In “Letters From Pegasus” it was originally written that McKay had a brother back home. A minor change to the script would ultimately set the stage to introduce Kate Hewlett, real-life sister of David Hewlett, into Stargate lore! Kate joins DialtheGate to discuss Jeannie Miller, her career up to this point, and some very important news!

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Timecodes
0:00 – Opening Credits
0:29 – Welcome and Episode Outline
00:40 – Call to Action
01:35 – Guest Introduction
02:58 – Kate is expecting a baby!!!
09:51 – When did you realize that you wanted to be a performer?
13:39 – Kate’s First Gig
22:52 – Have you been in touch with David Hewlett lately?
26:15 – Who has personally inspired you in life?
29:06 – Do the McKay siblings resemble the Hewlett siblings?
30:35 – David and Kate working on set and preparing for roles
34:41 – How she got into Atlantis (SGA 3×08 “McKay and Mrs. Miller”)
41:55 – Working with two McKays
45:39 – Filming “A Dog’s Breakfast”
50:27 – Are there any more plans to do more episodes together?
51:20 – 5×06 “The Shrine”
53:30 – 4×09 “Miller’s Crossing”
56:35 – Would you be open to return to the new Stargate?
59:51 – Playing a mom in TV shows
1:03:16 – Working During COVID
1:05:25 – Thank You, Kate!
1:06:49 – Kate’s Original Show
1:10:14 – David Hewlett’s first movie (Pin 1988)
1:13:58 – Post-Interview Housekeeping
1:16:53 – End Credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read:
Welcome everyone to Episode 51 of Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. This episode we have Kate Hewlett joining us, Jeannie Miller on Stargate Atlantis, and David Hewlett’s real-life sister. But before we bring her in, if you like Stargate and you wanna see more content like this on YouTube, it would mean a great deal to me if you clicked the Like button. It really does make a difference with YouTube’s algorithm and will definitely help the show grow its audience. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you wanna get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon. Giving the Bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops, and you’ll get my notifications of any last-minute guest changes. This is key if you plan on watching live. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few days and weeks on GateWorld.net and eventually Dial the Gate. It’s always been my plan to have Dial the Gate clips run weekly, but I don’t have the manpower yet, so I’m hoping to get a little bit of help there. Happy Valentine’s Day to you all. And in the spirit of that, Kate has some news to share with us. So, keep that in mind as you watch this pre-recorded episode. Thanks so much for your time. Kate Hewlett, Jeannie Miller on Stargate Atlantis, and real-life sister of Stargate Atlantis star, David Hewlett. Welcome to Dial the Gate.

Kate Hewlett:
Did you just call him Star David?

David Read:
Did I?

Kate Hewlett:
Yes.

David Read:
Stargate Atlantis, David Hewlett.

Kate Hewlett:
Star David. I think you were saying “star.” Stargate Atlantis star David Hewlett.

David Read:
Stargate Atlantis star David Hewlett. How are you?

Kate Hewlett:
I’m very well, thank you. I’m busy. I can’t complain. I put on makeup for you for the first time in about eight months.

David Read:
It’s so strange, isn’t it? I hear people who say, “Man this is, I’m not used to…” Not necessarily makeup, but X, Y, or Z, when we go out in public and when we associate with other humans. It’s like, “Oh yeah, that’s a thing. I forgot to do that.”

Kate Hewlett:
I’m worried that David might not be washing anymore.

David Read:
He’s got a dog. Hopefully the dog’s licking enough. Huzzah!

Kate Hewlett:
Ridiculous name. Who names their dog for the joke factor?

David Read:
Your brother.

Kate Hewlett:
So that in the park people will laugh when you go, “Huzzah!”

David Read:
I didn’t think of it that way. That’s funny.

Kate Hewlett:
Really. That’s their whole motivation, I think, for naming her that.

David Read:
Do you have some news that you’d like to share?

Kate Hewlett:
Sure. I guess since David told you.

David Read:
He only told me. He didn’t tell the world.

Kate Hewlett:
Without my permission. Yes, I can tell you, and I’m gonna have some very angry friends who I haven’t told yet, but I’m having a baby. Human. A baby human.

David Read:
Congratulations.

Kate Hewlett:
Thank you very much.

David Read:
Do you know when the due date is?

Kate Hewlett:
I thought you were gonna say, “Do you know who the father is?”

David Read:
I wouldn’t know the father.

Kate Hewlett:
“My first question is, do you know who the father is?” Yes, the due date is May 28th. I’m really pushing for sooner to avoid the whole Gemini trap, but I’ve since learned that I have quite a few very good friends who are Geminis, so maybe it’ll be OK.

David Read:
Congratulations to you. That is just fantastic. It’s so nice to have some good news these days.

Kate Hewlett:
Yes, a lot of people have been saying that, actually, when I tell them. The other thing people say when I tell them is, “Me too, I’m also pregnant,” because everyone’s pregnant right now.

David Read:
You can’t really be surprised, in general, about the number of babies that are being had right now, ’cause there’s only so much that you can do when you’re…

Kate Hewlett:
Literally nothing else to do. It’s wild.

David Read:
Thank you so much for sharing that with us. That means so much.

Kate Hewlett:
There you go, that’s some big news to break. Beat that, David’s interview.

David Read:
Congratulations again. What’d you say?

Kate Hewlett:
Beat that, David’s interview.

David Read:
I think that that takes the cake, absolutely.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s actually, since you asked…

David Read:
Yes.

Kate Hewlett:
… it’s actually quite a good story, because I was trying for many years. I was trying for three years with my ex — my lovely ex — and I was trying afterwards by myself. I did the donor thing and all of that, and I hadn’t gone to IVF yet because it’s very expensive. But I had tried, I had exhausted all my other options, and I had done my adoption training. And I was really excited about that. And then I moved to Hamilton to be closer to my sister and help her out with her children, and I was like, “OK, maybe this is my path. Maybe I’m the aunt, and I can travel and go on cruises for the rest of my life and not have kids.” And I was wrapping my head around it. And then it happened by accident after being told, basically, that I couldn’t have kids, so my boyfriend was pretty shocked.

David Read:
How funny life is. It’s so surprising. You almost have to say, “You know what? I’m not surprised that after all that work, it finally…” There are certain things that you can’t force and then life just surprises you, and it can be both underwhelming and overwhelming, and just like, “Wow!” What a journey. How long have you been trying?

Kate Hewlett:
I tried for about three or four years.

David Read:
I know Amanda Tapping went on a similar journey, as well. I won’t speak for her, but you hear all about all these people, like, “Oh yeah, we’re having our sixth.” And the inability to get pregnant is actually very common.

Kate Hewlett:
Oh my gosh. Especially, my dad’s an infertility doctor, and so we grew up around this, and I sort of anticipated having trouble in some weird way, because I knew it was such a thing. I knew how common–

David Read:
Really?

Kate Hewlett:
Yeah. My family’s like, “I’m gonna have a baby,” and then they’re pregnant. And so it sort of didn’t surprise me in a weird way, but–

David Read:
You had this cloud over you about it.

Kate Hewlett:
Yeah, I thought you meant David. David’s a cloud over me. It was sort of not even a cloud, I was like, “It’s not easy to get pregnant.” That’s what was in my head. But even growing up with a dad who’s an infertility doctor, I still didn’t realize the age thing. I didn’t realize how young your body becomes old when it comes… It’s terrible to use that word, but when it comes to fertility, really, after 36 it’s considered much, much more difficult, and it goes down per year.

David Read:
And there are things that can happen in addition to that, with the pregnancy. The risk of issues increase.

Kate Hewlett:
All kinds of things, and it’s been… At the beginning, I didn’t tell anyone for a long time ’cause I was like, “Ooh, I’m really old.” I’m like 150 in pregnancy years. But I’m now five-and-a-half months. I’m 24 weeks.

David Read:
Do you know the gender, or have you decided to keep it from yourself as well?

