Stargate Atlantis' Picardo Isn't Obvious

Robert Picardo, who joins the regular cast of SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate Atlantis, told reporters that he likes that his character, the abrasive bureaucrat Richard Woolsey, isn't the obvious choice to command the city.

Woolsey takes over command from Col. Samantha Carter (former regular cast member Amanda Tapping, who is leaving to star in SCI FI's upcoming Sanctuary). "[Woolsey] is an unexpected choice for this job, and that is what, I think, the viewers will hopefully respond to the way I have," Picardo said in a conference call.

"I think that it was a bold thing for the producers to pick a guy like this who doesn't seem to be necessarily the first choice for a leader, but to have him try and make himself into one. And that is the interesting and creative choice." Picardo said that he was surprised when executive producer Joseph Mallozzi offered him the larger role on Stargate Atlantis.

For his part, Mallozzi said: "It was a hard decision for Amanda, and, you know, we were sorry to see her go. It also presented to us a situation to bring Picardo over. ... So we called him and asked him, 'What would you think about coming over and becoming a regular on Stargate Atlantis?' And we were fully prepared for him to say, 'Are you kidding?' I'm happy to say that he was more than amenable."

By the second show in the new season of Stargate Atlantis, Picardo's character faces challenges that make him less "by the book." He also stumbles around, unable to work the technology in the city, and even has trouble opening the doors.

"He's always defined himself as someone who knows the rulebook and evaluates others to live by it," Picardo said. "By the end of [the second episode of Stargate Atlantis,] he has broken protocol five times in his first crisis, and that puts him in a personal crisis at the end of the show."

Woolsey is a character who isn't used to wearing a uniform, but Picardo added that he enjoyed his new costume. "I caught myself looking at [the] mirror in my new togs," he admitted. "Woolsey has been wearing a business suit in the last 35 years, and ... I think I look all right in it. It does have that jogging-suit look, and I feel like I should break out in [a] run down the hallway. In a way it looks like a leisure suit, like I escaped from a late '70s or early '80s movie."

The fifth season of Stargate Atlantis kicks off July 11 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

-Mike Szymanski