Creators said movie, MGM heard TV show 
“Stargate: Universe” broke the Stargate mold slightly by depicting a harsher and grittier-than-normal take on practicalities on space-faring adventures, a concept that many viewers have attributed to the success of “Battlestar Galactica.”
Regardless of how much influence Ronald D. Moore’s reimagining has had on the franchise though, the real idea behind “SGU” was to develop a big screen adventure.
“The germ of ‘Stargate: Universe’ began as a movie by Robert Cooper, as do many of our ideas,” Wright told Gateworld. “We always come up with a movie, pitch it to MGM, and they say, ‘Terrific, let’s make it a TV show.’ When we were spinning the film idea, we knew deep down that ‘Universe’ was really a series because it had so much scope.”
The main challenge in creating the series thus far has been the pacing. In previous installments of the franchise, each series rattled through a number of ideas, plotlines and concepts within a handful of episodes, keeping the story fresh and new. However, thanks to realistic tone that “Universe” is aiming for, the pace has been restricted and less is revealed in a single episode.
“We set out to make a show that’s not your father’s Stargate, and I think to a lot of peoples’ surprise we’re actually doing it,” co-creator Brad Wright said. “Most people probably thought, ‘Yeah, they’re saying that, but they’re going to do [the usual] Stargate.’ Sure, there are elements of ‘Universe’ that I feel are the touchstones of Stargate, such as the humor and people from the here-and-now, with a 21st century sensibility and everything that comes along with that. However, this show also has a different energy, a different dynamic and a different look.
However, the adaptation of the “Universe” movie idea into a sustainable television series isn’t something that just happened overnight, and the project was on the radar of MGM executives long before it became a reality.
“We pitched ‘Universe’ a couple of years before we actually thought we were going to end up doing it,” Wright added. “We went to the Syfy channel with the idea and it appeared to be really well-received, but then a very long time went by without us hearing anything more. At one point we thought, ‘Oh, well, it looks like it’s not going to happen,’ and then we received the series order.”
New episodes of "Stargate: Universe" will premiere this spring on Syfy.