Kate Hewlett:
You want me to break that on your show too?

David Read:
No, no, I wasn’t gonna do that. I’m asking if you know.

Kate Hewlett:
Yes, we’re having a girl.

David Read:
Aww. How wonderful. Very nice. Is she active? She do somersaults?

Kate Hewlett:
Oh, my gosh.

David Read:
That’s great. That’s a good sign.

Kate Hewlett:
She is extremely active. The ultrasounds are always pretty brutal because she’s like —

David Read:
Drives them nuts.

Kate Hewlett:
She’s full-on alien in there. And it feels like what I’m describing it to people as, is that I feel like I’m pregnant with an eel, because she’s really swimming around in there. But I think I felt some kind of elbow or something yesterday.

David Read:
You may have an Olympic swimmer on your hands.

Kate Hewlett:
Maybe.

David Read:
My mother says I was extremely active too, and I’m more comfortable in the water than I am on land.

Kate Hewlett:
Interesting.

David Read:
There you go.

Kate Hewlett:
I also love swimming. She may be destined. There may be some art stuff going on, which we’ll try, obviously, to dissuade, but my boyfriend is a musician. There’s a lot of music around the house, and she been responding to music quite a lot.

David Read:
You can’t be surprised when your kid turns into a creative creature.

Kate Hewlett:
C’mon scientist.

David Read:
Absolutely.

Kate Hewlett:
We’ll start the Stargate binge-watching sessions early.

David Read:
I want you to take me back a little bit to little Kate.

Kate Hewlett:
OK.

David Read:
How old was Kate when she realized that she wanted to be a performer?

Kate Hewlett:
Do you want me to refer to myself in the third person?

David Read:
You can. “Kate was kind of like…”

Kate Hewlett:
Kate, Kate, Kate, Kate. What to say about Kate?

David Read:
How old were you when you learned, “I’ve got the bug.”

Kate Hewlett:
I feel it was probably around grade five. I would say probably around age nine. I always liked to make people laugh. This doesn’t make me a performer, it makes me an asshole, but my sister’s boyfriend was pulling out of the driveway once, when I was probably seven, and as he passed, I went like this and pretended he had run over my foot. And the guy, he went white, and then he was so impressed, and he was laughing so hard, and I’m like, “I like this feeling. I like that feeling of…” I got all these emotions in just a couple of minutes. But I liked making jokes and stuff like that, terrifying adults. But I also think when I was in grade 5, about 9 or 10, at my high school– sorry, I went to one school for 15 years. It was a little crazy and it was all girls. And we did a 15-minute musical thing. Each class had to do a different musical, and we did Sound of Music, and I think that’s when I remember that feeling of being on stage, getting a response, interacting with people on stage, and it was definitely one of those… That was probably the moment I would say that I was like, “I actually wanna do this.” And then I’ve had quite a journey with it afterwards, because there are times where it feels like not a viable career, and there are times where I definitely felt that not being skinny, it wasn’t something that I would ever be able to do professionally. And so, I gave up at a couple of points, and so it’s been a journey. But that was the moment where I knew.

David Read:
Who did you play?

Kate Hewlett:
I played Maria, but this is also a little insight into my character. My friend Andrea and I, we’re still good friends, she’s an advertising goddess in Canada. She’s amazing. She’s a rock star. But she and I, they said, “We know we want you two to be Captain Von Trapp and Maria, but we’ll leave it up to you to decide which you’ll be.” And we end up–

David Read:
‘Cause it’s all girls.

Kate Hewlett:
I don’t know why they did that. All girls. Everyone wants to be Maria. So, we go out into the hall. I still remember this. We go out into the hall, and I was like, “So I’ll be Maria?” She’s like, “Yeah. OK.” I’m like, “Great.” Such a jerk. I was like, “You wanna be Von Trapp. Everyone wants to be Von Trapp.” So, I didn’t really get the part, I took the part. But I acted with her on stage, and it was lovely. We did that moment where he breaks down singing, and then I join in, and then the audience actually believed us. So, they started clapping for us, ’cause they were like, “Oh, the little girl’s nervous.” It was really– that level of manipulation is very powerful.

David Read:
Tracy asked me to ask you that question, so thank you, Tracy. So, school plays, how young were you when you got your first gig?

Kate Hewlett:
Professional gig?

David Read:
Uh-huh.

Kate Hewlett:
I would say my first gig, I believe, was on a Taye Diggs show called Kevin Hill.

David Read:
Kevin Hill.

Kate Hewlett:
It was either that or Dark Water, which was a Jennifer Connelly movie. Those were around the same time. Those were my first two professional acting roles. Both small, but nice, for a first role. And the Dark Water role was fun, because it was kind of improv. I was the teacher in the class, and they didn’t focus on me. I was singing Itsy Bitsy Spider, and it was all creepy and stuff. And I got to improvise a little bit, so that was nice. It was a good way in, ’cause I didn’t know all the lingo and everything, and that was nice and free, so I didn’t make a fool of myself. Except that it was an American movie, and I had to sing, “Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the waterspoot. Down came rain and washed the spider oot.” Walter Salles was the director. Amazing, so lovely. He came over, and he was like, “So… out. Spout.” And I’d never even… I thought I sounded American.

David Read:
It’s the little things.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s the little things… “Washed the spider out.” And then my other first job was the Taye Diggs thing. This is funny, actually. I didn’t know… I had gone to theater school, but they’d sort of poo-pooed film and TV a little bit. We didn’t really learn very much about it. I still didn’t know the lingo or anything. I didn’t know how it really worked. I showed up–

David Read:
It’s a different animal.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s a different animal. And I had this scene with Taye Diggs, my first scene was with Taye Diggs, and he’s gorgeous and talented and all that. So, I played a kindergarten teacher. So, we went through the scene, and then we went to do our first take and so they’re actually shooting. And the scene was, I was the teacher, and he was picking up his kid from school. Literally that was it. There’s no subtext, nothing. And all of a sudden, in the middle of the scene, he just gets really close. He starts getting really close to me. And I was like, “Oh my gosh. Taye Diggs. Why, Taye Diggs? What is going on here? And on camera.” And he gets in all close, and then he goes, in the scene, he goes, “You’re on my mark.” I look down, I was like, “Oh, that’s what those are. That’s what those are for.” So embarrassing. But he was lovely. We had a long talk afterwards about how they really need to teach film and TV at theater school. ‘Cause he comes from that world, too. Those were my first two jobs. And I was pretty hooked already. I actually love film and TV. I started in theater, but I haven’t done much lately and I really do love film and TV. I feel it’s, strangely, more my home.

David Read:
How is it your niche? Is it the velocity of it? The medium itself? ‘Cause a lot of people say the other way. A lot of people say theater, because you can tell a story from beginning to end.

Kate Hewlett:
I do love that. I think with theater, a couple of things. I definitely get really bad nerves, as does David. We’ve talked about that. The nerves are really difficult with theater.

David Read:
It’s live. There’s people watching you.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s fine when you start, but the feeling before is so awful that it’s almost not worth the good feelings, for me. My boyfriend is in Come from Away, or was, before the world ended. He was in Come from Away, he’s on stage as the drummer. You know that show?

David Read:
I’m aware of it. I have not seen it.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s beautiful. But–

David Read:
I’ve heard it’s good.

Kate Hewlett:
If he has a show at night, he’s just normal all day. He’s fine. But if I have a show at night, the whole day is weird. I just feel very aware that there’s this thing looming.

David Read:
Anticipation.

Kate Hewlett:
I don’t feel relaxed. I think with film and TV, what’s lovely is, you don’t have to get anything perfectly. You’re sort of rehearsing as you shoot, in a weird way, and you can make different choices, and you can go back. If you mess up, you can go back a little bit and keep going, and you have control over all of that, which I really like.

David Read:
You also have freedom to discover stuff on the spot.

