Destiny may have flown into the sun(set) long before her time, but at DTG we are thankful for the two seasons we had, and the cast and crew who are continually willing to come back and share the memories of this brief period of their life. Alaina Huffman joins us to share Stargate stories, bring us up to speed on her life and career, and take your questions LIVE!

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Timecodes
00:00 – Live Stream Commences
00:20 – Opening Credits
00:45 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:21 – Welcoming Alaina and Riverdale
04:33 – Discovering TJ
07:42 – How Alaina Got the Stargate Role
11:55 – Discussing the Cast, Aging and Acting
17:34 – Season One, TJ and Young’s History
18:37 – The Set, on the Ship and Off-Site
22:06 – Wardrobe and Communication Stones
24:27 – TJ and Eli in the Rain, Pregnancy, and the Human Connection
31:13 – Season Two, TJ’s baby, and ALS
35:09 – Common Descent and Epiolgue
37:17 – Fan Questions, SGU Reunion, Approaching TJ as a Charcter
44:25 – ALS Research for the Character
45:24 – Who did Alaina enjoy working with the most?
46:53 – A Seven-Year Deal
49:03 – What would have happened had the show continued?
50:17 – Wrapping up with Alaina
51:22 – Post interview housekeeping
55:55 – End credits

***

“Stargate” and all related materials are owned by MGM Studios and MGM Television.

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Hello everyone, my name is David Reed and welcome to episode 165 of Dial the Gate, the Stargate Oral History project. Thank you so much for tuning in. Alaina Huffman is joining us for this episode. I’m tremendously excited to have her, Tamara “TJ” Johansen in Stargate Universe, so she’s going to be joining us. And at the end of this episode, I just want to let you know, one lucky United States or Canadian citizen will have the chance to get this Beyond the Gate Stargate calendar by our buddy RJB / Mallacore. It’s loaded with Stargate ship art, so I’m going to give you a chance to win that at the end of the episode, if you live in the US or Canada. But before we get the show started, if you enjoy Stargate, and you want to see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal if you click that Like button. It makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will definitely help the show grow its audience. And please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Giving the bell icon to click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications if any last minute guest changes. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. So this is a live episode, which means my moderating team in the YouTube chat, they’re standing by to take your calls. No, I’m kidding, they will go ahead and accept any questions you have for Alaina, they’ll get them over to me, and then we’ll see about asking them to Alaina at the second half of the show. Once again, Alaina Huffman, Tamara Johansen, TJ from Stargate Universe and a beautiful King Charles Spaniel. Who have you got here Alaina?

Alaina Huffman
This is Ruby.

David Read
Aw!

Alaina Huffman
She missed me. I was out of town for the weekend, so she just needs a little love.

David Read
She’s gorgeous. Brian had a King Charles for a while there, did you fall in love?

Alaina Huffman
Yeah. Brian and I got them at the same time. The woman who did our hair on Stargate, she bred them. And so both he and I got Cavaliers and yeah, that one unfortunately passed away.

David Read
Casey? Is it Casey?

Alaina Huffman
Brian’s, yes. And then I had another one, Bridget, and we called her Bridget Barkdot, and then I got Ruby.

David Read
We don’t deserve them. Dogs are the best people. So, how are you? How have you been?

Alaina Huffman
So good, same, same, just you know, living the dream.

David Read
So, you just shot another episode of Riverdale, the first for this season, is that correct?

Alaina Huffman
Yes, season 7. We’re in the fifties.

David Read
Twyla Twyst. Is that her real name?

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, it’s Archie comic books, so everybody’s just got really interesting names. I don’t know what they’re gonna do with my character. When they first approached me it was supposed to be this Big Bad and they just didn’t really write it for me last season. I did a handful of episodes and they just brought me back this season. I have no idea what they’re gonna do — it’s the last season of the show so I just think they’re bringing everybody back to a big farewell.

David Read
Quite the departure from TJ. Just a wee bit!

Alaina Huffman
It’s funny though, even if I play a bad guy, if I play a good guy, I always play a badass, which I love. So it’s similar in that regard, because she’s a little badass. There’s no one like TJ. TJ has a very special place in my heart. That was a time in my life that I’ll never forget, and I just grew to love her. She taught me so much about patience and grace and empathy. And I just love her. I’ll love her forever.

David Read
We had an interesting discussion a while ago, unfortunately, MGM has not put it on YouTube when the Stargate Command channel went down, but we had, you and I and Chris, a discussion about how you discovered her vulnerability. And that you called her a cry baby, said she was crying all the time, but then you started accessing this other part of the character and you had a revelation. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, she was just, like, I just was annoyed with her a lot, because she was always like, “I can’t do it, I don’t know how!” and every script it was like TJ fighting herself, basically. And then I realized, it was her sort of utilizing her community and they were in this situation that no one has ever really been in. And she didn’t go in, she went out and all encompassing and I think it’s such a response for us to be like, “I can do it by myself,” which is where I, personally, was at in life. And I realized you don’t have to, you have a community, you have people who love you. You have other people you can serve and if you enjoy giving service to others, then you should be able to receive it as well. And so it’s just a real big life lesson for me at 28 years old.

