Why was Dr. Weir discontinued after Season 3?

[Davey]

Did Torri Higginson decide to quit or did the producers decide to discontinue her or her character of Dr. Weir?? And if so, why?

[Platschu]

Ehhem ehhemm... This one will change into a flame topic very quickly, so you should choose your words wisely. "Discontinued" is a bit harsh phrase for a person.

As far as I know Amanda Tapping signed a contract for SG-1 season 10 and 11, but since it was cancelled, they had to move her to the Atlantis season 4. So basically the writers written out / reduced / made Weir recurring to make place for her. I believe that is what happened in a nutshell.

[Falcon Horus]

Nobody knows for sure why Torri was suddenly out, when she too had the same contract deal as any of the other regulars of the show, and Amanda was in, but it's correct that Tapping signed a contract that spanned two extra seasons of SG-1, 10 and 11.

Instead of letting her go free they decided she had to honor that 11th season by putting her on Atlantis, kicking Torri out as regular and down to guest (you can hardly call it recurring since she was there for 3 episodes and that was it).

She was also told of her cutting at the very last moment.

I believe, Joe Flanigan mentioned in an interview once that he fought for her stay but he was overruled and after that he was less and less welcome in the inner sanctum of TPTB. He stuck up for his co-workers -- not always a quality liked by employers (which is basically recognizable in any work environment).

The show certainly lost a valuable member of the cast, and it didn't do them any good, nor did it Amanda Tapping much good as far as I'm concerned. There was no place to fill for Carter because Rodney already was the resident scientist, and Sheppard the military man. Her traits were taken so beyond that -- no purpose other than to draw possible SG-1 people over who weren't already watching Atlantis.

[Xaeden]

Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper left as showrunners toward the end of season 3 to focus on the Sg-1 movies and were succeeded by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie. Mallozzi's account (which many fans take issue with) was that Mullie and himself thought the "base commander" role was too involved under Weir. While Wright/Cooper liked the character and featured her heavily in stories, Mallozzi wanted a character in that position to have less significance so that more time could be spent on the team. His solution, for reasons that he never elaborated on, was to write out Weir and replace her with someone new. He has said that there were multiple people under consideration before Carter was selected, including Woolsey, who ended up being moved in after Amanda Tapping left. Tapping, as others have pointed out, had a two year contract when Sg-1 was negotiated (whereas other Sg-1 actors only negotiated a one year contract), so after settling on her they were able to move the actor onto Atlantis without negotiating a new contract.

Actor contracts, of course, do not need to be used. Torri Higginson had a 6 year contract, after all. All that they do is guarantee an actor will make themselves available for filming and in exchange a network/studio agrees to guarantee the amount of pay that was negotiated at the time it was signed IF they end up using that person. Producers are free to cancel them early without penalty.

As I said, many people take issue with this and often think that Weir was specifically written out to be replaced by Carter in an attempt to maintain Sg-1 fans after the series ended. On the other hand, it's not unexpected that the promotion of new showrunners would lead to creative shakeups, so I don't particularly have a problem believing that they didn't like the focus on Weir, particularly given that leadership's screen time was diminished under Carter and Woolsey. There's maybe more to it that Mallozzi said, and I tend to think that he specifically disliked, not just how Weir's position was handled but Weir as a character. She did not a lot of criticism from fans at the time, as well, but I always liked her and was sad to see her go.

[Falcon Horus]

...so I don't particularly have a problem believing that they didn't like the focus on Weir,

Instead the focus shifted heavily towards McKay which they loved writing for.

To the detriment of the other characters.

And I will never forget Mallozzi's "Shrill & Ill-Informed Lemmings" comment at the time. If you didn't agree with everything he did, and thought his guidance wasn't the end all, be all, he had no love left for you as a fan.
Criticism, constructive or otherwise, wasn't welcome.

[Davey]

I don't understand. I assumed that when actors sign contracts for seasons it's obviously contingent on the show not being cancelled. So why would Amanda Tapper get priority over the existing contract of Torri Higginson? When actors star in shows that last only a few episodes or one season, presumably they had signed up for more than one year, and there is also flexibility in terms of letting an actor off for particular reasons. And what kind of contract did Torri Higginson have? Did they have any interest in what fans thought?

[Davey]

Instead the focus shifted heavily towards McKay which they loved writing for.

To the detriment of the other characters.