Kate Hewlett:
You do. You surprise yourself, and I don’t get the same nerves, I really don’t. And then I also… I don’t know what this is, and it doesn’t say good things about me, but I don’t love rehearsing, which most good actors do. But I don’t love… the process of rehearsing the same thing for six weeks, I find by week two, I’m like, “OK, we can do this now,” unless the script is really dense, and there’s a lot of text work and all of that, which I love. But when you’re, “What about this blocking? What about this blocking? And what about the…” If there aren’t discoveries happening anymore, I kinda wanna do it.

David Read:
“Let’s get to it.”

Kate Hewlett:
And also, sometimes, I think early instincts for actors and for directors can be good, and sometimes, “Oh, it’s not funny anymore,” to us, so we change it, but it would’ve been funny the first way. That sort of thing, I sometimes feel rehearsal is not the most beneficial after a certain point, which I know just makes me sound–

David Read:
You can squeeze out the magic of something and lose it.

Kate Hewlett:
Yes.

David Read:
It is, it is possible to overdo it.

Kate Hewlett:
I agree. And as a writer, I’ve seen that too, when my plays are being done. It’s almost like there’s this magic in the first readthrough and the first week, where they’re finding it all, and you’re like, “Yes, you get it. You get it.” And then it gets kind of, “What if she meant it this way?” And I’m like, “She’s here. She’s right here. She didn’t mean it that way. She’s in the room.” I like that with TV and film, it’s like, learn your lines, show up, and do your work. I miss the days when you had more time to shoot. It’s crazy, the show that I just finished, we are shooting– There were days where, because they’re block shooting everything, there were days where I had 28 pages of dialogue in two days. It’s dense stuff. So, it’s like, I’m not probably able to do my absolute best, because sometimes I’m just remembering.

David Read:
Just getting through it.

Kate Hewlett:
Just getting through it and not necessarily… You don’t have the time to make choices, and… I mean, you make little choices, but you don’t have the time to really dig in. Whereas before, if you got a guest star role, for instance, you would have usually at least seven days. And now it’s literally one day. One day or two days, and you do your whole part. So, it’s hard to give your best work in those situations. That would be my only thing about film and TV, now, is I think it’s all sort of budget-based and scheduling-based, and they don’t necessarily think about the acting side of it and how it might take a little longer to make those decisions and find things, but I do like the space.

David Read:
If that’s the going trend, we’re in trouble. I mean, you have to have room to breathe and interpret a role. Rehearsal does have its place, but you have to create an opportunity for a little bit of spontaneity to discover something that’s– You have to service the documents, obviously, but you also have to have the freedom to find what’s not on the page, what’s between the lines.

Kate Hewlett:
Yeah, and work with the director and all that stuff that’s really lost, when it’s so quick. I think I have baby brain, but it sort of was happening before. That’s the one thing that’s a bit of a frustrating trend, but it did happen with theater too. It was like, “Oh, you can put on a show in three weeks? Oh, great. Let’s do it.” And it’s like, “Yeah, but… We can put it on…”

David Read:
Yeah, exactly. “I can force this thing through my eye, but it’ll hurt like hell.”

Kate Hewlett:
American stuff still takes more time. David’s working on all kinds of big American things, and I’m sure they’re not doing 20 pages in two days. But a lot of the stuff here is very quick.

David Read:
Have you been in touch with him lately? You get to see him at all?

Kate Hewlett:
It’s funny. With COVID, I feel like I have seen him so little. And I don’t miss him. You know something? We have one of those relationships where we don’t talk that often, but we’re very close. A lot of my friendships are like that too. I don’t have to talk to someone every day, and he and I have such a rapport, so we don’t talk that often. He does call sometimes. I’m not always the best at answering my phone. But, you know, we have a really good reputate… reputation? Oh my God.

David Read:
Repartee.

Kate Hewlett:
“I have a fabulous reputation with David.” We have a good repartee, and we have a good relationship, and we don’t need to talk that often. But I miss seeing him in person.

David Read:
Baz, you’re not gonna recognize him by the time this is all said and done.

Kate Hewlett:
So, they actually made the drive to Hamilton, for the first time since I moved here. They made the drive. They brought Huzzah! We all hung out in the backyard, which is enormous. I have a ridiculously enormous backyard. We all had a hangout out there, and I got to see how tall Baz is, and they were all wearing their Grinch masks. It was really nice. David and I hardly spoke, because he showed up, we had a little quick catch-up, and then he was like, “You have a fire pit?” And then he spent literally four hours trying to light a fire, and did not succeed, and by the end of the night they just left and there was no fire. But he was like a child, he was occupied the entire time, so I mostly just talked to Jane and Baz and the dog.

David Read:
“David, by the way, I’m pregnant.”

Kate Hewlett:
I think I… I told him on the phone.

David Read:
“No, light a fire. No, gotta get back to fire.” That’s funny.

Kate Hewlett:
“Fire, fire.” So funny. He has a task and he’s good. He’s good to go.

David Read:
There are people in your life that you just have to occasionally remind them that you love them and you’re good. There are others that, especially for me, if I don’t see them in a month or something, I start going, “OK, what’s wrong? What have I done?” And I can’t let that go. So, it’s cool if you can get into a place where, “We’re good. I love you. Everything’s good. You good? All right, we’re good.”

Kate Hewlett:
I wish all relationships were like that. I really don’t need a ton of contact. I do have friends who really like to talk often, and they worry, I think, that I’m not OK or that I’m mad at them.

David Read:
It’s not that. For some people it is, don’t get me wrong.

Kate Hewlett:
I wanna check in, and then we’re good. But I find what happens, also, is I leave it for so long that when I do call, and we talk for three hours, and it’s lovely, but then it’s like a marathon. It feels like a social marathon.

David Read:
There’s some things with certain people that you just wanna know everything, and it’s gonna take a while to get through. Petra wanted to know, and I do as well–

Kate Hewlett:
Good name.

David Read:
Yes. “Kate, who has personally inspired you in your life?”

Kate Hewlett:
Who has personally inspired me in my life? Honestly, I’m lucky to say that a lot of people have. I had some incredible teachers in high school, incredible teachers. Miss. Davidson was one of them, Susan Davidson. Incredible, very wonderful teacher. Marina Kelton was another. These were people who were huge influences on my life. English teacher, and Miss. Davidson — I still call her that — she was my teacher in grade four and grade six, and we’re still in contact now. A lot of teachers–

David Read:
Gotta love the internet.

Kate Hewlett:
I know. A lot of teachers had a real impact on me. I would also say, career-wise, as much as I hate to admit it, I do think David had a huge impact on me, because I saw an example of someone doing what they wanted to do and it working. So, I think despite the fact that he really did always say, “Don’t be an actor. Whatever you do, don’t go into acting,” I didn’t listen to him. I sort of watched and saw, “Oh, this is possible.” And I also see the way he is on set, the way he is with the crew, the way that everyone’s an equal. He doesn’t ever pull the actor stuff, where it’s going to the front of the lunch line and all this stuff. I know it’s normal to do that, but it makes my skin crawl. That whole weird hierarchy where everyone treats you with kid gloves and it’s like you’re at the top but you’re also kind of at the bottom, ’cause you’re like babies, but are being looked after. I really like it when the cast and the crew are all buddies, and there’s respect, everyone’s doing their job, you can–

David Read:
Doing the work. They’re there to do the work.

Kate Hewlett:
Everyone’s an expert at their own particular field. I saw that with him, and I, hopefully, have learned that. And I think, in many ways, he’s been a huge influence. Also, as a parent. I think he’ll influence me a great deal as well. Just give the kid a device and–

David Read:
Let ’em do their thing.

Kate Hewlett:
They’re settled for 14 years.

David Read:
“Don’t worry about wiring their brains that way, no. It’s cool. Plug them in right now. Get it over with.”

Kate Hewlett:
Make sure you have good hair, good style. Give ’em a device and off they go. No, he’s a really great dad. That’s my cheesy answer.

