We are excited to welcome back Rachel Luttrell to Dial the Gate, to bring us up to speed on her family’s goings-on this past year, share more stories from the set of Atlantis and take your questions LIVE!

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Timecodes
00:00 – Opening Credits
00:42 – Welcome and Episode Outline
01:48 – Welcoming Rachel, the longevity of Stargate, conventions and social media
09:28 – Getting recognized in public and daughter Ridley’s career
17:28 – Rachel’s short film, “Shelter In Place”
25:03 – Keeping in touch with the Atlantis cast, the guest stars
30:26 – Surprise Special Guest – James BAMBAM Bamford!
45:56 – Claire Rankin and guest stars
49:11 – Fan Questions
52:27 – Wraith Queen make-up and character
53:50 – Teyla’s Under-utilization, Stargate Extinction, and Music
59:07 – John Sheppard or Ronon Dex?
1:00:42 – Post interview housekeeping
1:03:40 – End credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 138 of Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. Rachel Luttrell is back. We are blessed to have her and she’s going to be joining us for this hour, live, so if you are in the YouTube chat, you can go ahead and start submitting your questions for Rachel and we’re gonna get to them in the second half of the show. Before we get into the thick of things here, if you like Stargate and you want to see more content like this continue to be produced into the future, it would mean a great deal if you click that Like button now. It makes a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and is going to help the show continue to grow. And if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Giving the Bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops, and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guests changes. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next several weeks on the GateWorld.net YouTube channel. As this is a live episode, our moderating team is standing by at youtube.com/dialthegate so you can submit your questions for Rachel to them. They’ll get them over to me and I’ll be asking a few of them near the end of the show. Rachel Luttrell, Teyla Emmagan of Stargate Atlantis — and it still says Stuart Tyson Smith. Oh my gosh, Rachel, you’re not Stuart Smith! Let me fix this right now. There we go. I’ve never done that!

Rachel Luttrell
Well maybe I am!

David Read
Do you know Egyptology? That’s funny. How are you?

Rachel Luttrell
I’m really good. Thank you so much for asking. Yes.

David Read
It’s so good to have you on.

Rachel Luttrell
Thank you. Well, listen. It’s always a pleasure when you reach out. It’s always lovely to see you. It’s always lovely to chat. So, yeah.

David Read
This show that you guys created — it was five years of your life — and it continues to resonate with so many people. I get so many notifications about people thanking us for continuing to keep the show alive and the various projects that have been done from my show, to the role playing game that’s been released, to this Stargate: Timekeepers video game that’s going to be coming out. There are so many new fans that are continuing to discover this show as we move forward, and you have to ask yourself, “At what point does it become a thing of the past?” And if you look at some of the other genres shows, there seems to be no end to this. I mean, you guys are gonna live on forever doing this stuff.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, you know what, it always surprises me, it always humbles me quite deeply. I was in Chicago for a Creation convention.

David Read
Yes, how’d it go?

Rachel Luttrell
So good, so good. It was a wonderful con, everything was smooth and terrific. But I had a question from one of the fans of Atlantis, and she asked me how it felt, while I was filming it, to be a role model. And I told her quite frankly, that when we were working on this ages ago — as you said, it was five years of our lives — and particularly in the beginning, we were all focused on doing the best part that we could for our character, serving the story etc., but we were not aware about how it was connecting with our audience and where it would go, we had no idea. So now when I get asked those questions, all I can say is I’m so honored, I’m so deeply honored to have been part of something that is so impactful and stands the test of time. Yeah, at the convention I met fans from eight years old. Yeah, eight. They were these two adorable sisters. One was nine and the other one was eight, and then I have fans who run the gamut and that always blows my mind. It’s wonderful, it’s just wonderful, yeah.

David Read
When you were working on production, I have a hard time thinking of a live action series now that’s an hour long drama that runs 20 episodes a season at this point. I can only imagine that when that was standard for you guys, you were keeping your heads down with the work just trying to keep ahead of the material, not so much paying attention to what the fandom was thinking.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, 100%. We didn’t know. I mean, it wasn’t until our very first convention, and that was at…

David Read
San Diego Comic Con, wasn’t it? Yeah.

Rachel Luttrell
San Diego Comic Con, yeah. And we were all, all of us, so, so nervous. Because we didn’t know, we didn’t know how we were going to be received. And we were just so overwhelmed by just the wonderful way that the fans took us into their hearts, and I continue to be. Yeah, it’s amazing.

David Read
Do you think that it’s a good thing that the show kept you guys so busy, that it keeps you away from a lot of the online chatter from week to week about what’s going on? Because now, in this day and age, you can turn on Twitter, see if you’re trending or not, see what other people are thinking of you. And I imagine for a lot of these modern shows, people are… it would be really easy to get sucked into that and make that almost primary and your job, doing the work, secondary without you even realizing it.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, interesting. That’s an interesting comment. And I for one have always had kind of a strange relationship with social media. I love the fact that it allows me to reach out and participate with fans. But I also find it to be kind of daunting, quite frankly. I find it to be daunting, I know that one can get sucked into it and you can just spend tons and tons of time comparing oneself to all kinds of things. So I kind of try and stay away from it as much as I possibly can, because I don’t find that it adds to the health of my life.

David Read
As a mom, what are your rules?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, interesting.

David Read
With two young kids. Because this is becoming a big deal.

