colonel Marshall Sumner makes it clear he is not pleased about Sheppard's involvement in the mission. In Season 1, Sheppard serves as both a Major and later also becomes the military commander following Colonel Sumner's death. In Season 2, Sheppard is eventually promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and still remains as Atlantis's military commander with Sheppard serving as the team leader for the Atlantis Expedition's team, the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team or AR-1.

Elizabeth Weir

Dr. Elizabeth Weir played by Torri Higginson is the civilian and also the original leader of the Atlantis Expedition which she does for the first three years. Prior to joining the SGC, Weir was engaged to be married to a man named Simon Wallace but their engagement ended when Wallace refused to join the SGC. Weir originally served as the head of the SGC after General George Hammond was reassigned in the Stargate SG-1 Season 7 finale episode, "Lost City Part 1" with Weir serving in the role as SGC Commander up until her departure in the Stargate SG-1 Season 8 episode, "New Order Part 2" with Weir being replaced by newly promoted Brigadier General Jack O'Neill. After leaving the SGC, Weir heads to Antarctica to lead the research envoy studying the Ancient defense facility that had been discovered in Antarctica, the Ancient city of Atlantis which SG-1 had uncovered during "Lost City Part 2". Weir eventually leads the Atlantis Expedition which is sent through the Stargate to explore the Lost City of Atlantis. Weir is a diplomat and a leader, often making decisions in the hope they will benefit her and her people although she has clashed with others on occasions. In the Atlantis Season 3 finale episode, "First Strike", Weir is left in a coma when a beam that the Expeditions's enemies, the Asurans had created targets the Control Room of Atlantis. Weir survives although she becomes part-Replicator due to the fact that the nanites that were left in her system during the Stargate Atlantis Season 3 episode, "Progeny" have been reactivated. Weir eventually sacrifices herself to give Sheppard and his team enough time to escape during the Stargate Atlantis Season 4 episode, "Lifeline" with her fate being unknown although she later returns as a Replicator in the Season 5 episode, "Ghost in the Machine". Her position as leader of the Atlantis Expedition is later taken over by Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and following Carter's return to Earth by Richard Woolsey.

Samantha Carter

Samantha "Sam" Carter played by British-born Canadian actress Amanda Tapping is an astrophysicist and USAF colonel. Samantha Carter is a member of the SGC's flagship team, SG-1, having served there for ten years, with Carter herself having been under the rank of captain, major and then lieutenant colonel and later, at an unknown point after the end of the Ori conflict in Stargate SG-1, Carter is promoted to a "full bird" colonel and is transferred to the Midway space station to oversee the final stages of completion. The IOA appoints Carter as the new commander of the Atlantis expedition early in Season 4 of Atlantis. At the end of the first episode of season five, Carter is recalled to Earth for a Tok'ra extraction ceremony concerning the final Ba'al clone, with Richard Woolsey eventually replacing her as the new commander of the Atlantis Expedition.

Richard Woolsey

Richard Woolsey played by

. Richard Woolsey is part of an IOA panel that recalled Dr. Weir to Earth to explain her failed alliance with the Wraith. He genuinely respects Weir and attempts to defend her actions, but must defer to his IOA colleagues. The IOA dispatch him to Atlantis to evaluate Weir's ability to command. While evaluating Weir's abilities, he made a rather poor impression on the expedition members. However, he ultimately sides with Weir by sending the IOA a report modified to favor Weir and keep her in command of Atlantis. Woolsey later joins the Atlantis expedition on a permanent basis at the start of Season Five after his predecessor, Colonel Carter is reassigned.

Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay or Meredith Rodney McKay played by British-born Canadian actor, David Hewlett is the Chief Science Officer of the Atlantis expedition and a member of the main Expedition team, the First Atlantis Reconnaissance Team or AR-1. Dr. McKay is one of the most arrogant and condescending personalities in the Stargate franchise. He once identified himself as a Mensa member and believes himself to be the smartest person in the city, as mentioned in a conversation between Dr. Weir and Carson in "Hide and Seek". What makes it worse for his fellow team members is that, while he does not possess the wisdom of many of the other characters, in terms of raw intelligence or at least the occasional fits of insight/brilliance, he is. Despite his irritating demeanor, many members of the Atlantis expedition are on friendly terms with him, and McKay is able to keep steady relationships and is close to the people he works with, having referred to them as a surrogate family in a message to his estranged sister Jeannie Miller (played by David Hewlett's real-life younger sister, actress Kate Hewlett).

Ronon Dex

Ronon Dex played by Jason Momoa is a Satedan warrior and a member of the Satedan military where he held the rank of Specialist. Approximately seven years before Ronon's first contact with the Atlantis Expedition, the Wraith attacked Sateda. Ronon remained behind with Melena to fight the Wraith, but the Wraith defeated Satedan forces and Melena was killed before Ronon's eyes in an explosion. Ronon was later captured by the Wraith who instead of feeding on him turned him into a Runner, implanting a tracking device in his upper back and setting him loose to be constantly hunted. Ronon later becomes a permanent member of Sheppard's team, AR-1, replacing Aidan Ford who defects from Atlantis after Ford develops an addiction to the Wraith enzyme.

Teyla Emmagan

Teyla Emmagan played by Rachel Luttrell is the leader of the Athosians, a human race of farmers, hunters, and traders from the planet Athos in the Pegasus Galaxy. After a Wraith attack on Athos, Teyla and the Athosians settle in Atlantis. Friction in "Suspicion" causes the Athosians to leave Atlantis and settle on the mainland. Teyla stays with Sheppard's team, but later helps with evacuating the Athosians from the mainland several times in the face of various threats. In season 1's "The Gift", Teyla and the Atlantis expedition learn that her ancestors were experimented on by a Wraith scientist, and that Teyla is one of the few Athosians who possess trace amounts of Wraith DNA which enable her to sense the Wraith through their telepathic network. Teyla is also a member of the Expedition's flagship team, AR-1 and is also adept at hand-to-hand combat.

Carson Beckett

Carson Beckett played by Scottish-born Canadian actor Paul McGillion is the original Chief Medical Officer of the Atlantis expedition. Beckett was born with the Ancient Technology Activation (ATA) gene, which gives the carrier the ability to access Ancient technology. At the beginning of Stargate Atlantis, Beckett is a doctor with an extended knowledge of medicine and just discovered the Ancient gene. Elizabeth Weir selects him for the Atlantis Expedition and stationed him at the Ancient outpost in Antarctica, where the SG-1 team had defeated the nemesis Anubis in the Stargate SG-1 season seven finale, "Lost City". In "Hide and Seek", he creates a gene therapy that emulates the ATA gene in normal humans with a 48 percent success rate. Later, during Beckett's capture on the planet M8G-352 in season 3's "Misbegotten", Michael took some of Beckett's DNA to make a clone. In the Season 3 episode, Sunday, Beckett is killed by an exploding tumor but his clone later returns to join the Atlantis team.

Aiden Ford

Aiden Ford played by Rainbow Sun Francks is a USMC Lieutenant. Ford served in the Stargate Command (SGC) before and is twenty-five years old at the beginning of the first season. The only family that Ford mentions are his grandparents. Ford served as John Sheppard's second-in-command after the events of "Rising" until a Wraith feeds upon Ford during a Wraith attack on Atlantis in season 2's "The Siege, Part 3". An exploding grenade blows them off a building into the ocean, and Ford's unconscious body and the still attached Wraith are recovered nearly an hour later. Ford is diagnosed to have survived an overdose of addictive Wraith enzyme and as a result begins undergoing mental and physical changes, one of which involves his left eye turning completely black. He eventually leaves Atlantis for good, embarking on a quest to get more enzyme for himself. He later returns halfway through Season 2 where he captures Sheppard's team and recruits them into helping him destroy a Hive Ship. The mission gets off to a bad start with many of Ford's men dying or being captured. The Hive Ship Ford was on is soon destroyed and it is presumed that Ford is dead.

