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Home » Blogs » Sarah Warn's blog » Reiko Aylesworth cast as Ming-Na's life partner on "Stargate Universe"

Reiko Aylesworth cast as Ming-Na's life partner on "Stargate Universe"

by
Sarah Warn

With its October premiere date approaching, new info is starting to emerge about Stargate Universe, the Syfy channel's latest Stargate spinoff. Here's the official description of the show:

SGU follows a band of soldiers, scientists and civilians, who must fend for themselves as they are forced through a Stargate when their hidden base comes under attack. The desperate survivors emerge aboard an ancient ship, which is locked on an unknown course and unable to return to Earth. 

Faced with meeting the most basic needs of food, water and air, the group must unlock the secrets of the ship's Stargate to survive.  The danger, adventure and hope they find on board the Destiny will reveal the heroes and villains among them.

Yes, it sounds a lot like Star Trek Voyager, but since I liked that series, I'm not complaining (yet).

In April we reported that the series would include a leading lesbian character named Camille, played by Ming-Na (Vanished, ER, The Joy Luck Club), who has a long-term partner back on Earth.

Last week, consulting producer Joseph Mallozzi revealed on his blog that Camille's long-term, life partner, Sharon, will be played by Reiko Aylesworth in episode 7 ("Life").

Aylesworth as Michelle on 24 (left); at the 2008 JCPenney Asian Excellence Awards

Most people know Aylesworth — an Evanston, IL native of Dutch, Welsh, and Japanese ancestry, who studied neuroscience at the University of Washington before acting became her full-time profession — from her long-running role as Michelle on 24, but she has guest-starred on several series since then (including Lost and CSI, and is currently doing theater in New York.

Aylesworth's SGU character Sharon was described in the casting call as a lead guest character, possibly recurring, who is "Sensitive, soulful" and will be asked to do "strong emotional scenes."

In the casting sides we've seen, Camille and Sharon share dinner, kisses, and a tearful conversation when they briefly re-unite via a long-range communications device that allows the stranded crew members to make a short visit home.

We finally know more about Ming-Na's character. Here's Camille's bio on the show's new official site:

Human resources executive Wray finds herself the highest ranking member of the International Oversight Committee (IOA) onboard the Destiny.  Like many of those stranded on the ship, she is devastated by the separation from loved ones back on earth.

There are several short video interviews with Ming-Na on the site about the her role on the show, and this pic of her in character:

Syfy has begun to run short promos for the series, like this one:

It's unlikely that Camille and Sharon will have much screen time, since the point of the show is that the group is stranded on the other side of the galaxy, but it looks like we'll see a lot of Camille on the series. That's no small thing since she's the first lesbian in a lead role on a Stargate series, and the first Asian American lesbian on any primetime broadcast or basic cable show in America, and both milestones are long overdue.

What do you think of the Ming-Na/Aylesworth pairing?

Thanks to AE reader Aled for the tip!

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    • Submitted by
    Sarah Warn
    on July 14, 2009 - 5:00pm.
    TAGS :: 
    eohl's picture

    I've noticed ...

    Submitted by
    eohl (137 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 5:13pm.
    I've noticed SG's way of 'borrowing' ideas and concepts. That said, I'll be watching :)

    Regarding the Ming-Na/Aylesworth pairing? About time!

    I’ll withhold all other comments until I’ve watched at least a few episodes when it is released.
    living695life's picture

    awesome

    Submitted by
    living695life (14 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 5:20pm.
    awesome! i love Ming-Na
    desiree.lourenco's picture

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    Submitted by
    desiree.lourenco (1 post)
    on July 14, 2009 - 5:26pm.

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    Julie_328's picture

    Nice

    Submitted by
    Julie_328 (19 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 5:30pm.
    Not a Stargate watcher, but maybe I'll have a look.  Liked Reiko Aylesworth in 24, this Camille character sounds interesting, and very glad about the milestones reached (first asian-american lesbian, etc.) 
    Mara's picture

    Yay for the pairing!

    Submitted by
    Mara (1184 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 5:44pm.

    It's about time!

    Will they have any screen time together at all? Flashbacks? X-rated dreams?

    _ _ _ _ _

    "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." (Dr. Seuss)

    Penny Winterr's picture

    Ooh, Reiko

    Submitted by
    Penny Winterr (728 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 5:56pm.

    Reiko is super delicious.  It's too bad the couple can't be together on the show.  Sigh.  I lost interest in SG-1 many years ago, and never got into Atlantis, but I'll check this show out. 

    Masika's picture

    Reiko is all that and more

    Submitted by
    Masika (3 posts)
    on November 20, 2009 - 10:16pm.
    It's too bad we won't get to see very much of them together, maybe they can write and episode where an Ancient transports Sharon to Destiny to be reunited with her wife Camile *VBG* Life was a nice glimpse into their relationship, but not enough skin as we saw with Hetgirl Lisa, even Chloe had less clothes and she was doing yoga.
    Annie's picture

    omg i love reiko and will

    Submitted by
    Annie (27 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 6:29pm.
    omg i love reiko and will probably have to watch just for her! will it matter that i have no idea what this series is about and have never seen anything remotely sci-fi (except for her awful movie on the scifi channel a few years back about volcanoes)?
    KJaneway's picture

    Don't wanna sound pessimistic, but...

    Submitted by
    KJaneway (28 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 8:08pm.