Rachel Luttrell
No kidding. Well, my son isn’t on social media. I mean, neither… my daughter has a very small Instagram account which is only for the family. But I know that the time is going to come very swiftly when that won’t be the case and they’re going to want to have social media access. So at the moment I am… at the moment, they simply don’t, so that’s the rule. And then as we move forward into it, there are going to be a lot of boundaries placed on it. I mean, I have a sister in law, who is a teacher, and she has taught kids from kindergarten who are now 18 years old, and she’s just seen how they interact with social media, how much it impacts their sense of worth, and how much they’re using things that really they shouldn’t be using as currency to get followers, and it’s just kind of like this unhealthy loop that you can find yourself in. So, listen, as a mom, it scares me. But I’m just going to — touch wood — continue to be as aware as I possibly can. I’m really lucky because my son likes to pull me into different forms of technology, different modalities, so he’s kind of keeping me current.

David Read
He’s keeping you involved.

Rachel Luttrell
He’s keeping me involved. He’s like, “Mom, you should be doing this, that and the other.” And I’m very grateful for that, I’m very grateful for that. Sometimes I’m like, “I don’t even understand what this is, but OK, I’m gonna try.” And I’m so grateful that he’s doing that instead of hiding. Let’s hope it continues. I don’t know. Parenthood is a wild and woolly adventure, so… talk to me next year, I’m sure it’ll be totally different.

David Read
You’re in Atlanta, right?

Rachel Luttrell
Yes, I am. I’m just outside of Atlanta. Yep.

David Read
Have you been recognized for Teyla, or recognized while you’ve been down there yet? Has that happened? Or are you keeping a low profile?

Rachel Luttrell
Well, I am keeping a low profile but the short answer is yes, I have been. And it always takes me by surprise, because I am deeply entrenched, most of the time, as a mom, just kind of… and so yeah, it’s caught me off guard in different places. At the airport, at Chick-fil-A, and most recently at the Renaissance Fair.

David Read
Hey, there we go.

Rachel Luttrell
My kids adore the Renaissance Fair, so since we’ve been here in Georgia, we’ve gone every single year, with the exception of the pandemic, 2020 when everything was closed down. But this year was no exception, we did go and I had my hair wild and curly and I was just like… I didn’t think anybody was going to recognize me. So if you’re watching and you were there, it was a pleasure to meet you, it really was. But yeah, it always takes me kind of by surprise, and my kids are like, “What?!” They’re always like, “Mom, what??”

David Read
Come on, your mom’s getting some [attention] for once. You know, “Ridley’s a big star, let your mom have some attention, please.” And you find these pictures online of these Star Trek fans dressed up in their 23rd, 24th century wardrobe, taking pictures at renaissance fairs with their devices out like they’ve landed on an alien planet, but that would work really good for the Stargate uniforms as well, because you were constantly creating those period worlds.

Rachel Luttrell
Totally, totally. Yeah, it absolutely would, it absolutely would. Yes, yeah. Well we enjoy it, we enjoy it a lot.

David Read
How has it been, how has Ridley’s career been developing, if you don’t mind me asking?

Rachel Luttrell
I don’t mind at all.

David Read
How have things been going? Has it been keeping you busy?

Rachel Luttrell
Yes, I’m super proud of my little one. Last year was particularly busy for Ridley. It was really her first year, her first 12 months as an actress, and she booked a national commercial right off the bat, and then after that she booked her first feature, and then shortly after that she booked another feature. And the first one has come out, it’s called Shattered, it’s kind of like a thriller. It’s a thriller, and… I don’t want to give too much away, but anyway, she plays an integral role in it — Shattered. And then the other one is set to come out in September, they’re telling us, and it’s called Lou, and it’s with Allison Janney and Jurnee Smollett and Logan Marshall Green.

David Read
Wow, what a cast. Look at this.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, and my baby girl, and my baby girl, who was number three on the call sheet in a huge movie.

David Read
Wow.

Rachel Luttrell
And she held her own and she’s just wonderfully talented and poised. And I love talking about my kids, so I could talk about [inaudible].

David Read
Regular chip off the old block!

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, I guess so, I guess so. It’s funny, because when she was filming Shattered, that was her first — obviously — that was her first endeavor into something quite big. And I thought that she was going to need me a lot more than she did. And I thought, “You know, she’s going to get on set and she’s gonna be surrounded by all the technicians, the camera, lights, blah, blah, blah, and it’s going to be nerve-wracking, because it can be.” And I was there for her to lean on me and she was just, you know, “Mom, sshh, stop it, no, don’t. Mom, cut it out. Mom, stop.” And I was like… for the first couple of days, my… Anyway, I was very kind of wounded by it, I was hurt.

David Read
That hurt, didn’t it? It hurt a little bit. Yes.

Rachel Luttrell
I was hurt. But then I realized what a blessing, what a gift that she’s able to…

David Read
You’ve raised an independent person already, you know? That maybe thinks she’s a little too big for her britches, maybe a little bit? Like, “Hey, come on. Enjoy this time. You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.”

Rachel Luttrell
I need to record everything that you just said.

David Read
That’s exactly right.

Rachel Luttrell
Yes, exactly right, that’s it! That’s it! “Lean on your Mama, for goodness sake!” She does, she does. When she’s not in front of the eyes of others, then it’s… then she leans on mama.

David Read
But at the same time, I’m not surprised. I’m not surprised at all that she’s got that [independence]. And she will, if she continues to have the right mentors, she will do well. It’s just, it’s so sad to watch so many of these kids transform into other “somethings” that people are like, “What happened to them?” I don’t think that’s going to be the case for her.

Rachel Luttrell
Oh no it won’t be, no it won’t be! No! Because I’m kind of like, “Look at me. Look at me, kid. Look at me. Who the heck do you…” you know? I’m like…

David Read
Absolutely!

Rachel Luttrell
*firm parenting noise* We’re not playing that game. We’re not playing “that” game. I’m also not interested in pushing her towards anything. The moment she says, “This isn’t what I want to do.” Boom, we are so done.