David Read:
No, that’s good. Cam wanted to know, “Do the McKay siblings in any way resemble the Hewlett siblings when it comes to any of the quirks?”

Kate Hewlett:
David is much grumpier and more irritable and more of a know-it-all in real life, obviously. I think our dynamic of teasing each other and the bickering and some of that, I think we even… I can’t remember if we slapped each other’s forehead in Stargate, or if I only did it in Dog’s Breakfast. We do that–

David Read:
I think there may have been. There was plenty of it in Dog’s Breakfast, and the sound effects to go along with it.

Kate Hewlett:
Like beef slapping on a grill. We have that, but always jokey in real life. Always with sort of… we’re very…

David Read:
Tongue in cheek, affectionate.

Kate Hewlett:
… very mean to each other, but very affectionate as… Not affectionate. Very loving, let’s say. No Hewletts want to be touched. But I think David is quite different from his character, honestly. Except when he’s hungry. McKay comes out when he’s hungry, or if he’s making a movie and he’s really stressed. If he’s making his own movie, he gets a little McKay.

David Read:
You can appreciate that. There’s a drive and determination to McKay that gives no quarter to any fools. It’s a way to get stuff done, but there are casualties along the way. When you’ve gotta get work done… He’s never been one to mistreat people. I spent a lot of hours on set watching him work and go through that material, and the amount of text that he would have to ingest and then put out, belch it out, in sequence, with technobabble to boot. You what now?

Kate Hewlett:
And make it funny.

David Read:
And make it funny. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. That was a hard job. And you got your fair share of it as well.

Kate Hewlett:
I did, and I was not as prepared for it as he was, I gotta say. I was prepared, but… I knew the lines, but then there are moments with that sort of text where you do just go blank. ‘Cause all of a sudden it’s like, “Words? Words!”

David Read:
When you’re bringing it to life, it’s a language in and of its own, and it’s a rhythm.

Kate Hewlett:
It was. I definitely went totally blank on a couple of things. But he and I both don’t learn lines easily, as well, so it does take quite a bit of work. There are people who read it and know it. And we both have to work to learn them, so he put a lot of hours in learning those lines. And he was amazing. And I think that the thing is, the better you are, the more they give you. The more they’re like, “Oh, give it to him.”

David Read:
That’s what happens. And he indicated to me in December that he found that it’s a muscle that can atrophy.

Kate Hewlett:
Exactly.

David Read:
If he hasn’t done it as much, then it takes him longer to get back into the rhythm of absorbing information, or absorbing the lines before giving them back out again, which is scary in itself. It’s not like riding a bicycle, once you got it, you got it. You can lose the ability to absorb like a sponge, and you have to retrain yourself how to do it.

Kate Hewlett:
I have news for you, though. You can also lose the ability to ride a bicycle.

David Read:
Oh, really?

Kate Hewlett:
I speak from experience.

David Read:
Oh my God. OK.

Kate Hewlett:
That saying is not so true. “Aah!” I took it up two years later, I was like, “Nope. My center of gravity changed,” or something. It’s true. You do lose the muscle, though it comes back pretty quickly. I had a lead on a series for the first time in a few years, and when you’re learning 10 pages a night or whatever it is, it comes back. It does come back quickly, where you’re like, “OK, this is how I do this,” and I’ve done a lot more listening to the lines lately. I record them and I have my headphones in, and I listen to them over and over wherever I go, in the car.

David Read:
You learn aurally.

Kate Hewlett:
I don’t, usually.

David Read:
You don’t?

Kate Hewlett:
But this time I tried it, and it does go in. I have to do both. I have to look at it first, digest it that way, and then at least when you’re doing other things, if you’re playing the words, it becomes a little more familiar. And then the drive in and stuff. I had a driver, and so I would listen to my headphones and learn it that way. But I think the other thing is, there’s the muscle side of it, but I think also you don’t have the nerves the same way. When you’re doing it every day and you’re working with the same people, you’re not feeling like you have to impress them. And so, you do your work and show up, and they know you can do it. Whereas, if you’re doing a guest star or something, it’s more nerve-wracking because you don’t wanna look like you didn’t prepare, even if you did.

David Read:
You’re deliberate in putting your best foot forward rather than not worrying about it, it’ll come. Interesting.

Kate Hewlett:
And you get in your own head about it, “Do I actually know this?” So, I find that makes a difference too, is having a comfort on set.

David Read:
The story of how you got into Atlantis is an interesting one. Martin Gero told us over at GateWorld a few years ago that… OK, let me set this up here. So, in Season One, for those who are in the know and those who need a refresher, and those who don’t, there is an episode called “Letters from Pegasus” where David, as McKay, has a line near the end of the episode that was originally written to reference a sibling that was a brother. And then David went to Martin Gero and a couple of the other writers and producers and said, “I actually have an actress sister. Would you mind if we changed this to a sister?”

Kate Hewlett:
And he never lets me forget it.

David Read:
And Martin Gero replied, “Ah, yeah, whatever, Dave, fine. We’re not gonna hire your sister, man.”

Kate Hewlett:
Exactly.

David Read:
Do you recall the play where David and Martin and maybe a couple of the others came and saw you, and Martin was like, “We’ve gotta do an episode with her.”

Kate Hewlett:
So, that was coincidental. So, Brendan Gall–

David Read:
Yes. Martin’s best friend.

Kate Hewlett:
Martin’s best friend, dominating the world now in TV writing. They created Blindspot together and all that.

David Read:
Yes.

Kate Hewlett:
They have 25 shows. So, Brendan and I had met a couple of years before, and I was part of his whole crowd. We just all hit it off, and we started doing theater together with Unspun Theater, which was a theater company that’s still going. Martin was only there because of Brendan. And then he saw me. He saw me and he was, “Hewlett?” And he made the connection, and then I think that was the first time he was like, “Oh, I could actually… this could actually work.” I can’t remember if it was… The play was probably Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

David Read:
That’s a title.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s a title. It’s a place in Alberta, and it was a collective creation that I worked on with Brendan and with a bunch of my friends, and it might have been that he saw. I think that was it. And Brendan directed it.

David Read:
And ended up becoming Caleb Miller, Jeannie’s husband, in Atlantis.

Kate Hewlett:
Yes.

David Read:
How cool, man.

Kate Hewlett:
And I guess there’s a character called Brendan Gall as well who–

David Read:
Yes, he died in Season One. He got eaten by a Wraith.

Kate Hewlett:
There you go.

David Read:
That’s right.

Kate Hewlett:
That’s what you get if you cross Martin Gero.

David Read:
Martin Gero, that’s right.

Kate Hewlett:
It was through that, I think. It was kind of that lucky–

David Read:
So, let’s set the stage. You get a call? “We’ve got this story.” How did that happen? Season Three, “McKay and Mrs. Miller.”

Kate Hewlett:
David told me that he had planted the seed with the “Letters from Pegasus” thing, but he didn’t make a big deal out of it because this business and sci-fi, you never know, they might have wanted some six-foot-tall Cylon. Wrong show. But you never know. He wasn’t like, “This is gonna happen.”

David Read:
No. It’s just an idea.

Kate Hewlett:
And then he did Dog’s Breakfast. And he cast me in Dog’s Breakfast, and we were supposed to do that at this tiny… Yeah, it was before. So, that was also an opportunity for us to play that dynamic, a very similar dynamic, show our chemistry on screen. He thought about that too, and I think that was also part of it. So, Dog’s Breakfast happened, and then I guess with… I mean, with Stargate, they wrote the script, and it was very much in our voices. I didn’t know Martin yet. We all have a similar voice, honestly. But, he wrote those characters, and then I think when David saw the script, then he was like, “This could actually happen.” And obviously I still had to audition, ‘cause I hadn’t done very much. I think I had only done one show and then those two episodes I told you about. I auditioned, and… I think I got a call back? I can’t remember. I can’t remember if I did a call back or if I didn’t need to. And then I booked it, and it was insane. It was insane. I didn’t think it would happen. I had no money. I was doing theater. I was living with five roommates. It came out of nowhere.