David Read
And as a caregiver, normally I would have a difficult time detaching my empathy, just to go home at night and rest after watching someone die on my table during the day. I can only imagine that, and so with someone like her, who has been thrown clear across the universe — we can’t even imagine what this would feel like. She’s the only one out there, in her mind, who can medically care for these people in any way. So I can imagine, for the first few weeks of that, that will be pretty darn crushing.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah. And also she wasn’t fully qualified, so that was a lot of her insecurity. But again, there was a need for her to be at least trying, and yeah, it was overwhelming. But I love her, she’s very special.

David Read
You’re right, she was a medic. I think that as the show would have gone on we would have had people stone in, as it were, to complete her training and make her a full doctor. I bet that would have happened as the show continued.

Alaina Huffman
Absolutely

David Read
How did you how did you get that role? Can you tell us that story, if you don’t mind?

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, it was… I think Ruby’s done…

David Read
Moving on.

Alaina Huffman
She’s like “Got all love I need”. Yeah, it was an audition, like anything else. And originally I read for TJ and I liked her, I thought she was cool, she had a little edge. I don’t remember the scene that I auditioned. But they really liked me and so they offered me a test deal and so we negotiate your test deal. But then they came back and they’re like, “We want to test you for Chloe.” and I was like, “Oh, interesting”. Then, I don’t know if they sent me… they must have sent me the pilot but it was three episodes, the pilot, and there were so many characters it was confusing. And like any script, even Riverdale, there’s so many characters, or I was on a show The 100 which had a lot of Stargate qualities, which is kind of interesting. But there’s so many characters in different realms and worlds and things like that so you can get kind of lost, especially if you don’t have context. You’ve never seen a set, it’s not an existing show, right, we were going to be making this. I wasn’t really feeling Chloe. And I went in, I did the audition, and I didn’t love it. I called my agent and I was like, “I don’t think that’s the job for me, I don’t think I did a good job. Maybe it’s not mine.” Which is a hard thing to do when you’ve negotiated a seven year deal and you’re looking at a peak of your career. And I was like, “I don’t think it.” “Okay, I’ll call them.” So she called and said, “She didn’t think she did a great job, she doesn’t feel like it’s the right character.” And they were like, “Yeah, we agree.” And I was like, “Alright, great.” And then they call back the next day and they offered me the job of TJ.

David Read
So they switched back?

Alaina Huffman
Yeah. So I don’t know what happened in their tests, because they were testing TJ’s that day. I don’t know if they thought I just wouldn’t do the show otherwise, if that mattered to them, I don’t know. I just remember it being kind of like an affirmation to me, that what’s for you won’t miss you, because that’s a really hard thing to say, is “I don’t think this is my job.”

David Read
You have a young family at this time, you still have a pretty young family, talking about being able to stay in that for potentially five, seven years and saying, “No, I don’t know if I want it.” But if you’re going to be in the wrong character, the place that you don’t feel that you’re coming from yourself. You feel like a fraud for half a decade. That’d be hard to imagine, going to work with that in your mind every day.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, I mean, it is one of those things where, I remember also another situation, I was on a hike with a friend of mine and there was an audition that had come through and, same thing, I just wasn’t really feeling it. And I usually say “Yes” to every opportunity, whether or not it goes my way, or what I have to do in the interim. I always try to look at it as a great opportunity. My agents work really hard to get this for me, I don’t take it lightly. And there was this character, I forget what it was, but it wasn’t for me and I remember saying to my friend, “I feel bad. I don’t want even pass on it.” And she goes, “Don’t think of it as you passing on it. Think of it as you opening the opportunity for somebody else, for somebody else as deserving, and willing to do this job.” And so that’s kind of my mentality now and that was how it was with Chloe, it just wasn’t my job, it wasn’t for me. Elyse was amazing, I love Elyse and I wouldn’t know her otherwise! This has all worked out.

David Read
The universe has a way of course correcting, when you pass something along something else, I believe, will come your way, you’re gonna be OK.

Alaina Huffman
It always works out.

David Read
Exactly right. Tell us who among the casts you gelled with immediately and who took a little bit longer for you to figure out. Can you can you tell them the Robert Carlyle story when he first opened his mouth? And you were like, “Oh boy!”

Alaina Huffman
Oh yeah, I think it was like the first table read we had. I first saw him at the test. He was going outside in between – they tested all the characters at the same time. And he said, “Hello.” And he’s like, “Nice work.” And I said, “Thank you.” And then I saw him the first time at work a few months later. And he was outside of the studio, and his accent is so thick. And then I was like, “Oh my God, I don’t understand you.” And then and then I felt like every time I said, “Huh? Pardon?” he like got quieter and quieter, and I was like, “Oh my God.” But then when he’s on camera, I mean, he’s an actor, of course, but you know, you don’t think like this, even though I’m an actor. He really opens up and he makes a very pronounceable accent for everybody, and I told him, I was like, “Oh, my God, I was questioning.” and he’s like, “Oh, I know.” And he’s like, “The less you understand, the quieter I get.” and I was like, “Yes, that’s what happened!”