David Read
You’re done.

Rachel Luttrell
I don’t care if it’s in the middle of an audition. We’ll walk right out. I don’t care. I’m doing it because she enjoys it and because she wants to.

David Read
You can’t kill her spirit with this. If you keep pushing it, and then not wanting to do it becomes hating it, you’ll kill her interest in coming back to it, potentially, later.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah. Yes. First of all, it was not my idea at all.

David Read
Wow. Okay.

Rachel Luttrell
Oh no, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no! I never, never spoke about it to my children. They know what I do. But I never once said… people would come to me and say, “Oh, your kids are so cute, you should get them into…” “Bah, bah, bah, no!” I was not at all interested, and it was my son who came to me ages ago, I think he was probably about seven years old and he started asking, and he legitimately had to ask for six months. Six months, before I finally said, “I guess he’s not going to stop asking, I guess we’re going to try it.” But I, yeah, no, it’s… I would be happy for them to… listen, all I want for them is obviously to be happy, to be doing what brings them joy, to thrive, and as long as it’s this, terrific. And then if it veers to something else, amazing.

David Read
Absolutely. The lure, though, of making money independent from your parents saying, “Hey, I’ve got my own wallet here. Even though I’m only getting like 10% of it right now, or whatever it is. I’m also a breadwinner in this house. And I say…”

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, little one has already tried to pull that one. She’s been like, “I would really like this.” And I’ve said “Well, no, I’m not gonna buy you that.” And she said, “Well, I have my own money, so…” and I’m like, “Well, that money isn’t yours right now, so you’re not…” She’s tried it!

David Read
That’s exactly right. “You’ve got a per diem, young lady.”

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, exactly.

David Read
Oh, that’s funny. I had the privilege of stumbling across — and I don’t know how I missed it — but recently stumbling across a lovely social media video of a certain family who was stuck in a place somewhere, they couldn’t get out. There was some virus or thing happening to them. And I would like to play a clip of that before we talk a little bit about that, if I may.

Rachel Luttrell
Excellent, yes.

David Read
All right. We will be right back, this is Shelter in Place. *Shelter in Place clip plays*

David Read
All right, we are back. So that was Shelter in Place. Where did this come from? How did you give birth to this?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, man.

David Read
What a cute idea.

Rachel Luttrell
Thank you so much. Well, listen, I, like everybody else, was stuck at home.

David Read
We can all relate to exactly that.

Rachel Luttrell
Exactly. And we are a creative family and we needed to be creative and so I just wrote that. It was inspired by something that I heard, it was a news story on NPR out of China and they were talking about how so many couples during the pandemic were finding it impossible to be with each other. So I thought, “You know, it might be kind of like, what if we, instead of telling this sad tale, make it a comedy!” because, it was rife with possibility. So anyway, that’s what we did and it was fabulously fun to work with my babies and my now, ironically speaking, ex-husband. But we were a team and we put it together and we had so much fun doing it and we also brought in a number of our wonderful friends who were [inaudible]…

David Read
Yes! Claire!

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah!

David Read
I want her on so bad, I’m trying to get her on the show. I may leverage you.

Rachel Luttrell
Okay, of course!

David Read
No, it was great seeing her, that was so cool.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, Claire’s been in my world for forever. She’s definitely one of my best friends forever, yeah. But I’m so glad you liked the movie.

David Read
No, it’s really good. There was a film that James McAvoy put out and it was it was the same kind of thing, they’re aware of the camera in this case and they’re like, “No, I really hate her right now. I want to divorce her.” And I couldn’t get through it. Yeah, I will send a link to the film. I can’t think of its name right now, but it’s very similar to Shelter in Place. And I couldn’t get through it because it was so prescient and maybe I need to go back and watch it again. But it was like “I can’t, it’s so real.” You know? And what we all experienced, both together and as individuals, going through the same thing was rough. And you guys managed to make a few minute long drama that was funny, and engaging and kept my attention more than it kept the attention with the James McAvoy movie. So it’s just I really appreciated seeing that and it was good work.

Rachel Luttrell
I appreciate it. Well, listen, I love comedy. Way back, oh my gosh, back in the day, when I was new to Los Angeles and starting out as an actor in LA, I figured that I was going to be the comedy actor. I was just doing all kinds of comedies, I was testing for new comedic shows and I thought that that’s really where I was going to be and I love it. I love it so much. I love to tell a good story that is moved along through comedy, because we’ve got to laugh at ourselves, we’ve got to laugh. One of the things that my wonderful grandfather, from Tanzania, said to his family was “Laugh, my children laugh! You might be in a really difficult situation, but if you can find the wherewithal to see the humor in it, the ridiculousness, then it will make things a little easier.”

David Read
One of the things that I picked up from Brad and Rob, and that I always carry with me is “LTS.” Were you aware of that abbreviation?

David Read
No, tell me [inaudible], remind me.

David Read
Life’s too short.

Rachel Luttrell
Ah, yes, it is. Yes, it is.

David Read
And there are certain things that are worth your time, there are certain things that aren’t, and at a certain point, if things are getting in the way of other things that are more important, I think of that phrase, or words, that phrase every day because I think it’s important for us to reset to zero as frequently as possible to assess our blessings, and the things that we are here to endure to make us better. And this definitely sums that up. And I think that good drama can present that as well.

Rachel Luttrell
Well, yeah. I mean, listen, part of the reason why I think that Atlantis and Stargate as a whole has been as successful and resonates with people as much as it does is because it didn’t take itself that seriously. It allowed for people to… we moved into deep and complex situations and emotional circumstances, but there was also a levity about it, that I think, really, people respond to and I certainly love that about Stargate and about Atlantis. So yeah.