David Read:
You’re doing what you love. You gotta do what you have to do to make it work. That’s why he was saying, “Don’t act.”

Kate Hewlett:
I know.

David Read:
Obviously, he didn’t push you too hard on that, thankfully.

Kate Hewlett:
No. He did push me, but I don’t listen to anyone.

David Read:
Good for you, girl.

Kate Hewlett:
If pushed, I push back. But it happened, and I remember reading the script and being like, “I can’t believe this is actually real.” ‘Cause it was a hefty guest star, too. It was definitely the biggest thing I’d ever done. And going to Vancouver and staying at The Sutton Place and–

David Read:
Isn’t that a great hotel?

Kate Hewlett:
Oh my gosh. And I’d been watching the show too, so it was like, “This is insane.” And it went really well, it went really smoothly until the one scene where I did have a lot of the technobabble, and it was Amanda, myself, and David, and we did it in blocking, and I knew all the lines, and it was perfect, and then when the cameras were on, I was like, “Blah, blah, blah, blah.” And so that was the first… that was the moment where– And also it was a red-eye flight and then right to the studio, fitting, and then I’m on the set, and I’m like, “There’s a Stargate. What’s going on?” And so, I had one of those moments where I was like, “Gosh, I’m having trouble getting through this.” And I didn’t know you could sort of stop and go back, but they were… those were the two best people for that to happen with, because she was so lovely. Amanda was so lovely.

David Read:
Those are the two that the scripts have always gone to, for the information. You’re not gonna find better teachers.

Kate Hewlett:
True, and also they were so understanding when it didn’t come, ’cause sometimes they didn’t know either.

David Read:
It’s happened to all of them.

Kate Hewlett:
Absolutely. And David was really lovely about it. He didn’t make fun of me, which he sometimes would, but he didn’t. It was a phenomenal experience.

David Read:
What was it like blocking with two Davids? Obviously, on the set when you guys were blocking, there was a stand-in. And then the stand-in would turn into a tennis ball.

Kate Hewlett:
The whole thing… I forgot about that, the fact that it was one of my earlier gigs, and I didn’t really know what was normal and what wasn’t normal, so I’m like, “I guess you talk to tennis balls in film and TV. Alright.” The stand-in thing was funny because they got someone who was the same height as David and they gave him the same haircut. But then I went into makeup one day and there was this piece of wax paper with all these disgusting brown blobs on it. And I was like, “What is that?” And then they’re like, “Those are David’s moles.” And they had to match… He had a big mole on the back of his neck. They put this big mole on the back of the guy’s neck, and David was like, “Is that what I look like from behind?” And I’m like [nods]. It actually was a tiny mole.

David Read:
But still, you have to get it right.

Kate Hewlett:
He never sees back there. He’s like, “I have a giant mole on the back of my neck?” He’s like, “It can’t be that size.”

David Read:
It’s the little things. They’re gonna get it right.

Kate Hewlett:
And it worked. It worked beautifully.

David Read:
It absolutely did.

Kate Hewlett:
And it was fun watching him play two different parts as well. ‘Cause he was having a bit of a different experience than he would usually have, too, ’cause it was a new character for him.

David Read:
And one that’s actually chill.

Kate Hewlett:
Yeah, and he doesn’t play those characters a lot.

David Read:
He can do them, but it’s… He’s not making magic, necessarily, when he’s… He can pull it off.

Kate Hewlett:
Oh, yeah. He can do anything.

David Read:
But Angsty Mackay is…

Kate Hewlett:
But he doesn’t get those roles? He doesn’t get those cool, chill-guy roles.

David Read:
Exactly. It’s not his specialty. But he can do it.

Kate Hewlett:
Exactly. Also not my specialty.

David Read:
It was so nice to see, in an episode where the stakes were definitely high, but they were high for another universe, and the stakes for us were the relationship between a brother and a sister, because Atlantis didn’t do that a great deal. Stargate, in general… SG-1 did it definitely, but it was definitely nice to see Atlantis take it a couple of lower keys and say, “Yes, there is a problem. It’s a problem happening to them, next door, in this other universe, and once it’s done…” The reason that people are tuning in is to see Rodney resolve a few things with Jeannie.

Kate Hewlett:
I think the relationships, in any show, I think the relationships are, in the end, what keeps people coming back, and what made it a popular episode as well. You’re seeing a different side of a character. It explains a lot of why he is the way he is. You see a softer side to him. You have someone calling him out on stuff that no one ever calls him out on. Someone smarter than him, all of that. It was a brilliant… Obviously, Martin is an incredible writer. He was doing so well.

David Read:
He’s definitely succeeded, for sure. I wanna sidestep Atlantis for a minute.

Kate Hewlett:
That beard.

David Read:
You what, now?

Kate Hewlett:
That beard.

David Read:
Oh, I know.

Kate Hewlett:
The last time I saw it, I mean…

David Read:
It’s so luxurious.

Kate Hewlett:
His career is impressive, but his beard is magnificent. I haven’t talked to him in a long time, actually. We worked on The L.A. Complex together.

David Read:
I haven’t either. We both need to reach out to him. Come at him from both sides and say hello. FolkTunes wanted to know a little bit more about working on A Dog’s Breakfast. Now, if you have not seen this movie, folks, you need to. I’m not sure if it’s streaming somewhere. You can definitely rent it through the internet. Do it, because it is a riot. If you like David Hewlett’s sensibilities and sense of humor, this is a fantastic film. And Kate has… and Paul McGillion, and Christopher Judge guest stars as well, and Rachael Luttrell. You need to see this movie. It is funny. What was it like filming this? It was his first big independent project.

Kate Hewlett:
And it was supposed to be David, myself, and Paul, shooting in David’s house with limited crew, and it just exploded. I think people on the Stargate crew really liked him, and so people started volunteering their time, and the DP was amazing, so he came on board. And it just grew and grew and grew, and then they were like, “We can’t really do this at our house. We need to rent a house.” And so, there was this stunning, weird property in Burnaby, I think it was, where we… Is that what I mean, Burnaby?

David Read:
It’s middle of nowhere.

Kate Hewlett:
In BC.

David Read:
Great scene.

Kate Hewlett:
I sometimes think of Burbank and Burnaby mixed up. Very different. Yeah, this property with this endless backyard that then turned into a lake. Even more so when there was a rainstorm and it flooded. All kinds of crazy stuff. Like, there’s a scene where they’re in a boat or something?

David Read:
I think so.

Kate Hewlett:
That was not supposed to happen.

David Read:
I don’t remember. I remember watching it for the first time ’cause Jane had sent it to me. GateWorld got to screen it first, and I was like, “I can’t believe I’m watching this and I’m loving it.” It’s just so out there. There’s an accidental death, let’s say that. The script goes in places where you wouldn’t expect it. It’s a riot of physical comedy. This was something that I don’t think we really see that much of anymore, at least the stuff that I certainly don’t watch.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s good. It’s really good.

David Read:
But it was just a riot.

Kate Hewlett:
The thing with the physical comedy is that David just did everything. Nothing was safe. He would just fall and it was like, “Ooh!” But it’s so good. When you watch it, the physical comedy is so good ’cause he just kinda went for it.

David Read:
The whole sequence on the ladder.

Kate Hewlett:
Oh my gosh.

David Read:
And that’s happening in the background with Paul. It’s like, “How did they pull some of this stuff off?”

Kate Hewlett:
It was incredible, actually. David’s a really good director. It’s very hard to break into the TV directing world, and I’m shocked that he hasn’t had more directing gigs, ’cause he’s really good. He understands it from all sides. But on that, because he was directing as well as acting, and he had written it, and he was producing it, it was sort of like the acting was almost the least important thing. So, when he went to act, he threw himself around, and then he would come back, and it was a different performance from him. It was very… I don’t know, it was totally insane. But yeah, there’s a scene where there’s a boat in the backyard, and there was not supposed to be water back there. There was not water back there when we started.

