When news broke that Amazon moved on from the Stargate project it announced last year, I was only mildly surprised. I was even less surprised when I heard the alleged reason was due to its concept, which was deemed something that could only appeal to dedicated fans and not a wider audience. That's because I think this cancellation points to a larger problem that's seemingly impacting a lot of major sci-fi franchises.
The 2026 TV schedule has been brutal for fans of sci-fi television, as Star Trek has zero shows in active production, Doctor Who will reportedly cancel its Christmas special, and The Mandalorian and Grogu is struggling to fight off being overtaken by a horror movie at the box office. Legacy sci-fi franchises are going through it right now, and there are some common threads between all these situations that I think creatives need to figure out quickly.