David Read
Who from the crew, from the cast, have you continued to keep in touch with? Who has continued to be a part of your life, moving forward? Even if just texting here and there and keeping in touch? What relationships have you continued to cultivate from that group?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, goodness, well, all of the cast, and a few of the crew. A great deal, a great many of us, rather, are friends on Facebook, so we’re constantly liking pictures and sending little messages here and there — the cast with the crew — but in terms of my cast mates, I’m friends with all of them. I love them all, I really can say that quite sincerely, and I do reach out to them. We don’t see each other as… sometimes years will go by, quite frankly. But, for instance, last year I reached out to David, out of the blue, because I was applying for my kids’ British citizenship and I needed…

David Read
Ah!

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah! And I needed somebody who was British, who knows me, who knew them, to sign off on it, that’s how it works for the British Consulate. And obviously, David and Jane were the first people who I thought of and, yeah, I mean, lickety split…

Rachel Luttrell
I know. Yeah. And lickety split, they were like, “Yeah, absolutely.” They signed everything, they just b-b-b-b-boom. So, you know, it’s like that and probably to, say, I’ll reach out to Paul every once in a while and we’ll definitely say “Happy birthday,” we’ll reach out and say, “How are you doing? How are the kids?” Yeah, I mean, Rainbow, all of them. Joe, I got to see Joe very, very briefly in Germany, in November — I think it was November — and then I saw him at the Chicago Con.

David Read
Okay.

David Read
I love Jane.

Rachel Luttrell
And, you know, we just… there was something so wonderful about that time, that I think we’re all going to, always, hold each other very, very dear. That’s just how it goes.

David Read
That’s the cool thing about conventions, you know? It allows us to say “Thank you” to the cast and crew, it allows you guys to continue to see the effect that it’s had. And it also puts a little bit of cash in your pocket as a continuation. It is the gift that keeps on giving, for all of us. You know, it’s so cool.

Rachel Luttrell
Right, for everybody there. And how wonderful is that? It’s so wonderful.

David Read
Exactly. For sure.

Rachel Luttrell
I don’t take it for granted, let me just say that, I don’t take it for granted. Also, Connor Trinneer was in Chicago, who I got to see and that was [inaudible].

David Read
What an extraordinary time. I wish there had been a sixth season just for the two of you.

Rachel Luttrell
Ah, yeah, me too. I loved working with Connor.

David Read
For sure. What among other of the guest stars were you particularly connected with who would come on?

Rachel Luttrell
Well, you know, what? Not many of them, oh my gosh. Yeah, I… Okay, so let me just say this about guest stars — and I touched upon this a little bit at the Chicago Con — when you’re a guest star… First of all, a lot of our guest stars already came with an immense body of work and it was incredible to get an opportunity to work with them. That was magnificent. The caliber of performers that Stargate drew. Then we had performers who were just starting, or they were building their career. The thing about being a guest star is that you’re coming into a set that’s already established, people already know each other, we’ve got a shorthand, we know our characters, and so it can be very intimidating.

David Read
Of course, especially with a set as impressive as Atlantis.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, it can be a very, very intimidating… and I’ve been a guest star on many things in my life and sometimes the series regulars don’t really give you the time of day, and that just makes it even worse. But we, on our show, always really, really leant into making sure that our guest stars felt incredibly comfortable, and although none of my relationships with them are enduring, I enjoyed working with all of them, and it’s the guest star that kind of moves the story along.

David Read
I think it’s fortuitous that Claire was a part of that, became a part of the mythology, because you two were roommates in LA, were you not?

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, okay, so that’s funny. So when you ask me about guest stars, I don’t even think of Claire, because she’s one of my dearest, dearest, dearest friends. So, yeah, I mean, Claire and I…

David Read
Can we put a pin in that real quick, Rachel?

David Read
Can we put a pin in that? Can we come back around to Claire? Because I’ve got someone coming in here. Someone who wants to say “Hello.” I’m not sure who it could be though, or if it’s going to even work because I’ve never done this before. Oh my gosh, it’s Bam Bam.

Rachel Luttrell
Say that again?

Rachel Luttrell
James! Hey, wonderful you!

Rachel Luttrell
Hi!

James Bamford
Hi!

David Read
How are you?

Rachel Luttrell
Gosh! How are you?

James Bamford
I apologize, I’m driving.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, I can see that. Be careful.

David Read
Don’t kill yourself.

James Bamford
Very careful. Look, you can see stuff…

David Read
Is this… Oh, I like the Tesla. Check this out.

James Bamford
They drive themselves, really, so, you know. With this beard, it’s like Santa with a sleigh. But enough of that, how’s my favorite person of all time?

Rachel Luttrell
I’m good. Okay, I’m legitimately tearing up. I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was going to see you, hello!

James Bamford
Well, I don’t really see you. Just hold on a second [put on glasses] Oh, there you are!

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, man. Where are you driving to?

James Bamford
You look exactly the same, that’s not fair. Not fair at all. I’m driving to… Saturdays is Jade — my daughter’s — big… I mean, she’s always got a big day, but she’s got piano in the morning, then swimming, then Capoeira training for a couple hours. So, her sort of grandfather-figure has taken her there in the morning and then I meet them in 20 minutes, and then I take it from there and then we go for lunch, do daddy/daughter stuff every Saturday.

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, man. You look terrific, you look absolutely terrific. I haven’t seen you… oh my god, it’s like seven years? Has it been eight?

James Bamford
We cast you on, I guess, my second episode of television directing ever. So, that’s the last time I saw you, right?