David Read:
When the opportunity arises, throw a scene together, rent a boat and do it.

Kate Hewlett:
It was a muddy shoot.

David Read:
What a great story. You and Paul were fantastic. The little Stargate nods all over the place. I really wish that… ’cause there was talk a little bit about trying to do a show-within-a-show with Star Crossed, which I still think would’ve been a great idea.

Kate Hewlett:
That’s right. And then David and I also had an idea, a dog’s bed and breakfast, which was that they turn the house into a B&B, and that it’s haunted. It was really fun.

David Read:
You could still do it.

Kate Hewlett:
We’ve talked about it a lot, actually.

David Read:
Dog’s bed and breakfast. Poor Mars. I miss Mars.

Kate Hewlett:
I know, Mars would have been in it. But now we may have to use my Russian rescue dog, who’s Mars’ tinier, more nervous cousin. Not really cousin.

David Read:
Assassidate. Yesica1993 wanted to know, “Are there any more plans to do more episodes?” She says, “They were my gateway to Stargate.”

Kate Hewlett:
I know, I like that. I wrote one. I wrote one we never shot, ’cause we just got busy, he got busy, I think, at that time. We may have written two, actually, that we never shot. But we’d have to revisit it and see if those still work. We also had a show based on that, that we were pitching around for a while, which was called Assassidate as well, and it was about a brother and sister running this weird dating site, where people connect through video games. And we pitched that around to all the Canadian networks like 10 years ago or whatever, and we didn’t get any development deal or anything. It was so much fun. We should’ve been doing it during COVID, ’cause honestly, it’s perfect.

David Read:
Make hay while the COVID sun is killing all of us.

Kate Hewlett:
Yes.

David Read:
Geez, man.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s the perfect COVID show, in a way. But we don’t have any plans, we’ve both been so busy.

David Read:
And you’re not gonna be busy at all in the future here.

Kate Hewlett:
And now I’ve gotta step back for 17, 18 years. I’m so busy right now, though, I can’t even, I’m trying to pack everything in now.

David Read:
I don’t blame you, ’cause once it starts, it’s like, “Oop, here we go.”

Kate Hewlett:
My gosh. Do you have kids?

David Read:
No.

Kate Hewlett:
No, you don’t. Do you have nieces, nephews?

David Read:
No. It’s not in the cards for me. I’m blissfully single. I’m an only child. I’ve always been happy in the company of my own thoughts. But I’ve got a lot of friends.

Kate Hewlett:
That’s good, little young friends.

David Read:
I do have to ask you about “The Shrine.” What an amazing episode that Brad Wright wrote. Tearjerker every time I watch it. And you said you were actually having to hold your laughs in while you were making some of it, because it was hard to see David acting like someone who was losing his mind. But, when it’s on screen, when that final edit that they chose, it is completely 100% believable when you two are in the same scene together. Because I’m sure you were able to also get yourself into a space where these kind of things do happen to people.

Kate Hewlett:
Oh, gosh, yeah. I don’t remember actually saying that, because, in fact, the trouble I had was I couldn’t stop crying. We both couldn’t stop crying.

David Read:
Maybe I’m misremembering from another scene, then.

Kate Hewlett:
Maybe, it might’ve been another scene. I had a ton of trouble with laughter in “Miller’s Crossing.” A ton of trouble. Steven Culp and I…

David Read:
Steven Culp.

Kate Hewlett:
… had a giggling problem. Huge giggling problem.

David Read:
I apologize then, ’cause I’m probably misremembering.

Kate Hewlett:
It may have happened, and it may have happened in other scenes, but the scene where I first talk to him and realize how far gone he is, and we have that whole scene where he recognizes me. That scene, I couldn’t read it without crying. And when we did the blocking, I’ve since learned, “Don’t act in the blocking. Just say the lines in the blocking.” But when we did the blocking, I was bawling.

David Read:
Can’t help it sometimes.

Kate Hewlett:
Couldn’t help it, and he was really emotional, and so, it was almost like we had to… no one wants to watch the two of you be like, “Weh…” that’s not the story.

David Read:
That’s not the story.

Kate Hewlett:
And I’m trying to hold it together. That was the issue I had with that scene. And then I’m sure… I always have giggling problems, so I’m sure there were other scenes. But I think anything where he was doing that, the memory loss and all of that, it was really hard to watch. We went through that with our grandmother, both our grandmothers. So, watching someone, someone very sharp…

David Read:
Not be there anymore.

Kate Hewlett:
… not be there anymore is– And it was so beautifully written, like you said. Beautifully written.

David Read:
Brad poured his heart into that. And you could tell that he was hitting something that was really truthful.

Kate Hewlett:
He’s an exquisite writer, as well. He’s so talented.

David Read:
That man can put two people in a room together and just make you feel anything for ‘em. And that was an episode where you really got to… I mean, you went on a mission. You were really a part of that Stargate operations team in that episode.

Kate Hewlett:
Got to wear the uniform.

David Read:
Exactly. You got to… How cool was that?

Kate Hewlett:
Unbelievable.

David Read:
And some scenes with Jason Momoa and… I detected that there almost could have been a thing between the two of them, had Jeannie not been married.

Kate Hewlett:
Tell me more about it. Believe me, I tried to pitch this. “So, what if… I love Brendan to pieces, but what if, for instance…”

David Read:
What if he died?

Kate Hewlett:
“…he exploded?” I wondered if they were going to do a Jason Momoa romance or something. Because it would have been… Also, it would have really irked Rodney.

David Read:
Absolutely. Were she not taken, it would have made total sense.

Kate Hewlett:
We did hug, though. We did hug. There’s photographic evidence.

David Read:
Brent and Jonas wanted to know, “Would you be open to returning to Stargate in a potential fourth series?”

Kate Hewlett:
Nah.

David Read:
Come on! Brad’s trying to get it off the ground.

Kate Hewlett:
Is he? I would love to, obviously. And I think the world needs Stargate right now. It’s sort of not…

David Read:
More optimistic sci-fi.

Kate Hewlett:
… not bleak sci-fi. I think the bleak stuff is hard right now. I don’t think Ted Lasso would have been such a massive hit three years ago as it is now, because it’s just joy. People want joy and optimism and smart optimism.

David Read:
Shows are definitely products of their time, but it’s because it takes a little while for things to ripple, for things to get into production. So, things like that catch people at a time where it’s like, “You know what? I really need this now.” Ted Lasso is a case in point. But it’s an excellent time for programming, especially television, where we’re getting all these serialized dramas now. These novels are coming to life.

Kate Hewlett:
Absolutely. I know, I’ve seen some amazing stuff lately.

David Read:
What have you been watching?

Kate Hewlett:
I watched The Dig. Have you seen The Dig?

David Read:
I’ve heard about this. So, it’s good?

Kate Hewlett:
It’s a movie. It’s not a TV series or anything.

David Read:
Oh, OK.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s beautiful. It reminded me of Remains of the Day or something like that. It’s very slow, but very intriguing and very… Slow in a beautiful way. And Ralph Fiennes is amazing, Carey Mulligan is amazing.

David Read:
He’s always good.

Kate Hewlett:
The little kid is amazing. It’s a beautiful movie. Really beautiful movie. And The Trial of the Chicago 7 I loved as well.

David Read:
Trial of the Chicago 7. OK.

Kate Hewlett:
Loved that.

David Read:
I’ll check it out.

Kate Hewlett:
And it’s been a while since I’ve seen good movies, so it was nice to see a couple of good movies.

David Read:
Have you seen The Grand Budapest Hotel?

Kate Hewlett:
Ages ago.

