“I probably should have been worried about coming back into science fiction, but I wasn’t and I’m not worried about it now. The thing is, coming into Stargate SG-1, I have certain advantages over other actors in that I’m familiar with science fiction and how science fiction is shot. That doesn’t change all that much. So there’s a certain advantage I have in that regard. I met Brad Wright, Michael Shanks, Joe [Mallozzi], and Paul [Mullie] and liked them all, and so that to a degree made it easier. Claudia [Black] spoke highly of her time here, and that also made the decision easier. But at the end of the day things come one at a time, and I couldn’t really think of a good reason to say  no to something like Stargate SG-1 when I know I have a great time shooting science fiction. It’s my genre of choice in reading matter, my favorite films are mostly science fiction films. To be saying no because, ‘Oh, no. I’ve got to be on a cop show,’ or, ‘I’ve got to be a lawyer next because I need to shake things up…’ I don’t see that. So, I’m just an idiot, it didn’t occur to me to say no!

“I think I came in without expectations. My first job was to figure out where to fit in and to figure out the routine. It takes a while to do that. Even now, six or seven months later, some days I’m still figuring it out. The last six months have flown by. You get into a rhythm of shooting the show, and after a while it’s like watching a deck of cards being shuffled, they blur in front of you. It’s gone by very quickly.

Mitchell had been busier in the second half of the season. In the first six episodes they were not yet a team so there was no team to lead. There was less adventuring, as it were. So, once you get the team back in place there’s more for all of SG-1 to do in a way. As team leader, if SG-1 is busy, then Mitchell is busy.

He doesn’t really have a standard interaction with any of the characters. He has a fairly clear response in a different way to each. So, depending on the situation and who he’s interacting with he has a very different way of operating. For the team as a whole the question is, where is Mitchell’s place, what is his voice? He is kind of back to the roots of the show, in his enthusiasm for getting out there, and a certain naivety and innocence, even though he is neither particularly naïve or innocent. So it’s fun to play because you have characters he’s surrounded by who have saved the world 160 times. So for me there’s a fun element in being able to go, ‘Wow! Check that out!’

He’s an interesting sort of hybrid leader. His leadership style within the context of the team is not how most people perceive the military to be, which is a regimen of orders. His leadership style is more akin to what occurs in elite teams like Delta units, where everyone participates to the fullest of their abilities and when you need a specialist, you defer to the specialist, and defer quickly. It’s an interesting thing because Mitchell doesn’t have much in the way of technical expertise, and certainly has no technical expertise above and beyond any of the other characters. The only thing he has is enthusiasm and the ability to be a pivot point for the team. That’s an element of all forms of leadership. When you’re dealing with a team it has to do with adjusting to the team. A really good coach is always adjusting his form of leadership. Mitchell is in a very unusual situation, and he has a rather unusual team to ostensibly be leading. Hopefully he’s done a good job of it.

“I don’t think that you should show all facets of a character up front. The surprises are sometimes interesting . It’s like you’ve known someone for years and then you find out that they have a great fear of rats. It doesn’t quite fit with their personality. Finding out what a person’s phobias are, and sometimes way down the line, makes them more interesting. The idea that what you see up front is all that you’re going to get out of a character is narrow, it’s shallow. As opposed to opening the whole ‘Christmas present’ on day one, string it over time. The question is, ‘Have we seen enough to feel satisfied and interested in the character?’ Because quite frankly, when you bring new characters into a series, they are by definition more shallow in comparison to the characters who have been there for eight years, because the audience doesn’t know them that well. The audience can see textures and patterns in the characters they have been watching for years, but they can’t see those in the new character. It’s only as the character unfolds that they can see more. It’s a very difficult balancing act and one that primarily falls on the writing team and on the shoulders of everyone else who makes the show.

“I’ll sit back in a year, when I can watch it with a certain detachment. I know actors who never watch anything they do. For me, it takes some time to watch it and not go, ‘Oh we were setting up this day on this,’ and ‘Oh, this was the day that Michael had a cold’. When I see a production that I’m in, more often than not I am seeing the day of shooting. It’s not really for me to be happy, that’s for the audience. If the audience is satisfied with what’s going on then the real question is, ‘What’s next?’

“I like the guy, which is a good thing. No self-loathing for Mitchell! Especially as the series has gone on…I think he’s revealed a bit more of his foundation as the year has continued. The more it goes on, the more interesting a character is. Not necessarily the ‘dark side’ either, but here’s this beat, here’s that beat. It informs you as you move on to the next stage of playing him.

“I am always wary of saying where the series is going. Particularly with introducing a character like Mitchell into the fray of those already well-established characters. I worry about concocting a definition of the character too early, and saying, ‘This is what the guy is.’ Then you’re locked into a place which may or may not work for the breadth of the story. You trust the writers and the other actors, and that the story will unfold at an appropriate time.”