Conceptual History
Jewel Staite, who plays Dr. Keller, previously played Ellia in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Instinct". Staite was well-known among sci-fi fans for playing Kaylee Frye in the cult series Firefly, and is the third regular Firefly actor to go on to appear in the Stargate franchise. The others were Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb in Firefly) who played Colonel Dave Dixon, and Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra in Firefly) who played Adria.
Executive producer Martin Gero created the character of Jennifer Keller while writing "First Strike". The producers decided to cast Jewel Staite for the role as Keller after they enjoyed working with her previously as Ellia in "Instinct". After Paul McGillion departed from the series as Carson Beckett, Gero wanted Keller not to replace Beckett, but rather fill in for him. Gero also wanted to make Keller's situation endearing if she was uncomfortable in her new position, and didn't want it in the first place. She was also originally created to be a Canadian character, and while fiming the episode, she held a Canadian flag patch. However, because Paul Mullie thought there were already enough Canadian characters in the series (which include Rodney McKay and Chuck), she was turned into an American instead, after filming was completed, so the visual effects team wiped away the Canadian flag and replaced it with a CGI flag of the US.
She was given a recurring status for the fourth season, though the number of episodes she would appear in varied. In October 2006, it was revealed that she would appear in 13 to 15 episodes. However, by February 2007, it was revealed she would appear in eight episodes. By the time the season aired, she appeared in eleven episodes in total. She was promoted to a regular for the fifth season. Reportedly, Staite was eager for her new role as a regular. One of her first roles for the fifth season was "The Seed", where Staite had to be up at 4:00am for an extensive three to four hours with prosthetics.
Read more about this topic: Jennifer Keller
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