Jennifer Keller

Jennifer Keller, played by Jewel Staite, is the Chief Medical Officer of the Atlantis expedition, replacing her predecessor, Dr. Carson Beckett (although Keller accepts the role with some reluctance). Graduating high school at the age of 15, Keller was three years ahead of her peers, and earned a bachelor's degree before her 18th birthday. Upon becoming Atlantis' Chief Medical Officer, Keller faces a baptism of fire as she fights to save Dr. Elizabeth Weir who has been badly injured by an Asuran beam weapon. Keller later informs Rodney McKay and that Weir can be saved by using the now-inactive Replicator nanites in her bloodstream. Towards the end of the fifth season, she starts a romantic relationship with McKay; the status of their relationship at the end of the series is never revealed.

Recurring Earth characters

Recurring military characters

• Outcast". He began working for IOA field operations, and assists Sheppard and Ronon

  in capturing a rogue human-form Replicator.

• Laura Cadman, played by
  The Return
  ".
• Dillon Everett, played by
  The Siege, Part 3
  ", Sheppard visits him in the infirmary.
• Steven Caldwell, played by
  The Long Goodbye" when both Weir and Sheppard are compromised by psychotic and bloodthirsty alien entities.^[6]
• Abraham Ellis, played by
  Be All My Sins Remember'd" to battle against the Asurans. He also appears in Stargate: The Ark of Truth (set before "First Strike"), monitoring an Ori
  fleet approaching Earth.
• Frank Levine, played by
  captain. He is again seen piloting a puddle jumper in season 4's "Adrift
  ".
• Sergeant Markham, played by
  The Brotherhood
  ".

• The Road Not Taken". Lorne's mother, an art teacher, taught him how to paint on weekends when he was growing up, and Lorne rekindles this muse during his stay on Atlantis.^[10] Originally from San Francisco, California, Lorne also has a sister who has two young boys.^[11]

• Lieutenant Miller, played by
  Reunion
  ".
• Lieutenant Kemp, played by
  Tabula Rasa", then during "Be All My Sins Remember'd
  " has his own team before being killed in action on a mission to evacuate the Sions (humans) from their planet.
• Dave Kleinman, played by
  The Siege, Part 3
  ". He later appears as the George Hammond's weapons officer during Stargate: Universe's Incursion.
• Sergeant Stackhouse, played by Boyan Vukelic (season 1) – A
  Alpha Site
  for the Atlantis expedition team.
• Alicia Vega, played by
  Whispers", she is killed by one of Michael's test subjects. She was revealed to be gay by the producers.^[12] She was originally named Alison Porter, until she was renamed by the producers, and most of her scenes were cut for the final episode.^[13]

Recurring scientist characters

• Dr. Biro, played by Lindsay Collins (seasons 1–3) – A
  Sunday
  ".
• Dr. Katie Brown, played by
  Trio
  ", McKay reveals that Katie mistook his actions as him breaking up with her; she has not spoken to him since and has requested transfer back to Earth.

• Dr. Peter Grodin, played by
  Wraith
  hive ships. The satellite destroys one of the hive ships before it malfunctions, and the remaining hive ships destroy it with Grodin on board.
• Dr. Kate Heightmeyer, played by
  Doppelganger
  ", where she is infected by an entity from a living crystal that takes on the form of John Sheppard although the entity somehow displays Sheppard's darker side. The entity kills her in her sleep by giving her an extremely vivid nightmare of jumping to her death from the central spire of Atlantis.
• Dr. Peter Kavanagh, played by
  Midway" as part of the Midway station crew and is held hostage by the Wraith during their invasion of the Midway Space Station. Kavanagh causes and survives the destruction of the Midway Station, escaping in a Jumper escape pod with the others before being rescued by the Daedalus. He also appears in the final episode of the series, "Enemy at the Gate
  " as a crew member of the Daedalus.