David Read
David Blue. Tell us about David.

Alaina Huffman
Oh, David. David’s one of my best friends, I love David. We actually weren’t close during Stargate, not for any particular reason — it was a really challenging time in my life personally and I was working on a failing marriage, and it was a really special time in my life, because we were away from home, we were in Vancouver, it was great work schedule — Stargate was always a wonderful work schedule — my friends on Atlantis, they say the same thing, like, “It’s a great job.” So it allowed me a lot of time to spend with my family and that’s what I did. So, David would always organize these group settings and I never really went because I had two little kids at home and a husband. And I’m from Vancouver originally so I have a lot of family. So weekends, I’d be at my aunt’s house or I’d see my grandma, you know, I lived in Los Angeles, so I didn’t always get to see everybody. And he took it personally at first, he’s like, “You don’t like me.” And I was like, “No, like, I’m a whole person!” And then a few years later, we actually live really close to each other and then we would work out together all the time and now we just, I just talked to him for like an hour the other day on the phone. He’s great. I love David.

David Read
What about Brian?

Alaina Huffman
Brian great, the whole cast is great. I haven’t actually kept in touch with Brian. We text every once in a while but he’s just like a very serious actor. You know, he comes in, he does his work. He’s really sweet, he’s really fun. But yeah, I haven’t really spent a lot of time with him since Stargate.

David Read
It’s been amazing watching all of your careers grow. When he appeared on The Matrix it was, “Yes, that’s great.” And watching Ming, you know, I’ve been trying to get her on and her agents, they’re amazing. They’re very patient with me, but they’re like, you realize she’s in Stargate now… Star Wars now? And I was like, yes, “She’s doing amazing!” She’s doing amazing work.

Alaina Huffman
You know, it’s funny when she did Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, she was like “Who knew I’d be, like, 50 as an action hero.” And you know, that’s just kind of the thing, you just really don’t know where your careers are gonna go. There’s so much value we have, and I’ll say, just particularly as women, we sort of tend to undervalue ourselves in society, particularly in an image conscious society. I know it does happen for men too, but I always feel like… I remember having this conversation with Jensen Ackles at the end of Supernatural. I was like, I was like, “You could really take a 10 year break and come back and have a solid career.” And that’s just very typical. I feel like a lot of male actors really hit their stride in their late 40’s. Whereas with women, they’re like, “Oh, well, you don’t exist any more.” And it doesn’t have to be that way, but a lot of women go into producing, which is what I’ve been doing. I still act, I’ll always act, you know. I always said, “I want to be like Judi Dench, like, just, forever.” I feel like as I get older, the roles get better. I’m starting to read for these really cool character roles that I didn’t have access to in my younger years. I also don’t want to work every day. So I love being the Mom or the… you know, that’s kind of my goal, is to get on a series in a supporting role and nurturing younger actors, like, my daughter just started acting, and I’m like, “Gosh, I have so much to offer you.” A, you’ve watched my career and spent time on set, so there’s this allure that you were already aware of, and then secondly, I just know the business. I can protect you from the mishaps and not in like a ‘Momager’ way but in a mentor way in, a friend way. So it’s cool.

David Read
Your kids are great. They’re gonna do well.

Alaina Huffman
Thank you. I like them.

David Read
The first season of the show — it’s setting up that there was some history between TJ and Young — Louis Ferreira played Colonel Young. Was it easy to connect with him? He’s a cut up, you know, an interesting guy.

Alaina Huffman
I love Louis. It’s so unfortunate that the audience didn’t get Papa Smurf — we call him Papa Smurf — becuase he’s, he really is, he’s hilarious, he’s fun, and of course Young, especially early on, we didn’t get there, right? If we had have gotten there you would have seen all that he could do and just who he is, but yeah, Young was just really in his head and he was sad most of the first season and had to be in charge of everything and hold it all together. But yeah, in life he’s hilarious. He’s again, a dear, dear friend of mine, I see him often. And I’m so grateful for him in my life.

David Read
Was the set claustrophobic?

Alaina Huffman
Like literally? Physically?

David Read
Because it’s not… we later got a little bit more opportunity to be off the ship. But this is a darker tone than SG1 or Atlantis, that ship is closed more, the light sources are extremely limited. Did it feel closed in compared to some of your other set work before?