David Read:
OK. ‘Cause Ralph Fiennes, you said. Texturally, it reminds me very much of A Dog’s Breakfast, in terms of the emotions that you leave with it. That is top three favorite movies of mine.

Kate Hewlett:
Incredible.

David Read:
And right now… See The Grand Budapest Hotel, people, if you haven’t seen it.

Kate Hewlett:
Gotta see it.

David Read:
Because it’s a great film to watch, especially now.

Kate Hewlett:
So smart, so funny, so quick.

David Read:
He is brilliant.

Kate Hewlett:
Ralph Fiennes is out of this world. But yes, my answer to the Stargate question is, “Yes, of course. I would love nothing more.” I haven’t done sci-fi in so long, and it’d be really fun to return to those characters if we get to do that and see how many kids Jason Momoa and I have and they catch up with us.

David Read:
Madison could probably be working at the SGC by now.

Kate Hewlett:
Seriously.

David Read:
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there’s a Madison Miller specialist working at whatever Stargate base there is. You weren’t a mom yet, but you played a mom well.

Kate Hewlett:
Thank you.

David Read:
No one would have thought.

Kate Hewlett:
That’s all I do. I think I’m a mom in everything I do. It’s so funny. And I was like, “Oh, I’m not one in real life.” I mean, I just came off another show where I’m the mom.

David Read:
What show is this?

Kate Hewlett:
It’s actually… it’s two shows. It’s a really incredible concept. It’s two shows. It’s called The Parker Andersons and Amelia Parker, and one of them is told from the little girl’s perspective, the daughter, and one of them is told through more of the parents’ perspective or the family perspective.

David Read:
It’s two shows?

Kate Hewlett:
Yeah, it’s two shows that… So, there are two pilots, and they tell different stories, but there’s overlap. So, it’s really cool if you watch both episodes. You get little scenes where you’re like, “Oh, that’s what was happening in the other show.”

David Read:
That’s an interesting idea.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s really interesting, it really is. It’s sort of like The Brady Bunch with a mixed-race family. I get married to this wonderful British man, who is a famous soccer player in England, or was a famous soccer player in England. And he moves his whole family over to Chicago, and we move in together. It delves into race a ton, which was really incredible to work on. It’s a comedy, primarily. It’s a half-hour family comedy, but we talked about all kinds of things. And they talked about racial profiling, they talked about small but significant things, like my Black daughter in the show not being able to find makeup at a store, because–

David Read:
No, it’s not a–

Kate Hewlett:
Stuff I never… I will say, I learned a great deal. It’s an entirely BIPOC writers’ room. The showrunner is my friend Anthony Farrell. He wrote on The Office for a couple seasons, and he’s a genius, and he’s showrunning it.

David Read:
Does it have an American pickup, or is it Canadian only, or–

Kate Hewlett:
At the moment, we only have an American…

David Read:
It is American right now.

Kate Hewlett:
… on BYU. They have everything. They have so much programming. I had no idea. We were joking that — I really am joking — but that I’m the Meryl Streep of Mormon television, because I think they have Holly Hobbie, which I’m on. They have Malory Towers, which I wrote. They have this one, and then the show that I was writing from May until October, this awesome comedy, which I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about that yet, but it’s a really fun comedy, same showrunner. It’s a sci-fi comedy.

David Read:
Really? OK.

Kate Hewlett:
It is smart and funny and so much fun. I wrote three episodes of that. Also BYU.

David Read:
I can’t wait to see some of this stuff. I definitely am interested in this. Parker Andersons/Amelia Parker, does that have a release date yet?

Kate Hewlett:
Not officially. But I will say it’s happening fast. Faster than I would have anticipated.

David Read:
A lot of this stuff has been pushed right through.

Kate Hewlett:
We shot all through the pandemic. It was nuts.

David Read:
How is it realigning and going through a lot of this extra procedural stuff in order to make sure that everyone’s safe? Joe Flanigan talked about it a little bit. Martin Wood also talked about it. Everyone’s wearing watches to keep distance between themselves. How has it been shooting through the pandemic?

Kate Hewlett:
Everyone’s wearing watches to keep distance between themselves?

David Read:
Martin Wood on his set, they wore some proximity watches.

Kate Hewlett:
I was like, “Do people hate watches?” People are like, “Ugh.”

David Read:
It has a proximity alarm inside of it.

Kate Hewlett:
That’s crazy. That’s brilliant. It was really hard. I was really anxious. You kind of forget about it during the day because you have to, on the acting side of it, you have to be normal. There’s no proximity alarms when you’re acting, so it was hard. But they did a good job. Everyone was learning together, and the producer, Jim Corston, did a really good job. And any time I had an issue, he was on it right away. ‘Cause it’s hard to test everyone and to get it all organized and coordinated. And you’re casting day players and guest stars, and, “Did that person get tested, and when did they get tested?” And then background performers. It was a lot, but they did a good job. It was stressful though.

David Read:
You’re working. Not a lot of people in LA can say that, and that’s–

Kate Hewlett:
I was lucky this year. I worked all through the year, and I cannot complain about anything. I was working straight through from May ’til the end of the year.

David Read:
That’s great. Kate, I am so excited for you.

Kate Hewlett:
Thank you.

David Read:
And everything that’s gonna be coming your way. You deserve nothing but the best.

Kate Hewlett:
That’s very nice.

David Read:
Really looking forward to the… Is it a miniseries? Is it a limited series?

Kate Hewlett:
No, it’s a family… You mean, the one–

David Read:
Parker Andersons/Amelia Parker.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s 20 episodes…

David Read:
Oh, it is?

Kate Hewlett:
… with ten for each show. And it’s regular TV, half-hour.

David Read:
All right. Really looking forward to catching it out… checking it out. Geez, man.

Kate Hewlett:
Thank you.

David Read:
My words.

Kate Hewlett:
Watch a couple of episodes, because it gets more and more… It delves into stuff more deeply as it goes. I was really impressed with that.

David Read:
It unpacks a little bit slower?

Kate Hewlett:
Yeah.

David Read:
That’s the thing about modern television that I just love. If you’re willing to take the long haul. That’s great stuff.

Kate Hewlett:
Lovely acting from… The kids were lovely. Arnold Pinnock. I don’t know if you know Arnold Pinnock. He plays my husband, and he’s really talented.

David Read:
We’ll check them out.

Kate Hewlett:
I just got so sleepy.

David Read:
And you had mentioned that you’re writing a pilot right now, is that correct?

Kate Hewlett:
Yes, my writing partner, Andrew Musselman, and I — long-time friend, grade nine — we sold a pilot to a big studio in the States, and we’ve been working on it. It’s really, really fun. It’s very silly, but also delves into some real issues. And as soon as I’m allowed to talk about it, I will. We have a very exciting attachment as well. We’ll see what happens in 2021.

David Read:
And this has a little bit of a sci-fi– You what now?

Kate Hewlett:
No, no, no sci-fi for that one at all.

David Read:
This one does not have the sci– OK.

Kate Hewlett:
But what it does have is quite a lot of music. And it’s very hard to do singing right now because of COVID. So, it’s the last thing. When things hopefully do get somewhat normal, then it would be awesome to make this show, ’cause it’s really, really fun.

David Read:
I’m glad to hear that they’re still moving forward with projects that…

Kate Hewlett:
Yes.

David Read:
… are still pushing, that are not ideal, based on COVID at least, but you know what? We have to have content like that. Glee ran for how many seasons? I’m not saying that your show is Glee, but we need to have shows that have a lot of that kind of content in it.

Kate Hewlett:
It is a musical comedy. It’s a bit… it’s filthy. It’s not for everybody.

David Read:
So, the kids have to go to bed before we put it on.

Kate Hewlett:
Yes, they might.

David Read:
It’s been great catching up with you.

Kate Hewlett:
You too. And I have to ask about whatever’s going on behind you, which is terrifying.