• Dr. Lindsey Novak, played by
  Critical Mass
  ".
• Dr. David Parrish, played by Jonathon Young (season 2, 5), is a botanist tasked with exploring the plant life of the Pegasus galaxy. He was part of the team that discovered a lone Wraith commander with his enzyme sack removed, a trace of the missing Lieutenant Ford. He later discovered a plant similar to a Begonia eiromischa, a plant classed as extinct on Earth.
• Dr.
  Leo Award in the category "Dramatic Series: Best Supporting Performance by a Male".^[14]

Other recurring Earth characters

• Tracker", Dr. Keller asks Chuck to dial the Stargate, although he does not appear on-screen. In season five, Richard Woolsey tries to impress the IOA but forgets Chuck's name, calling him "Chet." Chuck is given screen time after Woolsey walks off, where he mutters under his breath "There is no Chet." According to Martin Wood on a DVD commentary, fans also occasionally refer to him as "the Chucknician".^{[citation needed}

  ]

• Amelia Banks, played by
  The Prodigal". She later starts a relationship with Ronon Dex by "Enemy at the Gate
  "

• leukaemia, and Jeannie and McKay collaborate once again before being rescued. She again appears in "The Last Man", and also goes to Atlantis in the episode "The Shrine". Kate Hewlett is David Hewlett's (Rodney McKay) younger real life sister. The script of "Letters from Pegasus" originally mentioned a brother, but since David Hewlett has five younger sisters, he asked the writers to change the line to "sister". The producers ended up hiring Kate Hewlett because producer Martin Gero saw a play with her.^[16]

Stargate crossover characters

See also: List of Stargate SG-1 crossover characters

Several characters who may be better known for their role in Stargate SG-1 have made appearances in Atlantis. They are:

• McKay and Mrs. Miller", (starring role in Atlantis season 4), "Search and Rescue", "Enemy at the Gate
  "
• The Return
  " (two-parter)
• The Return
  " (two-parter)
• The Lost Tribe
  " (two-parter)
• Midway
  "
• Home
  "
• Brain Storm", "Enemy at the Gate
  "
• Midway
  "
• Miller's Crossing
  "
• The Return (Part 1)
  "
• The Lost Tribe", "Enemy at the Gate
  "
• Paul Davis (played by Colin Cunningham) in "Enemy at the Gate
  "

Recurring alien characters

Ancients

Main articles:

Ancient characters in Stargate

The Ancients are the original builders of the

Wraith. The civilization of the Ancients in the Milky Way was decimated thousands of years ago by a plague, and those who did not learn to Ascend died out. With few exceptions, the Ascended Ancients respect free will and (with some exceptions) refuse to interfere in the affairs of the material galaxy. However, their legacy is felt profoundly throughout Stargate universe, from their technologies such as Stargates and Atlantis

, to the Ancient Technology Activation gene, that they introduced into the human genome through crossbreeding.

• Janus, played by Gildart Jackson (season 1) – An Ancient scientist who lived during the first siege of
  The Lost Tribe
  ", Janus was also responsible for the creation of the Aterro Device that he hid in his secret lab in Atlantis.
• Melia, played by
  Wraith siege of Atlantis to an alternate version of Elizabeth Weir
  , who travelled back through time. While sympathetic to Weir and Janus, Melia agrees with the other members of the council to not send Dr. Weir back to her own time. Melia is last seen returning to Earth through the Stargate with her fellow Ancients.

Asurans

Artificial life-forms composed of nanites, introduced in episode "

Ancients

to combat the Wraith but were ultimately abandoned and seemingly destroyed by the Ancients for being too dangerous, although they were not the weapon against the Wraith the Ancients believed they could be. Extremely aggressive, a small number of nanites thrived and eventually built an advanced civilization.