Alaina Huffman
So I don’t have the reference of SG1 and Atlantis. I can see if there’s a direct comparison, you know, people are comparing them. I always just looked at it as its own show and me, I always felt like, you know, if Prince put out a new album I’d go and get it because he’s my favorite artist. I feel like the creators of these other shows just wanted to do something different and it’s no disrespect to anything that they’ve done previously, it was just a new incarnation of their thoughts. But I also feel that one of the draws for me when I read the first script was “Oh, we’re stuck on a spaceship? That means there’s no locations, I’m going home at seven o’clock on a Friday! And they’re gonna pay what I’m asking? Yes!” I mean, like, that’s kind of how we think of it as actors. So, you know, towards the second season, we did go out more into the sets. And that’s always really nice, particularly in the spring. But this is where Brad and Rob are really smart. They’re from Vancouver, they know. A lot of times I’ve done a lot of shows in Vancouver, the writers have never been, they don’t know that it’s 30 degrees and raining. And they’re writing these scenes, like action sequences in fish nets and booty shorts. And, you know, you’re literally freezing at three o’clock in the morning doing flips on ice. They understood that. So our location stuff was in the summer. And it was when it was nice weather and we took a hiatus in the summer so everyone can have a break. And our main hiatus was over the winter, so no one had to be here. And that makes a big difference.

David Read
Wow. Yeah. That’s the thing about being you know, 16 and 17 seasons into a franchise, you know, they’ve really refined the process. I’ve got your little beauty right here. And it’s my one of my darlings. What an amazing set, an amazing environment. The production team, James C D Robbins, they built with steel. They were going to amortize that over five years. And what a gorgeous environment. I walked on the set the first season, and it was like stepping into Jules Verne. It was completely out of the world.

Alaina Huffman
Well, yeah. So when you use the word claustrophobic at first, I was like, “No, oh my God,” It was like vast and beautiful and amazing and so intricate. And the swing sets and how they were able to turn each set into multiple settings. But, yes, we just didn’t get a chance to, you know, to build. The bridge was beautiful. We brought that into the second season.

David Read
The bridge is a big regret, because it was like, this thing is great, and the way that it was that it was built up into the series, the unveiling of it was perfect.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah.

David Read
The wardrobe though… Not often a chance to go to Target and buy some new jeans.

Alaina Huffman
I know! So we had this conversation and I was like, we did at one point find a bag of clothes. I feel like that came from me because I asked. I was like “Can you just like… can we just find clothes?” I feel like that’s what I would want if I was stuck on a ship or something. And I’d be like, “Oh, I…” I think there was a very conscious decision that, character wise, we would honor our military roots so that there was order so that there was, you know, a managed society. So that did make sense, character wise, for me, like, how their hair was always kept, and their, you know… But yeah, we started having conversations of like, we don’t have razors, we don’t, like… what does happen? We’re not on a desert island, but we don’t we don’t have Target.

David Read
Exactly, right. And on top of that, one of the things that costuming did really well is, it was a story point. They had to have name tags clearly visible for when people use the stones, and see that someone else is in someone’s body, and it’s like, “Who’s who?” At a certain point, if you get too far away from that, it’s not so easy to tell who everyone is, if everyone’s in typical clothing. “Well, is that Eli? Or is that…?” you know? “Whose clothes is that?” So, the clothes were so important to who the character was too, it was really pretty tied down.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, for sure, for sure. And that was one regret I had, it’s like, I didn’t ever get to use the Stones. I didn’t get to have that experience. But yeah, that would have been another way to bring the outside world in and to bring us out of the ship. And a cool opportunity for other actors to work on a show that is so cast-centric. You know, because we’ve got to think about… you’re a viable project in town, you have to create employment opportunities, and bring in fresh blood and new faces and so, so yeah, that was a really clever, cool way to do that.

David Read
One of my favorite scenes is with you and David on the Time soundstage in the rain, and he’s got the Kino camera on his head and she’s just opening up to him about how she learned to sew clothes from her dad and how one thing kind of led to another. Moments like that really stand out to me as an audience member. And I’m interested see, you’re probably freezing your ass off in the rain! And I’ve got to…

Alaina Huffman
In that one we weren’t, actually, because we were on the stage. They built that stage because that was a, that was a brilliant episode. That was all shot in Kinos. It was all oners. It was a smart, smart episode. I don’t think anybody’s made an episode of television like that, before or since. We got to really appreciate how rad that episode was. That was a soundstage.

David Read
Right. They worked in season one with your pregnancy, I believe. Is that right?

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, it’s a good way to start a new job. “So guys, big news. I’m pregnant!” You know, it worked out really well. I think it actually worked out better for TJ. The affair storyline was really for Young and it really played into his psyche. And then when I got pregnant in real life, and they… it was something like, Brad and Rob were like, “We actually thought it would be a great storyline to explore in this circumstance, like, what would happen, I mean, people do get pregnant.” And they’re like, “We didn’t really want it to be you, but okay.” And it worked out. It had already lined itself up. And then the timing worked out with our hiatus. And I think it gave TJ just so much more humanity and, you know, softness and I think it gave Young a lot of softness too, but it also made her less the adulterer and more a human who made a mistake.

David Read
Your off-worlds… There’s a whole other set of circumstances to this that you guys are cut off from the rest of of humanity, and who knows if you’re just going to… who knows if they were gating back home for the weekend, you know, and slipping back into some comfy shoes at the house and going out and seeing Iron Man, you know? I mean, when you step back and you look at the circumstances that you guys were in, out there, on Icarus, and then in the ship across the cosmos, I don’t think any of us can truly ponder what that kind of life would be like, and when the chips are down, who knows what decisions you would make together just to maintain your humanity and stay alive?