Rachel Luttrell
That was the last time we were, yeah, in the same place at the same time. That was at least seven years ago.

James Bamford
And then you were here in Vancouver with Ridley and I missed you because I was in New Mexico.

Rachel Luttrell
And you were in Hawaii. Or were you in New Mexico? I can’t remember.

James Bamford
Wait a second, were you here in September? I was in Hawaii shooting in September.

Rachel Luttrell
No, you’re right, you were in New Mexico. No, we were…

James Bamford
July, I was in New Mexico.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, so I didn’t get to see you.

James Bamford
Yeah, that sucked. So, I mean, Hawaii was cool, but [inaudible] but I’d rather see you.

Rachel Luttrell
I want to squeeze ya. I’m squeezing ya.

James Bamford
David, so what’s happening here with this wonderful person?

David Read
I’m wrapping up season two of Dial the Gate, couple more weeks left before I go on hiatus, and I wanted to bring one of my favorite people back on the show. And so, Rachel, I reached out to James and I was like, “Man, I would love to have the two of you on.” Because so much of Teyla, really was the two of you.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, completely.

David Read
James, what was it like taking this person under your wing and helping to bring her fighting style and so much of who that character was, help her interpret it and bring it to life?

James Bamford
That’s a broad [question]. It was an absolute joy, obviously, and I saw her audition, her being Rachel Luttrell. I saw her audition and I think Brad and Robert showed me the tape and said “This is who we’re strongly thinking of,” and I was like, “Yes, hire her. Yes, yes. She’s the one.” Not that my… I don’t think anything I said had anything to do with it, because it didn’t, but Rachel was already… strong, [inaudible] forefront… [inaudible]

David Read
Oh, we’re losing him.

James Bamford
Oh, sorry. How about now?

David Read
That’s better?

James Bamford
Am I here?

David Read
Yes.

James Bamford
So I’m in the mountains a little bit. I’m in North Vancouver, I’m traveling to South Vancouver. Yeah, something about Rachel told me… I just went to them and I said, “Hey,” because Taylor’s character wasn’t originally written as a warrior, so to speak.

Rachel Luttrell
No, yeah.

James Bamford
And so within that same conversation, I was like, “Okay, she’s my fighter. I want to pick somebody, I gotta make somebody into my special project and that’s her.” And they were like, “Okay.” So I said, “When she gets here, just give me some time to hang out, and I want to give her some some stuff to do and some training and I’ll get back to you with some video footage.” I mean, back then it was a little more difficult. We didn’t have cell phones and all that, so I had a little, I think, a mini DV camera and FireWire and all that bullshit you had to go through. And back then, before people were doing previs, I did a little previs. And I think I came to Rachel first, I mean, I met her on set.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah.

James Bamford
Maybe. But I came to her and we went to her trailer, and I gave her some sticks.

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, man, I was terrified!

James Bamford
And, you know, the trailers are small, so the ceiling was like, we were like, [crunch] “Oh, shit, sorry.” [squish] “Two seconds, this is what I want!” And I taught her just the initial pattern with the Eskrima sticks, and she went away and came back went, “Oh, I think I can [furiously fights].” And it was like, “Oh, ok, perfect.” And she had a dance background and picked up choreography very, very, very quickly. And she was so good and so technically perfect, that we had to… the challenge was to rough her style up a little bit and make it a little messier. “Less dance, more fight,” as I like to say, because she was so good.

Rachel Luttrell
I was so terrified that, listen, I was so terrified that I rehearsed the crap out of it. Whenever you gave me choreography, boy, I was just, you know, so… that was part of it.

David Read
What was it like…

James Bamford
You made my job easy, so it was great, it was so smooth.

David Read
What was it like having James have your back and just going from season to season, just evolving the technique in whatever episodes would allow?

Rachel Luttrell
It was terrific. I always felt like I was in such good hands with James — and I was — and we just had a terrific working relationship and an immediate friendship, and it was great. We had so much fun. And yeah, I loved that aspect of Teyla, and as James said, it wasn’t something that was initially going to be a part of who she was. And of course, it became an integral element of her trajectory, so I’m deeply indebted to James and we had a ball.

James Bamford
I think, actually — I forget which episode it was — but it was Martin Gero’s episode, or one of the episodes he wrote, where we introduced the “Bantos rods”…

David Read
That was Suspicion.

James Bamford
Because he saw the footage that we — the rehearsal footage, or the test footage — that we had shot, I think, and he called… Oh, no, well, we did another fight before that in the… where we actually [inaudible] a daytime fight sequence with the stick and you broke the stick and…

David Read
Yeah, that was Suspicion, where they actually introduced the sticks themselves, but the Bantos rods appeared later, and they only got their name on screen in Sunday. Sorry, geeking out.

James Bamford
[Inaudible] was in training, it was a training sequence, specifically. So, we introduced the style earlier, in an actual fight sequence and then started on the training sequences which became a staple of the show and then we introduced Aquaman and then…

David Read
Who?

James Bamford
Or Conan? Or whatever! And…

David Read
Khal Drogo?

James Bamford
And then all of that, all of what is him, we introduced him to her, essentially, and I was like, “Okay, look! I got another fighter. Okay, great!” And then we put the ingredients together and it was just like, couldn’t stop these two. It was fantastic.

David Read
Wow. Wow, that’s great.

Rachel Luttrell
A lot of fun. Man, it’s so good to see you.

James Bamford
Better to see you. I was just, I mean, we were texting the other day, which was interesting, but I was asking some questions in regards to a potential something in the coming months, so we’ll see about that. Anyway.

Rachel Luttrell
Fabulous.

