One of our favorite guests on “Dial the Gate” is actress Rachel Luttrell. She played the Athosian warrior queen Teyla Emmagan on Stargate Atlantis, and has fond memories of her time on the show and working with her friends on the cast and crew.
For her third appearance on the behind-the-scenes interview show, host David Read decided to surprise Rachel with a blast from the past — one of her SGA co-workers!
Who is it? The surprise guest is James “BamBam” Bamford, who was the stunt and fight coordinator on the show. With Teyla having such a physical role on Atlantis as a proud and powerful Athosian warrior, the two worked side-by-side throughout the show’s 5-year run. James trained Rachel as a fighter, choreographed the show’s fights, and appeared on screen several times (including once as Teyla’s Athosian sparring partner).
“It was an absolute joy,” Bamford said. “I saw her audition and I think Brad and/or Robert showed me the tape and said, ‘This is who we’re strongly thinking of.’ And I said, ‘Yes! Hire her, yes! She’s the one.’ Not that anything I said had anything to do with it.”
Take a peek at the clip to watch Rachel’s surprise:
“Teyla’s character wasn’t originally written as a warrior,” Bamford revealed, “and so in that same conversation I was like, ‘OK, she’s my fighter. I want to pick somebody — I want to make somebody into my special project, and that’s her.'”
Bamford took the actress under his wing, drawing on her extensive dance experience to transform the character of Teyla into a capable warrior.
“She was so good, and so technically perfect, that the challenge was to rough her style up a little bit and make it a little messier — less dance, more fight — because she was so good.”
Visit “Dial the Gate” on YouTube for the full, 1-hour conversation with Rachel Luttrell. While you’re there, consider subscribing to GateWorld on YouTube. We’re coming up on the 100,000 subscriber milestone, and we’ve got new Stargate content every week!
On Twitter: @rachel_luttrell & @JamesBamford