Alaina Huffman
I mean, when I travel for work, it’s lonely, like, I am going to a city where all my comforts, you know what I mean? I have friends and I have people to call. Yeah, for sure. I do think that we’re connective beings, and I do think it would be challenging. And that’s what I think this storyline always wanted to convey, that it was less trashy and just more connective, like, real life circumstance. You know, maybe it doesn’t fit into everybody’s moral compass, but it’s understandable.

David Read
It happens, it happens. A friend of mine went to… I forget where… anyway, and he came back and he had to tell his wife, you know, that… they didn’t get pregnant, but I mean, he regretted what he did. And that’s life! That’s what the show was good about, mirroring for all of us. I think that’s one of the qualities that it had above the other two is that, you know, these people were more like me, you know? And as I got to spend more time with them, I fell in love with them more because of it, because they weren’t inaccessible, like in a comic book. They were people that I could see running into, in my life.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, I think that’s always the goal for me as an actor is to tap into an audience, that we are the same, and empathy. And even if you don’t agree with me, even if you don’t like me… I remember an early mentor in my career, Kit Carson, he’s a writer, he wrote Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He was big in the independent film scene in Texas, where I started, in Dallas. And he became an early supporter of mine and a mentor. And I remember, I’ll never forget it, he said to me, “You got to break their heart.” And I’ve taken that into every character, I look for an opportunity to connect on a heart level with the audience because it’s true. You have to see it, even if it’s like Cruella de Vil, or you know, a horrible warlord, you have to see humanity. Otherwise it’s not a whole character. So even my character on Supernatural, that was a hard one, because she’s not human.

David Read
She’s so demonic.

Alaina Huffman
She’s literally a demon. But I always wanted moments to find, where if it wasn’t necessarily like an empathetic thing in terms of her justification for her actions, it was like, “Oh, I understand the need to seek power.” I understand where Josie took control of Abaddon. It was like she was stuck in this 50’s era of women who, she was at the top of her game, she couldn’t get any higher. She saw this possession as an opportunity to sort of break the glass ceiling. So yeah, it’s just relatability, empathy. Characters. Real life, like, shit happens.

David Read
I think that if a character a character is successful, if I, as an audience member go in, and the character in some way through their actions makes me say, “What would you do if you were in my shoes?”

Alaina Huffman
Right!

David Read
“How would you be any better, based on the circumstances that led to who I am?” It’s got to be trickier for certain characters like Abaddon, than for others, you know? I loved the arc of… and this have been hard for you… finding out in season two, that the ship was basically lying to TJ about the fate of her baby to keep her motivated and on mission for the mission. Is that kind of hard to wrap your head around story-wise? Did you go to the writers and say, “Hey, what, what really happened there?” Or was it pretty clear that “Oh, my baby actually died and what I saw with Caine was a simulation on the planet.”

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, I think that speaks to the human desire to have hope. Again, you know, I don’t know if it’s denial, I don’t know if it’s avoidance, but I think it’sa coping mechanism, in a way, and the ship had that ability to tap into our emotions. Like our phones do when you say something, and all of a sudden, you’ve got the ads on there. But the one thing that I will say that I am so grateful for is that… so I had Charlie, was the baby that I was pregnant with… I had her on hiatus, and we knew coming back, she was going to be born. And then what happens during the cliffhanger, we knew we were coming back for a second season. And they didn’t discuss it, they were like, “We will deal with fake babies when real babies are healthy.” And I’m forever grateful, like, there was no weird energy towards me. And they just always took care of my emotional well-being as a mother before my character.

David Read
Yeah, I mean, it worked. And then, if we think that TJ is going to have a happy time after that, we find out she’s got ALS. Man, the emotional baggage that was, I suppose you could look at this like, as an actor, you could look at this being handed a big thick steak to munch on.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, well, Carl Binder initially wrote that episode and came up with that storyline and this is one thing that I also loved about working on that show is that the writers were here on set with us… OK, there’s this big beautiful deer in my backyard just trying to eat my roses.

Alaina Huffman
You have to wait until the spring. And Carl came up to me… So this is the cool thing, they would come to set, like, they’d come down and get lunch and then they’d just like, kind of, kick it with us on stage and talk a little bit and share ideas, which is so nice! A lot of times you don’t have those relationships with writers, usually because they’re in a room somewhere or you know, just the nature of being a writer, it’s not the most social… a lot of writer friends that I have are not super social. So, you just don’t really have those conversations. But Carl kind of kicked the idea around and then when they decided on the idea he came to me first, long before the script came out and told me, and he said exactly that, which I’m so grateful for, and he’s like, “I just want you to know, if we go 15 years, you’re not gonna die. I think that you can tell this story and I trust you with it.” And that was a huge compliment to me. I felt really grateful and I would have loved to have played it longer and sort of bring some awareness to it and just the struggle that one does as they learn to cope with this new fate that they have.

