 
GateWorld hasn't spoken with Paul McGillion since his surprising return to Atlantis in Season Four's "The Kindred, Part 1." Since that time, the series has been canceled and a new show is in production. Needless to say there is much to discuss! Paul updates us on his current projects, from his cameo in the new "Star Trek" movie to a developing indie film with a friend. We chart our way back through the last two and a half seasons, starting with "Sunday," all the way through to "Enemy at the Gate" (Beware minor SPOILERS for this episode!) and the fall and rebirth of Atlantis's cowardly lion. The interview runs 31 minutes, and is available in video, audio, and transcript form! The video version is available in Flash format at GateWorld Play. For the audio version you can listen online at your leisure, or download it to your MP3 player. |
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GW: Paul McGillion, back with you again.
PM: I'm back here.
GW: Yeah, back in Vancouver. Are you just temporarily in Vancouver?
PM: Yes, I just flew in last night.
GW: Any Stargate while you're up here, other than the convention?
PM: No, no Stargate yet. You mean Stargate Universe?
GW: Anything Stargate. You've done SG-1 and Atlantis, you need a Universe cameo at some point buddy.
PM: We'll see what happens. So far, nothing yet but they just started the season. I hope it's going well though.
GW: It is going well.
Though not (yet) appearing on SGU, Paul wishes the new team all the best. | |
PM: [Scottish accent] Good luck, guys, for God's sakes. Kick it.
GW: What's been going on in your world? We last spoke with you -- you hadn't even been resurrected yet -- Beckett hadn't. So, let's talk about that whole process. But first, what's been going on with you?
PM: I've been great. After we finished the show in October, I went down to Los Angeles and I've just been auditioning for new pilots this season and that sort of thing. I've been working a little bit here and there, developing a new project with a friend of mine. Worked on a couple of different things. I've been really well, it's been good. Post Stargate's been great. Stargate was great too. It's just a new transition to hopefully something exciting.
GW: You're still doing a lot of auditioning?
PM: I am yeah, a lot of auditioning right now. I did an episode of 24 this season.
GW: Yes, I saw that, 24, as Levinson. Tell us about that role?
PM: Again, 24 is such a close-knit show you can't really talk a lot about what happened.
GW: Has that not aired yet?
PM: It has not aired yet.
GW: There we go.[Laughter] OK, got it.
PM: It's towards the end of this season. It hasn't even aired yet. After it airs I can talk more about it. But it was great to work and I had a lot of scenes with Kiefer [Sutherland] and Carlos Bernard.
GW: Very cool.
Sanctuary -- You were in the webisodes. Do you think the character of Wexford -- are you still open to that character returning for the SCI FI Channel [version] if they ask you?
PM: Sure, from what I understood he was going to, but then I never heard back from anybody, so I really don't know. That's more of a question for the producers, I guess. They had spoken to me about him returning in a certain capacity. As of yet, that hasn't happened. They're just into their second season. That may happen, that may not.
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McGillion played the not-entirely-human Wexford in the sixth Sanctuary webisode. |
There are great people who run the show, I love Damian Kindler and Martin Wood, obviously, and Amanda [Tapping]. Hopefully something comes out of it. If not, maybe another character or not. You never know what happens in storylines. Things happen, things don't. Certainly really innovative television and I wish them all the best.
GW: Well, we are not going to have any problem seeing you very soon. Star Trek is going to be coming out in theaters, I believe later this month. Are you excited for the premiere?
PM: May 8th, next month.
GW: May 8th, excuse me, that's right.
PM: I am really excited to be part of that film. Initially I had read for the role of Scotty, which I think a lot of the Stargate fans know. I think a lot of them were probably the reason I read for Scotty so [Scottish accent] thank you, God bless you. But you know, as the business goes, things change and it went to a fantastic actor named Simon Pegg, whom I am sure everyone's very familiar with.
I still had the opportunity to play a different role on the show and work with J.J. Abrams and be part of that huge dynasty. So that's pretty cool, I was pretty excited about it.
GW: How many days did you shoot?
PM: A handful of days.
GW: OK. Are you looking forward to finally be able to talk about it?
PM: It's the kind of thing -- they keep a tight rein on it, which is understandable because I think they want to keep it secret and you got to respect that and I certainly do. And I think the less spoilers for a big movie like that getting out, the better.
I do have a scene with Kirk which is kind of cool. It was great to work on it, and obviously having the support of all the Stargate fans, initially, for my audition was fantastic. James Doohan's son, Chris Doohan, publicly endorsed me to play Scotty which is pretty cool, I've never met him. Never, never met him, no.
GW: He's a fan of you.
PM: That's very nice. I said if I even see him I would buy him a beer for doing that. Honestly to be part of a film of that magnitude is really cool. I was driving back to Vancouver to do a play actually last Christmas and my manager called and said, "Listen, they want to offer you something on the Stargate film. Are you interested?"
GW: Star Trek film.
PM: [Scottish accent] Stargate, Star Trek ... [Laughter] "Are you interested?" I said "Of course I am. What is it?," "Well, you know you have to say Yes before they tell you."
GW: That's how it went down, really?
PM: Yeah. I was somewhere in Oregon driving my jeep back up to do some theater in Canada. I came back down and gladly played with those guys, met J.J. Abrams, who's just a class act.
" I guess they really wanted to keep [“Star Trek”] top secret until it comes out. Which is exciting because I haven't seen it, didn't read the script."
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I think there is a reason that he's so successful. He is such a down to earth person and I'd love to work with him in a larger capacity at some point in time. Just to see how he runs a set, he doesn't even have to demand respect, it's just there. Which is a really nice thing. He seems like a really down to earth, cool guy, and the whole experience was really, really just fun to be part of.
GW: The Internet is really proving that nothing can stay secret for too long. In the projects that you've done, is Star Trek kind of an anomaly in terms of "This is really, really secret?" Or is this a growing trend throughout Hollywood and Vancouver?
Are the contracts that you sign getting more and more restrictive about what you can or cannot say? Because of the nature of how information seems to be so -- it's popping up everywhere, you can't contain anything.
PM: No, you really can't contain things. But I would think that with a film like that, especially that genre, I think it seems to be more -- from my experience, I haven't had anything that was that secretive until this particular film. Other films I've done, not so much but this one, because of the plot, the storyline, like I said before, the dynasty of Star Trek and the trekkies and the huge fan base it has. I guess they really wanted to keep it top secret until it comes out. Which is exciting because I haven't seen it, didn't read the script.
GW: I was going to say, you probably didn't get to read the whole thing.
PM: No, I don't know what's going on. I think it's going to be great. From the trailers I've seen it looks really, really cool. So I'm excited to see it as much as anybody else.
GW: So, you're doing a lot of theater work? Plugging one in here or there?
PM: If I can get one or two theater gigs a year, that'd be great. I really love doing theater, the last one I did was at Christmas, but not since then. Maybe in the fall. [I'm] working on a film with a friend of mine, Michael P. Northey, who is a great writer. A really funny comedic script called "The Bad." It's dark, comedic. We're working on that. So, that's going to be an indie feature, hopefully we shoot it in the fall. Kind of co-produce that as well.
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