And I will never forget Mallozzi's "Shrill & Ill-Informed Lemmings" comment at the time. If you didn't agree with everything he did, and thought his guidance wasn't the end all, be all, he had no love left for you as a fan.
Criticism, constructive or otherwise, wasn't welcome.

How did the main actors of SGA feel about how the show went? Has David Hewlett expressed any concerns about being constantly portrayed as a comical neurotic planted right in the middle of anxiety-provoking challenges?

[Xaeden]

I don't understand. I assumed that when actors sign contracts for seasons it's obviously contingent on the show not being cancelled. So why would Amanda Tapper get priority over the existing contract of Torri Higginson? When actors star in shows that last only a few episodes or one season, presumably they had signed up for more than one year, and there is also flexibility in terms of letting an actor off for particular reasons. And what kind of contract did Torri Higginson have? Did they have any interest in what fans thought?

This is a pretty unique scenario. I'm not aware of any other instance of it being said that an actor continued on into a show's spinoff because their existing contract was optioned instead of a new contract being drawn up. I'm also not aware of anyone elaborating on why Tapping's contract was able to be applied to Atlantis. My best guess is that because Sg-1's cancellation was always looming every season, the Sci fi channel specifically wanted a clause that an actor would be available for a spin-off if they signed a longer form deal.

All I can tell you for sure is that when actors sign up to do a new show they generally sign 5 year contracts (Torri Higginson said she had a 6 year contract when talking about how she had just bought a house in Canada and had to move after getting the news). After that, they tend to only agree to sign one year contracts and then try to renegotiate for more money after every season. In Tapping's case, her agent was able and willing to negotiate a two season contract with an acceptable pay raise after year two.

Tapping's two-year contract was optioned because the writers wanted to bring her in. They didn't have to do that. It was just the case that they decided to write off Weir and conveniently already had Tapping for another year if they wanted her, which they at some point decided that they did. Had that second year option not existed they probably would've tried to negotiate a new contract with her.

As mentioned, fans had mixed reactions about Weir at the time. There were a lot of anti-Weir threads before she was written off. The idea that she was not very popular may or may not have influenced their decision. I don't know. But people tend to be more outspoken when they have something to complain about, so those things aren't necessarily a good indicator of what a majority of fans are thinking. Hence, after the decision to replace Weir with Carter was announced, those posts were largely supplanted with people outraged about her being written off. By which point, however, it was too late to reverse course.

[Chaka-Z0]

This decision was and will always be to me very regrettable. Weir was great. Sam was, imo, terrible in her role of the Atlantis leader. She seemed so much out of character (not talking about her performance, but Samantha Carter as a Leader). I remember having the same feeling in SG1 when she had to take command of her own team for a while.

[Davey]

Did Torri Higginson ever speak publicly about what happened, or anyone else other than a mention by Joe Flanigan?
In addition, what was the purpose of having Col. Caldwell at the same rank as Shepard but obviously a good deal older, and obviously a good deal older than Weir who he could not command or give orders to?

[Gatefan1976]

Did Torri Higginson ever speak publicly about what happened, or anyone else other than a mention by Joe Flanigan?

Not that I am aware of.
Someone mentioned Joe Mallozi earlier, and while I am no fan of his, I don't think the[quote]re was any bad blood between the two of them because she was a recurring character in Dark Matter.

In addition, what was the purpose of having Col. Caldwell at the same rank as Shepard but obviously a good deal older, and obviously a good deal older than Weir who he could not command or give orders to?

Caldwell is in command of one of the few Starships in the Earth fleet, and on board the Daedelus, Sheppard listens to him, on Atlantis however...……..

[jelgate]

Caldwell is one rank above Sheppard actually

[Gatefan1976]

Caldwell is one rank above Sheppard actually

True, a mistake on Weirs part.

[Falcon Horus]

Did Torri Higginson ever speak publicly about what happened, or anyone else other than a mention by Joe Flanigan?

No, but Torri did turn down the re-appearance of Weir in season 5's Ghost In The Machine, hence why repliWeir is portrayed by Michelle Morgan, who did a fabulous job emulating Torri's Weir by the way. I love her performance.

So, I imagine that while there may not have been necessarily any hard feelings (after a while) but there certainly was enough reason for her not to return (and yank the fans' chains).

[Davey]

The same situation existed when they phased out Jack O'Neill but for different reasons. SG1 just wasn't the same without him....