David Read
Uh-oh!

David Read
We are not going to belabor the point about, you know, not getting to finish this story but in so many ways I love Common Descent and Epilogue because it is a version of finishing that story. And I’ve told you this before, that shot of you washing clothes on the beach, or on the shore next to the river is the most gorgeous shot of that series. The cinematographers were amazing! I don’t know how early you got up to shoot that. But that is…

Alaina Huffman
[inaudible] first step, again, it was like this… I remember it very specifically. And it was a… Because it was shot wide and it was misty and that was all practical. I mean, it was it was an early morning, I think it was probably like a 7am call so by the time we got that shot off it was eight o’clock in the morning. So not crazy early, but I think the voyeuristic nature of the shot is what’s so heartbreaking about it, it’s beautiful and then you’re like, “Oh my God, this is an internal struggle that we’re witnessing and we kind of shouldn’t. But here we are with somebody that we love, and we can’t do anything about it.” And it was again, super quick, it was like an eighth of a page, one setup, shot, maybe a couple shots, I don’t remember exactly, but I remember getting in the van to go back to the stage to do the rest of the day and the makeup artist, Tish, who ended up being the makeup artist on Supernatural as well, she goes “Wow. That was so beautiful.” And I was just like, “Oh!” And it’s just so nice when your work impacts people, because you’re there doing it like, “Did it sell, do you read it?” You know? And yeah, it was really nice confirmation that it was beautiful.

David Read
And there’s no dialogue, it’s all just internal. And the same with the montage of the time passing around the table with the family.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, it was a very visual episode.

David Read
Good stuff. Got to sink your teeth in. I got a few questions for you from fans, if you don’t mind. Before I get into that I want to pitch you an idea later on this year, not sure when, I’d love to get as many of the SGU team back together for a zoom reunion. Would you be interested in that?

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, I’d love to. Yeah.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, it’s…

Alaina Huffman
I would like a reunion

David Read
Say again?

Alaina Huffman
I would like a reunion.

David Read
As far as I’m concerned, and I’ll tell this to any Stargate fan, it’s the best of the three shows, bar none. Lockwatcher, you played such a unique character, as you were playing a medic who had to step into the role of the series doctor. Did you approach this anyway than your previous work? It’s kind of like really a fish out of water. She knows the basics, but now she’s way out of her depth, you know?

Alaina Huffman
Did I approach it differently?

David Read
Than any previous role that you’d had?

Alaina Huffman
So, I feel like my process for discovering a character is just being open to it, I mean, there’s obviously sometimes technical elements of the character, whether it’s a likeness or, you know, a cadence of speech or something like that, but for a character like TJ who was completely made up, they always had tactical advisors, we had military advisors, we had medical advisors. And so I did take the opportunities to work with them when they were provided for me, and I’m always grateful for that and the show was fantastic about that. I always say, it’s kind of just a process of being open to discovering and when… I love Shonda Rhimes’ book, My Year of [saying] Yes [to Everything], she talks about writing for Grey’s Anatomy in the early seasons and learning about the characters is kind of like a throuple. So it’s the actor, the writer and the character. And we sort of all engage in this, at first, awkward dance, and we all come with our ideas, and then we kind of learn each other’s language and start to hear each other’s voices. And so that happened with me, with TJ. Interesting, complete side note, I remember going in for this series and I got a scene and I was like, “This is so weird.” I had no idea who had written this. I went in there and I texted my girlfriend, who’s a writer, and I was like, “I just read for this show. Are you by chance writing it?” She goes, “I wrote that scene for you.” I knew from her writing, that it was her. Isn’t that wild?

David Read
There was a vibration coming through?

Alaina Huffman
It’s like a language and we just learned to speak it and I don’t know if it’s something you can prepare for, other than being open to it and immersing yourself in it. It’s not technical, I feel like sometimes there are very technical actors, people have a process that works for them and, you know, I don’t discount anybody’s process, but it’s my experience that a lot of people who come in with a very technical approach are not then open to being in the sandbox? And a lot of times the discovery of your character, you learn through your interaction with other characters. And it’s not how your character should act, but it’s innately how your character does act because you’re there, you’re present. So yeah, as situations came up, I always was discovering how TJ would handle them.

David Read
I have talked with a number of writers who say that, in certain respects, you have plot goals, and then you break the characters into the scene and they take over. And obviously, they’re not alive or inhibit, but I mean, you could argue that a creative person has almost a bit of multiple personality going on. And I imagine it’s very similar for you, when you are placed in a situation, as a performer, and you look at it, and it’s like, I don’t know if this has happened to you, but it’s like, “This doesn’t feel right.” You know? “It says that I do this, and I can do that, but it doesn’t feel honest and it doesn’t feel true to the character.”