James Bamford
So that’s… yeah, I haven’t had the opportunity — on the DC stuff, or on the Warner Brothers stuff — especially on a series, they’re very particular about ‘one and done’ or you bring in somebody and then [swish] you can’t cast them again. I think I got to cast your sister in another episode, which was cool, so — keep it in the family — which was also fun to see her. I just cast people just to, you know, just to visit… That’s the best, working with people that you love, and friends. And then I didn’t… Oh, no, I ran into Erica in LA — Erica, your sister — walking across the street. It was super brief and random, but you had move to Atlanta, I think, by then so…

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, she let me know she reached out. Erica’s doing great. Cutie pie.

David Read
James, this has been terrific…

Rachel Luttrell
My little sister, just so everybody knows.

David Read
Oh, okay.

Rachel Luttrell
[inaudible] Erica Luttrell, yes.

David Read
Okay, very good. Oh, he’s in a tunnel. We lost him. James, this has been terrific. The two of you together, I’m so so glad that we could do this because you two were such a team and helping to make that aspect of the show so cool and vivid and exciting. And it’s a pleasure to be able to have you both on for even just a few minutes.

James Bamford
Thank you so much. And I’m glad I got to see my friend, and really, my sister, it’s like family. But damn you for not having any gray hair!

Rachel Luttrell
Tanzania. Sorry, it’s in the genes.

James Bamford
I blame your Mom, who’s still wonderfully….

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, yeah.

James Bamford
How’s she doing?

Rachel Luttrell
She’s doing so well. Mama looks amazing, feels amazing, is amazing. She’s living with Erica right now, yeah.

James Bamford
Oh cool. I watched some of your cooking videos. And really enjoyed that, it was like, “Oh, I get to see mom. That’s nice.”

Rachel Luttrell
Mama’s doing great.

James Bamford
Amazing. And you’re still in Atlanta, yeah?

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, we’re still in Atlanta, hottest place is in Atlanta. Yeah.

James Bamford
I gotta make it there, I’ve almost been there a few times. It’s just not quite made it, I made it to New Mexico and that was about it. But things keep… you know, work. But we’re gonna figure this out soon, it just might be a much colder spot that we see each other, but we’ll talk.

David Read
Thank you, James. Did he leave?

Rachel Luttrell
I think so!

David Read
That jerk! Oh, there he is!

Rachel Luttrell
Did you just drop the mic? You were just “Boom. We’ll talk.”

David Read
He hung up on me!

James Bamford
But I’ll go and let you guys do your thing before I crash.

David Read
You be safe.

Rachel Luttrell
Pleae don’t crash. Happy Father’s day, mister.

James Bamford
Thank you.

David Read
Take care of yourself, buddy.

James Bamford
You too guys, take care.

David Read
Bye.

Rachel Luttrell
Love you.

David Read
Wow, what a cool guy. I am so — as I readjust this, everyone sees how I make the sausage — all right, okay. I am so blown away by his success.

David Read
I shouldn’t be blown away because, I mean, it’s James for crying out loud, but as soon as I found out that he was directing, I was like, “That’s it.” I mean, his feet will never touch the ground. He’s so exceptionally good at what he does, his eye is just extraordinary. And it’s one of those things where it’s like, “You go, man.”

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah.

Rachel Luttrell
I know, I know, makes me very, very happy that he’s doing as well as he’s doing. That’s wonderful.

David Read
Absolutely. Thank you for playing along.

Rachel Luttrell
Just so everyone knows, I had no idea that James was going to be a part of this, I had no idea. So that was a wonderful surprise.

David Read
Absolutely.

Rachel Luttrell
He told me there was gonna be a surprise and I was worried. That’s a good one. That was a really good surprise.

David Read
So, it was fortuitous having Claire on the show. You had roomed with her in LA as actresses, finding work, and then she found her way as Heightmeyer as a routine part of the show before she was so tragically removed, suddenly, but what a good way to go if you’re gonna go. Tell us about having your friend get involved.

Rachel Luttrell
It was fantastic, yes. Claire and I, we knew each other back in our dancer days, when we were in Toronto. We would see each other at dance auditions and doing our splits and getting ready to go in and pas de bourree across the floor. And then we moved to Los Angeles independently of each other and I was looking for a roommate, because it was back in the day where we were really hustling. And my manager was like, “Well, you know, I’m repping Claire. Do you know, Claire?” And I was like, “Oh my God, yes. I’ve seen her at dance auditions.” In any case, we started looking for a place together, we lived together forever. She’s one of my very, very best friends on the planet. Sang at her wedding…

David Read
Ah!

Rachel Luttrell
Oh yeah. She was one of the very first people to hold Caden, my firstborn, she came to the hospital. She’s one of my dearest… if I’ve got a problem, I call Claire. So the fact that she got to play the therapist, as somebody who Teyla got to open up to was, it was so second nature, it was just so beautiful.

David Read
It would probably have been more interesting to, from your perspective, to have to play a little bit more of a guarded character.

Rachel Luttrell
Yes.

David Read
And not just go straight into “Oh, I’ve known her for years.” Because you haven’t. You have to reel yourself back in a little bit, I would think.

Rachel Luttrell
Of course. But it’s always fun to play with your friends and she’s a wonderful actress. She’s currently — and God, Claire, you’re gonna kill me — I can’t remember the name of the show! But she’s currently working on the second season of a new comedy show that is currently only playing in Canada, but…

David Read
Son of a Crich?

Rachel Luttrell
Thank you! She’ll forgive me because, honestly, Claire. It’s an ongoing… it’s a joke, that I can’t remember.

David Read
Okay!