In season 4, Rodney McKay activates the Asurans' attack code, causing them to attack the Wraith, but this eventually comes to threaten all the inhabitants of Pegasus, as a twisted logic for defeating the Wraith was to annihilate their food source (that is, the humans). Because of their danger to humans, they are ultimately destroyed in the episode "Be All My Sins Remember'd".

• Niam, played by
  The Return
  ", Sheppard and his team retrieve Niam's inert body from orbit to gain access to the Replicator base code within him to immobilize the Asuran invaders. When Niam unexpectedly awakens during the process, McKay disintegrates him with an Anti-Replicator Gun.
• Oberoth, played by David Ogden Stiers (seasons 3–4) – The leader of the Asurans and an enemy of the Atlantis Expedition. In his first appearance in "Progeny", he informs Elizabeth Weir and her team that his people have no interest in an alliance against the Wraith. After learning of their residence in Atlantis, he orders the Asuran City Ship to attack Atlantis and is aboard the City Ship when it self-destructs over Lantea. In "First Strike", Oberoth has reconstituted his physical body from the Replicator collective and now regards Atlantis as a threat that must be destroyed at all costs. In "Lifeline", Weir (who is being sustained by Replicator nanites) makes contact with Oberoth and fools him to buy Sheppard and the others enough time to complete their objective, but Oberoth eventually overcomes Weir's control and captures her.

In the series, the replicators are referred to as Asurans a couple of times in the episode where they are introduced ("Progeny"), but, afterwards, they are always mentioned as replicators.

Athosians

See also: Teyla Emmagan

The Athosians are a group of hunters, farmers, and traders from the planet Athos. First introduced in "

Missing

". The search for the missing Athosians and their fate at the hands of the rogue Wraith Michael contributes to a major plot arc near the end of the fourth season.

• Halling, played by
  Todd
  " in Atlantis.
• Kanaan, played by
  The Seed
  ", it is mentioned that Kanaan has been restored to his original self using Carson Beckett's Wraith retrovirus, but is being interned with the rest of the former Hybrids on the mainland at the orders of the IOA.
• Jinto and Wex, played by
  Hide and Seek
  ", having moved to Atlantis with the rest of the Athosians, they sneak out of their quarters to play. Jinto unknowingly hides inside an Ancient transporter, and is teleported to another part of the city. There, he found an Ancient device and accidentally released an energy creature trapped inside. Sheppard eventually finds the transporter that Jinto had used, and returns the boy to his father.
• Charin, played by
  pacemaker
  , instead asking Teyla to perform the Ring Ceremony to celebrate her dying. Her last words to Teyla are "our journey begins".

Genii

The Genii appear to be simple farmers, but are in fact a military society with technology comparable to late 1940s Earth. First appearing in "

fission bombs, with which to strike back at the Wraith. They become enemies of the Atlantis Expedition in the first season and once try to invade Atlantis,^[21][22] though after a coup d'état in the second season they have been more favorable towards the city.^[23]

• Chief Cowen, played by
  Coup D'etat", Cowen masterminds a plot to abduct an Atlantis team led by Major Lorne, in order to gain access to the ATA gene
  . He also sends Ladon Radim to Atlantis, apparently as the planner of a coup d'état against him, so as to lure Sheppard and his team into a trap. However, Ladon is actually planning to topple Cowen, and plants a nuclear bomb beneath the warehouse where Cowen has placed his operations. The bomb eliminates Cowen and his personal guard, resulting in Radim becoming the leader of the Genii.
• Acastus Kolya, played by
  Remnants
  though this is eventually revealed to be an hallucination created by a piece of alien technology.

• Ladon Radim, played by
  The Return", to offer Ronon Dex and Teyla Emmagan
  a place with the Genii after the two are evicted from Atlantis by a group of Ancients. Although they turn down his offer, afterwards Teyla expresses to Ronon that working with the Genii might be the galaxy's best hope without the Atlantis Expedition.
• Sora, played by
  Acastus Kolya's team sent to take Atlantis when the city is largely evacuated due to a hurricane. When she learns that Teyla has entered the city, she disobeys Kolya's orders and sets off to avenge her father's death. However, Teyla bests her in single combat, but refuses to kill her. Together, they help the injured Carson Beckett reach the safety of the control room before the storm hits. Afterwards, Sora is kept prisoner in Atlantis. In the original concept of "The Siege
  ", she is returned to her people as part of the deal to obtain Genii-made fission bombs for the defense of Atlantis. However, the scene was cut due to time constraints.