Alaina Huffman
Totally. And I remember having that conversation with Brad, it was — I forget what episode it was — but it was something where Young… I mean Scott and TJ were the same rank and he, he would always take sort of the more point position when they were in the field. And it made sense, technically, because she was the medic. And so even though rank-wise, they were equal, she had a different role. And there was a moment, and I forget what it was, but I brought it to Brad, no Brad and Rob, I think, and I said something about it, and I was a little apologetic. I was like, “Look, I don’t I want to tell you how to do your job, but, like this isn’t right.” And Rob just got this big smile on his face and he’s like, “I love someone who protects their character. You’re absolutely right. Like, if you were TJ, that’s how TJ would feel. There’s nothing wrong with expressing it.” So, you know, that I don’t know, I’m not going to speak for them, but that may have given them the confidence to know that that’s how TJ operates. And to move forward in that capacity. So yeah, we’re just continually learning and in this beautiful little throuple, and each writer writes her character a little bit differently. Like, Carl always wrote TJ beautifully — they all did — but everyone has their little secret sauce on your character.

David Read
Carl writes with his soul, right? Like, right in his face while he’s working on that keyboard to produce these words. It’s amazing to watch. And I loved TJ in her in her command moments, Water is one of my favorite episodes because the boys are off the ship and she’s having to deal with this sandstorm and her instincts, you know, are the ones that the non-aggressive instincts are the ones that, in this particular situation, the ones that win out, you know? She negotiates with this thing, basically to get it off the ship. That’s cool stuff.

Alaina Huffman
Greer comes in with his big firestick!

David Read
Do you want to die? Did you see what happened to the other guy? He’s shredded! That’s funny.

Alaina Huffman
Each time I talk about Stargate, I’m like “I’ll go back and watch it.” It was a great show.

David Read
It’s a great show! The last 15 minutes are very hard to watch when Joel’s music is playing and they’re putting everyone in stasis. I mean, just cut your heart out with a knife, man, you know? They’re still floating out there and not aging.

Alaina Huffman
Not aging. That’s the key.

David Read
Antony wanted to know, once Carl told you about the ALS, did you go online and look into it a little bit more before filming those scenes at all? Or did you just let it take over.

Alaina Huffman
No, no, no, no, no. I wanted to get the technical elements of it right and I also wanted to hear people’s stories. I mean, this was like early internet days, right? We didn’t have… Instagram wasn’t a thing. No TikToks, but we had YouTube, so i did YouTube a lot of stuff. And there were not as many influencer-type people that are now… I would imagine now I could go on and find someone’s entire experience documented with ALS. But I had, I did have some resources. I don’t remember if it was the Lou Gehrig’s Foundation… I did significant due diligence on the research and then made it my own, but I wanted to make sure I got it right.

David Read
Raj, excuse me, Zagros asking, as a viewer, who did you enjoy watching on the show?

Alaina Huffman
Oh, interesting. Um… hmm.

David Read
Such a great cast. It’s hard to pick.

David Read
I know, no, it really is! Because all the all the dynamics of characters are totally different too and their interactions are different and independent of their character. The most beautiful part about the show is that it was an ensemble. So I, personally, as an actor, didn’t mind watching that show with me in it because it, you know, there could be episodes where I’m only in two or three pages. So I could just watch my friends and enjoy the show and not be like, “Oh my God, cringe.” on my own work. But, who did I like? I don’t know. I think you know, the magic about David playing Eli was that he… like, he would always like, “I’m not Eli!” but he is not like the most close to his character. So that was always really fun to see him kind of just flourish in that way? Um, yeah.

David Read
Yeah. That’s fair. Absolutely. David is absolutely Eli on numerous levels.

Alaina Huffman
So many levels, still to this day. Yep.

David Read
The One with the Many Zs says, given the mentioned seven year deal, were the actors already told an envisioned timespan for SGU’s run during casting overall commitment season by season only? Do you mind talking a little bit about that?

Alaina Huffman
Yeah, sure. No, it’s pretty industry standard if you test for a series, you test for a seven year deal. And it’s really for the benefit of the network, not the actor. But it just kind of gives you… it’s an option of your time. And it’s pretty much for all the series regular cast, so would have been the six or seven of the six… seven of us, I guess? And then everyone else might might do a one year option, or a per episode option and then they develop those storylines as needed, but no foresight into what was going to come. Like I said, the writers would come down and they sort of discuss ideas and I don’t know if they were gauging, they certainly weren’t asking for permission, nor did they have to, but I’m not sure if it was just a sharing or engaging. Not all writers do. I mean, I’ve been on other shows where they’ve asked me back and I’m like, “What? What are you going to do with me?” And I’d be happy for the job but it’s also like, it’s… there’s a point where it’s beyond catching a check, you know, you want to, you’re like, “Whoa, what am I doing? What’s the plan?” With Stargate though, I trusted… I trusted them with TJ and it was a trust because we had an open rapport, I could I could go to people and be like, “Oh, I’m not really feeling this” or “How about this?”

David Read
Right exactly. You could feel them out, you know, and you’re all working to service the same thing; make a great entertainment product

David Read
The goal is collaborative, the goal is to make high art and to, like, what a blessing? We’re living a dream.

