Country of origin Canada
United States Original network Syfy | No. of episodes 20 | |
Original release September 28, 2010 (2010-09-28) – May 9, 2011 (2011-05-09) | ||
The second and final season of Stargate Universe was announced by Syfy on December 13, 2009. Like the first season, the second season consisted of 20 episodes. The series was moved from the franchise's long history of Friday to Tuesday, along with Caprica, as Syfy had picked up WWE Friday Night SmackDown. The series resumed on September 28, 2010, USA. In Ireland & UK, the series resumed on October 5 at 9pm on Sky1 and Sky1 HD.
Contents
Syfy announced on December 16, 2010 that it would not be picking Stargate Universe up for a third season and that the Spring 2011 season would be the last to air on its channel.
Main cast
Ratings
The season premiere drew 1.175 million viewers in the US, lower than any episode in Season 1. Through its second season, SGU viewership continued to decline, falling below 1 million by the fourth episode and measuring only 0.814 million viewers for its thirteenth episode. Series co-creator Brad Wright attributed this decline to its change in timeslot (from Friday night to Tuesday night, and then again to Monday night), stating:
I don’t think if we, for any reason, go away, it is an issue necessarily of the quality of the product that we’ve been making. I think getting moved on the schedule has hurt us. And the fact that some of the fans that liked SG-1 and Atlantis were so angry that they have deliberately hurt us, which is unfortunate.
Syfy announced on December 16, 2010 that it would not be picking Stargate Universe up for a third season.
Reaction to Cancellation
After the cancellation of Stargate Universe, Stargate fans reacted angrily towards Syfy. On May 12, 2011, Syfy released a letter explaining its reasons for the series' cancellation. The letter discussed the fact that ratings during the first season had fallen significantly on the Friday timeslot, dropping over 25% of its viewership during the long hiatus between the first and second half of the season. This prompting Syfy to start the second season in the Tuesday slot making room on Friday for wrestling. Despite Stargate Universe being jerked to Tuesday, the show managed to keep 75% of its audience. Syfy was relentless and still cancelled the show replacing it again with wrestling.