David Read:
We got Atlantis over here. So, these are all fan creations that have been submitted…

Kate Hewlett:
Oh my God, really?

David Read:
… for the show. A guy by the name of Kevin made Atlantis, a guy by the name of Tom created Destiny just now. Just got that in last week.

Kate Hewlett:
Beautiful.

David Read:
It’s a whole menagerie, and then there’s some genuine props from the show, like this guy right here was originally created for Atlantis Season Five, and then the helmet and the new paint job for SGU Seasons One and Two. It’s nice–

Kate Hewlett:
I thought it was a lady.

David Read:
Huh?

Kate Hewlett:
I thought it was a lady because of the bra.

David Read:
It’s a bra? Oh, the chest plate. That’s great.

Kate Hewlett:
When I first looked at it, I was like, “Oh, she’s wearing a bikini.” No.

David Read:
Brian J. Smith’s costume.

Kate Hewlett:
It’s absolutely stunning.

David Read:
Thank you very much.

Kate Hewlett:
How much does that weigh?

David Read:
It’s not light. I would have to say, with the mannequin inside of it, he’s at least 60 kilos. I think if…

Kate Hewlett:
I just saw the face.

David Read:
… my math is right. ‘Cause it’s around 120 pounds, 130. It’s a lot of armor and– You what now?

Kate Hewlett:
I didn’t see the face until you just said that, and I just had a slight terrif… that was terrifying.

David Read:
There’s a mannequin in there.

Kate Hewlett:
A mannequin? Have you ever seen Pin?

David Read:
Pen? No.

Kate Hewlett:
Pin.

David Read:
Pin? No. What is that?

Kate Hewlett:
Oh, Lord.

David Read:
P-I-N?

Kate Hewlett:
You are welcome. Pin was David’s first movie.

David Read:
Why haven’t I even heard of it?

Kate Hewlett:
It’s kind of a cult classic.

David Read:
Plastic Nightmare. Canadian horror film by Sandor Stern, starring David Hewlett and Terry O’Quinn. “A life-sized anatomically correct medical dummy in his office, which he calls Pin.” Eww! OK, I’ll check it out. I will.

Kate Hewlett:
And he has a very special relationship with it.

David Read:
Fantastic! That sounds just about right.

Kate Hewlett:
And that’s what that made me think of.

David Read:
My gosh.

Kate Hewlett:
Go check that movie out.

David Read:
These anatomically correct dolls that they have now are just absolutely outrageous. And the stuff that people do with them…

Kate Hewlett:
David was 18 or something when he did…

David Read:
He was a kid.

Kate Hewlett:
… the feature, and he got the lead. And he looks like Jude Law.

David Read:
OK. I’ll check him out.

Kate Hewlett:
He’s beautiful. He’s this little beautiful blond–

David Read:
I’ve seen pictures that he had posted on his Facebook or somewhere, pictures of him when he was little. I’m like, “That looks like Baz,” but it’s not Baz.

Kate Hewlett:
I know. It’s really weird.

David Read:
It’s his little clone.

Kate Hewlett:
Before he was a character actor. He made a decision to be a character actor. He really did.

David Read:
It’s fun to play a niche of yourself that is more off the wall. You’re gonna have more fun. He’s definitely… managed to be… [unintelligible]. I can’t talk today, Kate.

Kate Hewlett:
I know, it’s hard enough.

David Read:
He definitely managed to do what he’s wanted to do. I just watched the Navy film that he was in, where he was…

Kate Hewlett:
I haven’t seen that yet.

David Read:
… he was a general. It was excellent.

Kate Hewlett:
Oh, OK.

David Read:
I’m trying to remember the name of it, but it is worth watching.

Kate Hewlett:
Big director. It had a big director.

David Read:
Yes. It was Michael Bay. Wasn’t it Michael Bay? Now I’ve gotta look.

Kate Hewlett:
I gotta look, too. People at home are yelling at the screen right now.

David Read:
I know. Exactly.

Kate Hewlett:
What is it called?

David Read:
I don’t know.

Kate Hewlett:
I just spelled my brother’s name wrong.

David Read:
There you go.

Kate Hewlett:
There you go.

David Read:
No, it’s not Spice.

Kate Hewlett:
Humility.

David Read:
Midway.

Kate Hewlett:
Midway.

David Read:
Yeah. Roland Emmerich, excuse me. Not Michael Bay.

Kate Hewlett:
I didn’t think it was Michael Bay.

David Read:
I was thinking action actor, but no. He had an interesting… ’cause Roland directed Stargate, so he had a really interesting… Very cool. I will check out Pin.

Kate Hewlett:
You must.

David Read:
I will.

Kate Hewlett:
You simply must.

David Read:
I just saw Cube four years ago, and it was fantastic.

Kate Hewlett:
Cube’s awesome. Pin’s awesome.

David Read:
It was sad, a sad ending, but…

Kate Hewlett:
It was sad, but it was really excellent. Vincenzo Natali.

David Read:
Oh, man.

Kate Hewlett:
But Pin’s worth watching. It’s creepy as anything.

David Read:
Creepy is good. Gotta have a little creepy every now and then.

Kate Hewlett:
David’s creepy.

David Read:
I would love to have you back way later on in the year when you get into a new rhythm, and I’d like to go into more detail about some of the other episodes.

Kate Hewlett:
Sure. Hopefully I’ll have a little person with me.

David Read:
Absolutely, yes. See the baby. Thanks so much to Kate Hewlett for joining me in this episode of Dial the Gate, and congratulations once again to her. In the spirit of Jeannie Miller, we’ve got some fan art from cptnsuz. This title is Christmas Countdown ’17, so I guess she did a whole series for Christmas season. And the caption is, “Jeannie Miller is rightfully suspicious of any president Rodney would sign as Uncle Mer.” I saw that on DeviantArt and thought it was extremely cute, so I had to share that with you guys. Giveaway for the month of M… February. Excuse me, I was like, “March? Is it March yet?” No. Giveaway for the month of February. You can own a piece of the Pegasus Dial Home Device. For the month of February, Dial the Gate is partnering with Empire Movie Props to give away this piece of the DHD from the episode “Phantoms” in Stargate Atlantis. To enter to win, you need to use a desktop or laptop computer to visit dialthegate.com. Scroll down to Submit Trivia Questions. Your trivia that you enter may be used in a future episode of Dial the Gate, either for our monthly trivia night or for a special guest to ask me in a round of trivia. There are three slots for trivia, one easy, one medium, and one hard. Only one needs to be filled in, but you’re more than welcome to submit up to three questions. Please note, the submission form does not currently work for mobile devices. Your trivia must be received no later than March 1st. If you’re the lucky winner, I’ll be notifying you via your email right after the start of the new year to get your address. And big thanks to Empire Movie Props for making this item available to a member of our audience. Merchandise. Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free, but we do appreciate you watching. And if you want to support the show further, buy yourself some of our themed swag. We’re now offering T-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts, and hoodies for all ages in a variety of sizes and colors at RedBubble. We currently offer four themed designs and hope to add more in the future. The word cloud designs have both solid background or transparent background options, so you have some flexibility in choosing a light or dark color. Do keep that in mind when you’re making your selection. Checkout is fast and easy, and you can even use your Amazon or PayPal account. Just visit dialthegate.redbubble.com. And thank you for your support. If you don’t wanna buy some merchandise, it really means a great deal to me if you click the Like button and consider subscribing to the show. YouTube’s algorithm promotes the different channels based on those kinds of inputs, so it really does make a huge difference. Richard Johns from Empire Movie Props is a live interview, and that is coming up next, right here on Dial the Gate. I do appreciate your time. Thanks so much to Sommer, Ian, Tracy, Keith, Jeremy, Rhys. You guys are fantastic. My moderating team, Jennifer Kirby, and Linda “The GateGabber” Furey, my right hand. I really appreciate you joining me on Dial the Gate and stick around for the next episode. See you on the other side.