David Read
Absolutely. Are RJR asks, what do you think would have happened had the show went on? We know that David has an idea of a big piece of the puzzle, and that he’s not telling, he’s gonna go to his grave with that, and good! But what you think would have happened?

Alaina Huffman
You know, my imagination is never as good. I love story, I have a lot of friends who are writers and I will give story notes. I love love love being a part of the creative process. But I honestly, I like the surprise of getting a script and seeing where it goes and then adding my little touch to it. I’ve never tried to imagine what would happen because, just like, and I kin it to this. When we would go to the observation deck with a big green screen that we look out at… it was never… my imagination was never as good as how brilliant our team was. So I’m always like, “There’s there’s people that are better at that than me and I have my part in it.” But I have no idea, I really don’t. I would have loved to have been surprised to see what would have happened.

David Read
That’s really cool. Alaina, you are one of my favorites. I’m so glad we’ve finally got you. You still have your Kino?

Alaina Huffman
I do, I do! One day, it’s gonna fly.

David Read
I know, I know! We’ll find a way, I’m sure of it. The fan community, man, that’s a fan made prop taken from the original molds. But, I mean, it’s perfect!

Alaina Huffman
So amazing. And it’s a great conversation piece people are like, “What is this?” “Well, let me tell you…”

David Read
Exactly right. I appreciate you coming on and we’ll see later on in the year about about the possibility of doing an SGU reunion — I would love it. You guys are all great people, you created a great product and I’m so thankful that we got the two years that we did.

Alaina Huffman
Yeah. Me too, thank you, let’s do it! I’m happy to help, so let’s communicate and we’ll figure it out.

David Read
Absolutely. I’m going to let you go, on your side and I’m gonna finish the job the show on this side, alright.

Alaina Huffman
Bye, y’all. Thank you!

David Read
Thank you, take care of yourself.

Alaina Huffman
Bye, you too.

David Read
Alaina Huffman, everyone. TJ, Tamara Johansen in Stargate Universe. God, I love that show. All right, if you are a US or Canadian citizen. Well, mainly if you have a US or Canadian address, I’m going to give you an opportunity for this – our buddy, Ryan Bingham RJB / Mallacore, is giving away this Beyond the Gate 2023 calendar. And if you are willing to relinquish your address, then I am willing to go ahead and give it to our first viewer who emails me at [email protected]. Don’t send me your address. Just if you are in the US or Canada, whoever is first to email me, I’ll let you know if you’re the first. And I will pass your information over to Ryan so that we can get this beautiful piece to you now and if you’re interested in looking at more of his art, you can visit the link below. I’m gonna be putting in his DeviantArt address momentarily as well. I already have one there but absolutely great artist. I’ll also link to his previous episode where he discusses his work and shows off a lot of his art. That was a Alaina Huffman. Thank you so much for tuning into Dial the Gate. We’ve got a hell of a lineup coming your way. I just secured John de Lancie today for an episode later this season. So over at DialtheGate.com we have our full schedule. Next Sunday, February… is that Sunday or is it Saturday? I’m going to have to double check the times here. Give me just a minute on that. Let me do that before I absolutely screw everything up. That’s a Saturday so I have those dates wrong. So, Saturday February the Fourth at 10am Pacific Time we have David McNally who played three roles, two in SG-1 and one in Atlantis. Jonathan Glassner is back from a pre-recorded episode to discuss more SG-1 and his brand new series The Ark, which is coming out this Wednesday on Sci-Fi and Peacock. James Titchener visual effects producer and writer for Stargate SG-1. We have him on February the 11th at 12 Noon. As that’s… man, I am terrible. Look at this! Two episodes at the same time? That is not right! I will get that set up correctly on the website. It’s Jonathan and then James. So ,Jonathan, I’ll have him on at 10am Pacific and then James is on at 12 Noon. Sorry guys. Spank me, Rosie. John de Lancie is going to be joining us on February the 15th. That’s a Wednesday at 11am Pacific Time, he’s going to be joining us live to discuss Frank Simmons and Q and anything else you want to discuss, he’ll be taking your questions live. And Bonnie Bartlett, Linea, is back for one more episode. We had such a good time with her while she was on and she was saying that she was going to be releasing her memoir, Middle of the Rainbow, so we’re going to be getting her back on at 10 in the morning. I think this is also a Saturday Let me double check this here. 11th, 18th, yes, this is also a Saturday, I’ll update this as well. Saturday February the 18th at 10 in the morning live and if you go to DialtheGate.com and click on this, Middle of the Rainbow, you can get her book. And you can read that before the show so you can have questions for her. My thanks to Linda “GateGabber” Furey, my producer who makes the show possible with a lot of our guests, she has been a big help and making a lot of the guests possible for this year. So big thanks to her. My production team, my moderators, Sommer, Tracy, Jeremy, Rhys, and Antony, you guys are the best, thank you for making the backend possible. And Frederick Marcoux ConceptsWeb he makes Dial the Gate continue to function and with the updates that are coming really soon. So thank you all for making the show possible. Thanks once again to Alaina Huffman, my guest for this show. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate and I will see you on the other side.