Jewel Staite

David Hewlett has played the arrogant and often irritating Rodney McKay on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis since 2002. As the series comes to an end Friday (9 pm/ET, Sci Fi), David reminisced with TVGuide.com about his adventures playing the obnoxious McKay, what is was like smooching pal and cast mate Jewel Staite (Dr. Jennifer Keller) and the possibility of appearing in the upcoming Stargate movie.

TVGuide.com: I spoke to your costar Jewel Staite—
David Hewlett: She's a liar. Everything she says, absolute lies! Don't believe a word of it!

TVGuide.com: Good to know because she said kissing you [on the show] was kind of torturous because you're more like a brother.
Hewlett: (Laughs) OK, that's kind of true! We're kind of like Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show. You know, the two old guys in the top balcony? That's basically Jewel and I on set. Basically the ones standing there cutting up everybody on set and saying how stupid our jobs, our lives and the world is. And, we take great glee in that and usually end up cracking each other up and hopefully the people around us as well. But all the sudden [the producers] said, "You guys are in a relationship." And we were like, "What?!" The best way, honestly, to do a romantic scene in anything is... read more 24 Comments

Stargate Atlantis is coming to an end on Jan. 9, and before Stargate fans blast off into the new Universe series (beginning with a two-hour movie early in 2009), TVGuide.com asked Jewel Staite to help us countdown to the end of Atlantis by telling us what it was like to play Dr. Jennifer Keller, who she bonded with most in the cast and much more.

TVGuide.com: Congrats on your Gemini Award (Canadian version of Emmys) nomination! Can you tell us about your experience filming the episode "Missing," and did you know it was special right away?
Jewel Staite: Well, I knew it was freezing cold and rainy right away! This was the first "Keller-heavy" episode we filmed, so I was excited that I finally could do some serious acting-in-peril, which is secretly every actor's fantasy. But the whole episode was shot outside in the forest, and it wasn't exactly summer time, so there were a lot of layers involved — and I mean thermal layers, not acting layers! Luckily, Rachel Luttrell (Teyla), who co-starred with me in that episode, is such a joy to work with, and she has a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor that kept me going during those long days. I'm so pleased I was nominated for that episode, but a lot of the credit goes to the director, Andy Mikita, who has such a way with actors; he just lets you run with it and trust your own instincts, and I think that's why a lot of actors in his episodes tend to shine a bit more than usual. So, thanks, Andy!

TVGuide.com: On Firefly, you played an ultra-sweet (reluctant) tomboy — what did you like most about now playing a very brainy beauty, Dr. Keller?

Read more after the jump! read more 16 Comments