One of the more tragic decisions made of late was the removal of Torri Higginson from the cast of Stargate Atlantis. Reduced for the fourth season to a recurring guest star, Higginson’s character, Dr. Elizabeth Weir, was killed off, though with a storyline still allowing her to come back.
Her storyline was, as mentioned, left hanging by the series’ writers, but according to the show’s executive producer Joseph Mallozzi told Sci Fi Wire that Higginson won’t be coming back.
“Initially, she was a little reluctant, and perhaps she was thinking about her fans,” he said, regarding a possible comeback. “She wanted to create closure for her character, but we wanted to keep the character alive. … We sent the script for review, and ultimately she passed. We would have loved to have her come back … I think at this point she’s moved beyond the show and is looking elsewhere, and we wish her the best of luck. She did a terrific job, but we will not see her in season five, and it was her choice, and we respect her decision.”
It’s a terrific shame that Higginson was treated the way she was.
“The very last day of filming Season Three, as I finished filming the last scene on the last day, I was called up to the office and was told that my character was going to become recurring if I chose to be,” Higginson recently said in an interview with DTRN’s “SciFi Guys” Internet radio program. “So, I thought that was not a very dignified way to deal with it, and I was a bit surprised. So my reaction was — I was a little bit surprised. I was a little bit upset by how it was dealt with.”
Nevertheless, we wish her all the best in her future endeavors, and we will miss her.