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, I’ll be like, “Um, I worked with… I can’t remember their name.” And she’ll be like, “Robert De Niro?” “Oh, yeah, I forgot that name!” That’s how I am. She’s like, “Rachel. Oh, my God.” I don’t remember.

David Read
Wow, that’s great.

David Read
That’s funny.

Rachel Luttrell
So, yes. And it’s receiving some terrific accolades. She’s [inaudible]

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah.

David Read
Good for her. I just showed some pictures of the show up on the screen for everybody to see. But I have some questions from fans. Lockwatcher wanted to know, did you manage to take home any of the costumes or the props? And if not, if you could have owned any, which would it have been?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, no, my friend. No, I didn’t. Why? Because I’m so…

Rachel Luttrell
Lucky you! I tend to be a little trusting, and I was told, “Don’t worry, you’re going to get all of your wardrobe, all the stuff that you want. You just let us know, whatever you want.” That didn’t happen, it all ended up getting auctioned off and I don’t fault anyone in the wardrobe department. But if I could have anything, there are certain iconic — I think they’re iconic for Teyla — pieces that I would love to have, like that very first leather coat from season one, I would love.

David Read
I took them all.

Rachel Luttrell
What’s that?

David Read
I took them all.

Rachel Luttrell
Oh!

David Read
I worked for the prop company that did it.

David Read
It was beautiful.

Rachel Luttrell
It was so… yeah, the wardrobe department was amazing. They were just… they just created such incredible, masterful pieces. I mean, honestly, I would have walked away with all of the wardrobe, all of them, but I do love that jacket. That would be something that I would love to have had. Yeah.

David Read
Clare Flack: What is something that you miss about playing the character?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, gosh. She was so wonderful to embody. I miss her poise. I miss… Gosh, I just… I miss so many things about her. She was deep and she was poised. She was thoughtful and elegant and prescient and powerful and quick on her feet. And, obviously, other aspects that I miss, or just as a whole, outside of playing Teyla, was just the camaraderie of being on that show. That, I very much do miss. Yeah.

David Read
Clare also wanted to know, when can we expect a visit from you in the UK? She wanted to know, had you been in the UK? Since you’re going for UK citizenship, I would think that that’s a given. I don’t know all the details, though.

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, yeah. You know what, honestly, I don’t even remember the last time I was in the UK. When was the last…? I don’t remember.

David Read
British citizenship, I should say.

Rachel Luttrell
Right. Yes. And I don’t know, I don’t know, Clare, when I will be going to the UK. If there is an offer, then I would love to. And the reason why I got the kids their citizenship — my children have three citizenships right now — Yeah, and I’m just… I love to travel and I want to give them as much possibility and opportunity as they can have. And so I wanted that, so that in the future, if they wanted to live there, if they wanted to study there, it would be something that would be easily and readily available to them. But I’d love to go back to the UK. And yes, I have been.

David Read
Rovsau: What was it like getting into that Wraith Queen makeup? I know we’ve asked this before, but what what a performance?

Rachel Luttrell
Thank you so much. I did not want to participate in that episode whatsoever. I was really upset by it, because behind the scenes, I was a new mom and I just thought it would be terrifying for my little guy, I just was like, “Really, this is gonna be the worst.” It was three hours of makeup — three hours! — so you have to get there at around 3:30 in the morning and what they do — speak of masterful artists — they do an incredible job. And that transformation, I will say, that once I started to portray that character, I absolutely loved it. I just loved bringing her to life. Because she just sat in a different place with me and she was, oh, man. She just felt so powerful, so powerful. I moved differently with her…

David Read
To sink your teeth into it, pardon the pun.

Rachel Luttrell
Totally! Yeah, exactly. But to answer the question, yeah, the makeup was an intense process and it took a very long time.

David Read
Regal Giant. This is an interesting point I’ve never really considered. Was there any plot or approach during the production of those five seasons that you disagreed with, that you wanted adjusted?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, that I disagreed with?

David Read
Or that you wanted changed?

Rachel Luttrell
I don’t remember ever really railing against something, no. No, I don’t remember ever doing that. There might have been a few moments where I said things like “Maybe Teyla wouldn’t say something like that,” et cetera. But there was never a huge plot point that I took issue with. No.

David Read
Was there ever a conversation about a concern for being underutilized?

Rachel Luttrell
I mean, yes. Yeah.

David Read
You and I, we’ve danced around this a couple of times.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, absolutely. I feel like there was so much more that could have been pursued for Teyla. And yeah, I did, oftentimes, kind of… Yeah, I did, I did feel underutilized at times.

David Read
The thing that’s interesting was, having been made aware of the content of Stargate: Extinction and where season six might have gone, they really were ramping her up, especially with everything that we saw in season five. That show was — not to say that it wasn’t clicking before — but it was really clicking. And that’s one of my regrets about it, it’s just, I don’t want to dwell on regrets, but it was really coming along and I think that they were addressing a lot of those concerns. Did you ever see the script for Stargate: Extinction?

Rachel Luttrell
No. How was it that I haven’t?

David Read
Well… let’s just leave that there. You might find it interesting.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, okay, cool. Awesome.

David Read
Sommer, our moderator, wanted to know have you been working on any new music?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, no, Sommer, and I don’t know that I will ever put out another CD. I don’t know. No, I don’t know that I… loved doing it and it was such a gift working with the musicians, the caliber of the musicians that I got to work with was amazing. And where I got to record was amazing, it was wonderful, but I don’t think I’ll put out another one. I do love to sing and so my kids get to hear it all the time. “Mama’s always singing.” And then depending on what I’m singing, they know how I’m feeling.

David Read
That’s funny.

Rachel Luttrell
“She’s singing Evita!”

David Read
Oh, God!