Wraith

The main adversaries on Stargate Atlantis, the Wraith are the dominant species in the Pegasus galaxy. They are biologically immortal hive-based humanoids who feed on the "life-force" of humans, causing them to "lose years" in a way similar to aging. They evolved from the Iratus bug, as the bugs began acquiring the human characteristics of the persons they were feeding on. The Ancients encountered the Wraith, and after a long war with them, the latter drove the Ancients out of Pegasus 10,000 years ago, and now maintain the human worlds of Pegasus as sources of food. The arrival of the Atlantis Expedition in the Pegasus galaxy leads to the Wraith waking prematurely from their hibernation, and the human population of Pegasus is not enough to sustain all of them, leading to bloody conflicts and battles among the Wraith themselves.

• "Michael", played by
  The Prodigal
  ", invaded Atlantis but was defeated and finally killed by Teyla who knocked him off Atlantis' Control Tower sending him falling thousands of feet to his death.
• "Steve", played by James Lafazanos (season 1), is a Wraith who is captured by the Atlantis Expedition in "
  prisoners of war, Major Sheppard argues that the Wraith are not subject to it—they would have eaten everyone if they had attended the meeting.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• "Todd", played by
  The Last Man
  ", Todd dies fighting alongside Ronon Dex to destroy one of Michael's research facilities, the two sacrificing themselves to allow Ronon's strike force to escape before setting off their explosives.

Other recurring characters

• The Siege, Part 3" and recurs throughout season 2. He is tasked with operation of the ship's Asgard transporter and hyperdrive engine, working primarily with Lindsey Novak. Hermiod mutters to himself when he is displeased with the crew's demands, although his Asgard language is actually normal English played backward. The producers gave him "a little bit of an attitude problem",^[26]
  being an angry foreigner utterly convinced of his own brilliance above those around him.

See also

• List of Stargate SG-1 characters
• List of Stargate Universe characters

References

1. ^
   Critical Mass". Stargate Atlantis
   .
2. Epiphany". Stargate Atlantis
   .
3. Michael". Stargate Atlantis
   .
4. The Intruder". Stargate Atlantis
   .
5. ^
   Critical Mass". Stargate Atlantis
   .
6. The Long Goodbye". Stargate Atlantis
   .
7. GateWorld
   .
8. ^ Kavan Smith interview in Stargate Official Magazine Yearbook 2006
9. Runner". Stargate Atlantis
   .
10. Sunday". Stargate Atlantis
    .
11. Spoils of War". Stargate Atlantis
    .
12. ^ Mallozzi, Joseph (December 8, 2008). "December 8, 2008: Ships and what if". Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog. Retrieved 2008-12-09.
13. GateWorld
    . 2008. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
14. ^ "Awards for Stargate Atlantis". imdb.com.
15. ^ Chuck Campbell speaking at the Pegasus 2 convention in the UK.
16. Titan Magazines. September 2008.^{[permanent dead link] [dead link}
    ]
17. Before I Sleep" (Stargate Atlantis
    )
18. Missing". Stargate Atlantis
    .
19. The Kindred". Stargate Atlantis
    .
20. The Gift". Stargate Atlantis
    .
21. Underground". Stargate Atlantis
    .
22. The Storm". Stargate Atlantis
    .
23. Coup D'etat". Stargate Atlantis
    .
24. The Eye". Stargate Atlantis
    .
25. ^ Stargate Atlantis - Season 2 DVD Commentary
26. ^ "Stargate Atlantis: Season Two Preview". TV Zone Special #64. Visual Imagination. 2005. pp. 76–77.