    Honestly, with that pitch, I am not sure SGU has a lot of chances to survive.

     The SG universe was always about the aliens, and the incredibly comprehensive and complex universe. It was also about introducing humor and mankind fallibility to sci-fi. It was more about discovery than personal stories...

     

    SGU seems to be making that mistake from episode 1. And honestly, it's because Atlantis turned up to be a pretty bad sci-fi version of "Lost" that it failed at attracting people.

     

    I don't think SGU looks anything like "Voyager". It looks like a badly revamped cross over between a TV version of "The Cube", and "Lost".

     

    As for Ming Na's character's GF, I second others' opinion: I doubt she will have much screen time. 

     

    http://aceylounge.blogspot.com

    Luna's picture

    Wow I hope the show isn't as

    Submitted by
    Luna (356 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 8:29pm.
    Wow I hope the show isn't as lame as that trailer because that was pathetic.
    shortypants's picture

    Reiko>>

    Submitted by
    shortypants (500 posts)
    on July 14, 2009 - 8:43pm.

     

    Didn't she used to play 'Rebecca' on 'One Life To LIve' back in the day?

    mind_numbing_pain's picture

    yep

    Submitted by
    mind_numbing_pain (70 posts)
    on July 15, 2009 - 1:05am.
    yes she did.
    shelby's picture

    Oh goodie

    Submitted by
    shelby (148 posts)
    on July 15, 2009 - 1:00am.

    Although I applaud Sci-Fi and Soaps for being the only two genre's what bother with diverse characters, especially LGBT ones, I find it hard to believe that this character will have much in the way of a lesbian love life on camera with her soulmate light years away.

    Great casting - strong actors - but it would be nice to have two characters who want to be together share real screen time once and a while.

     

    mind_numbing_pain's picture

    I'm on the fence

    Submitted by
    mind_numbing_pain (70 posts)
    on July 15, 2009 - 1:16am.

    Use to be an avid SG-1 watcher. Tried out Atlantis for a few season. I stopped watching Sg1 and Atlantis about a year before teh series ended and I have no clue how things were left. 

    I really think they should have just left the Stargate franchise die off after Atlantis. I wasn't even too thrilled about Atlantis, it was like the Enterprise of the Stargate franchise

    So I may watch this I may not. Not a big fan of Ming-Na she always seemed like she was trying to hard to be tough... or at least thats how her characters are written.

    I dont even like the fact that Stargate is jumping on the 'lets add a gay/lesbian character to our mix' bandwagon. I'm all for equalness but seriously, what's really the point of having a lesbian character with a partner if one is half way across the galaxy stuck on a ship. *sighs* 

    Perhaps theres hopes of her getting involved or some having some kinda sexual tension with another crew member... a female crew member. 

     

     

    hannahro's picture

    I'll give SG:U a try...but I

    Submitted by
    hannahro (23 posts)
    on July 15, 2009 - 8:29am.
    I'll give SG:U a try...but I don't think it can live up to SG-1. 
    Amelia's picture

    The stargate franchise

    Submitted by
    Amelia (14 posts)
    on July 15, 2009 - 9:33am.

    The stargate franchise always starts out with promising female characters but unfortunately, the writers seem to loose interest in any long-term development.

    Atlantis started our promising (the team was lead by Dr Elizabeth Weir so it was interesting to see a civilian woman in charge of the military operation) but it quickly deteriorated into the John and McKay show and everything from that point became about them and I got bored lol

    The last few seasons of Stargate were pretty painful. The only reason I kept watching was cos of the genius that is Claudia Black.

    I’m sceptical about SGU but I like Ming-Na so I’ll probably give it a go anyway.

    hannahro's picture

    what about sam carter?

    Submitted by
    hannahro (23 posts)
    on July 15, 2009 - 6:43pm.

    For the first 8 seasons of SG-1 at least, Capt./Maj. Sam Carter was an awesomely strong female character!  (And the object of my most intense crush on a fictional person).

    But I totally agree about Atlantis...Weir only had a few faces that she made, and Tayla could have been so great as the strong female warrior, but was underdeveloped as a character.  And then she became a whiney preganant woman at the point I gave up on Atlantis.  Though I adore Samantha Carter, I could barely watch (well I watched on mute) her appearances on Atlantis since she was reduced to a figurehead and lost her scientific and military interests just rubberstamping McKay and Sheppard's decisions.

    I will give SG:U a shot, Ming-Na is a great actress from what I remember of her ER days, and becuase I have hope that the writers may just possibly recreate the excitement of SG-1.

    AcePitcher's picture

    Ming-na

    Submitted by
    AcePitcher (61 posts)
    on July 15, 2009 - 11:33pm.

    Yay! she's back! loved her since ER and Final Fantasy; watched her in Push and now she got a new show!

    will wait for this show!

    trexkitten's picture

    I'm a Sci-Fi Nerd!

    Submitted by
    trexkitten (2 posts)
    on August 15, 2009 - 3:15am.
    Honestly I care more about the "New Stargate" part than the "Lesbian character" part. Sure, I'm glad that there going to have another gay character on TV. But frankly, with the exception of the character development necessary to ensure we want the main cast to prevail over the often way cooler enemy forces, Sci-Fi is action not drama based. And therefore, any romantic pairings that spring up will always play second fiddle to the job at hand. As they should!

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