The Sci-Fi Channel and MGM Television Entertainment announced today concrete plans for their proposed spinoff series of STARGATE SG-1 titled STARGATE ATLANTIS. Twenty one-hour episodes of ATLANTIS have been ordered to debut on the science fiction cable network in the summer of 2004. The new series will air back-to-back with new episodes from the eighth season of STARGATE SG-1.

While no cast members were announced, more information about the premise of the show was finally revealed. Here is how The Sci-Fi Channel describes the setting of ATLANTIS:

"SG-1 centers on the Stargate, an ancient portal that allows instantaneous travel across the galaxy. STARGATE ATLANTIS will take viewers on a brand new adventure, with a whole new team. In the new series, a secret base left by the originators of the Stargate is discovered in the most unlikely of places on Earth, buried among the ruins of the legendary city of Atlantis. The implications of this amazing discovery lead the Atlantis team to a distant galaxy where a primitive human civilization is threatened by a sinister new enemy."

Also confirmed was the appearance of SG-1 cast members in ATLANTIS episodes. The premiere episode of STARGATE ATLANTIS will be as a two-hour movie and definitely feature SG-1 characters.

Brad Wright and Robert Cooper will serve as executive producers on the new series. Cooper is currently executive producer on STARGATE SG-1 while Brad Wright is co-creator of SG-1, and served as the original series executive producer for six seasons.