Rachel Luttrell
“Something’s gotta be wrong.” [singing] “It won’t be easy…” They’re like, “Ah, God!”

David Read
Don’t cry for me, Argentina.

Rachel Luttrell
Yes!

David Read
I’ve never seen it.

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, okay!

David Read
I need to.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, I mean, there’s an abundance of musicals out there.

David Read
Absolutely, for sure.

Rachel Luttrell
I love musicals.

David Read
What did you think of — just to follow that train of thought for a little bit –What did you think of the Hugh Jackman Les Mis[erables] that came out a few years ago?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh, [weird squeak] I didn’t like it…

David Read
You didn’t?

Rachel Luttrell
I didn’t like it as m… I mean, I liked certain aspects of it. I know, please forgive me.

David Read
Hey, you know.

Rachel Luttrell
I liked certain aspects of it, but I didn’t love it.

David Read
Okay. I love… I was blown away at how they did it. I was blown away that it was sung live. And that that had never been done before, I was like “This is… you know?” because you can always tell when it’s dubbed.

Rachel Luttrell
Yeah, true.

David Read
The energy level is just different. And I loved that about it.

Rachel Luttrell
True. But I had seen it so many times live on stage and I just… ah. Yeah, I don’t know.

David Read
It’s my favorite of any musical.

Rachel Luttrell
Listen, that’s another one that comes out. Late at night while I’m cleaning the dishes, and the kids are like, “No!”

David Read
[singing] “Look down, look down.”

Rachel Luttrell
[singing] “There was a time when men were…” and they’re like, “No! Mom’s got a… I guess I won’t ask for this.”

David Read
Just don’t chop your hair off.

Rachel Luttrell
“I guess I won’t be asking for more chocolate ice cream until she’s finshing that one.”

David Read
Oh my gosh, that’s funny.

Rachel Luttrell
Seriously, I love that musical too.

David Read
What is your favorite musical?

Rachel Luttrell
Oh… I have to say my favorite musical is the West Side Story.

David Read
Wow. What did you think of the movie?

Rachel Luttrell
I loved it.

David Read
Okay. I haven’t seen it yet. Okay.

Rachel Luttrell
I loved it. Yeah. West Side Story, for some reason, has always been… maybe it’s the love story, maybe it’s the tragedy? I don’t know. I’ve always loved that musical, and I think that he did a great job. I mean, come on.

David Read
Linda Alexander, to wrap this up. If you had ended up with John — you — if Teyla had ended up with John or Ronan, which would you have preferred?

Rachel Luttrell
So funny. I get this question so often.

David Read
I know.

Rachel Luttrell
Gosh. Could I choose both?

David Read
Hey! Warrior princess! She’s got to build her tribe somehow. Absolutely.

Rachel Luttrell
Exactly! They both satisfy different needs and wants.

David Read
Rachel, this has been just a treat having you back on. Thank you for helping us round out this season, you’re always just wonderful to have.

Rachel Luttrell
It’s my pleasure. I truly, truly, deeply thank you so much. I can’t think of another fabulous way to spend an afternoon, a hot as blazes afternoon. Thank you my friend.

David Read
You know, I need to go out to Atlanta one of these days — I’ve been meaning to do it, I have friends out there — I need to buy you dinner at some point, just say thank you for everything you’ve done.

Rachel Luttrell
I’d love that! You don’t have to buy me dinner, but I’d love to see you.

David Read
Absolutely.

Rachel Luttrell
Let’s do it.

David Read
And thank you for continuing to keep the work alive and give fans a reason to come back for more.

Rachel Luttrell
It’s my pleasure and my true honor.

David Read
Thank you. You take care of yourself and we will be in touch.

Rachel Luttrell
Okay, all right, my friend.

David Read
Thank you so much.

Rachel Luttrell
All my best.

David Read
Thank you.

Rachel Luttrell
Bye.

David Read
Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free and we do appreciate you watching. And if you want to support the show further, buy yourself some of our themed swag. We’re now offering t-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts and hoodies for all ages, as well as cups and other accessories in a variety of sizes and colors at dialthegate.com. From the merchandise tab, you can click on a specific design to see what items are being offered. Checkout is fast and easy. You can use your credit card or PayPal, just visit dialthegate.com, and thank you so much for the support. All right, we have more episodes coming up next week, I’m still getting the schedule figured out, so that information is going to be coming out relatively quickly here. I’m really excited about the guests that we’re going to have, one in particular. It’s just one of those where it’s like I’m not going to say anything because it’s not concrete yet, but it’s one of those where it’s like, “I can’t believe we’re getting this person,” you know? And it’s a guest star from an early season of SG-1. And one of my favorite characters on the show, and it just proves to me there’s nothing wrong with asking and some people will still say “Yes, absolutely.” So, our final episodes are going to be July the second, and more information about those is going to be published soon, including an episode of trivia. And then we will be making an announcement about plans for the fall. There’s a lot of stuff that’s coming up that I can’t mention yet because certain other people have got to make the announcements first. Season three will be resuming, or starting up, around late September, early October. And there’s going to be more content heading your way. Not just on the Dial the Gate channel, I will say that. My thanks so much to my production team for making the show possible. Linda “GateGabber” Furey for keeping the wheels greased and spreading the word as well as Antony he’s been doing a lot of that too, on social media, thank you guys so much for that. Thank you to my moderators, Sommer, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhys and Antony for making the show possible. Thank you to Frederick Marcoux at Concepts Web for keeping the site up and running, and Jeremy who keeps the site up to date. It’s a pleasure and a treat to continue the work and we’ll have more content for you this coming weekend. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. Thank you so much for tuning in and I’ll see you on the other side.