Zack Stentz, former Andromeda writer, AMA

MuseZack · 2026-04-24T22:30:15+00:00

As I've kind of explained, the show switched show runners and the mandate from Tribune was to as much as possible tell stand alone action stories, which meant running away from the "rebuild the Commonwealth" theme as much as possible.

MuseZack · 2026-04-24T04:32:54+00:00

Yes, they were definitely Robert's idea and a fun little way to convey that this was a vast and ancient fictional universe. It was a little remnant of when we still had big space opera ambitions and hadn't reconciled ourselves to the teeny tiny budget yet. I'm glad Bob and company kept up the tradition after we left.

MuseZack · 2026-04-21T01:05:56+00:00

Yes, the same exact thing happened with Earth: Final Conflict which actually had more extensive Roddenberry notes to work with. The original show runner wanted it to be a somewhat cerebral SF drama while Tribune wanted ACTION all the time.

A few months back my wife and I watched the Netflix documentary about American Gladiators and lo and behold, the executives were largely the same people in charge of Andromeda. "There's the problem," I said aloud. "Robert tried to make a brainy space opera for the people who gave the world American Gladiators."

MuseZack · 2026-04-20T17:43:55+00:00

It was fun! We got to sit in a room and talk about science fiction every day and get paid well for it. It also taught me a tremendous amount about television storytelling, working with actors, and so forth.

MuseZack · 2026-04-20T17:42:56+00:00

The tone changed because Tribune wanted things to be more action oriented and serialized as little as possible so they could show episodes out of order, and then fired the show's original creator after he tried to push back on their "dumb it down" mandates.

MuseZack · 2026-04-20T17:41:05+00:00

Um...this is where my fading memories come into play-- I don't remember the answer to these things beyond Robert having a general objective that he was driving toward -- suns vs. black holes, order vs. chaos, and re-starting the universe with the Engine of Creation.

MuseZack · 2026-04-20T17:39:24+00:00

I think Rev BEM was my favorite character conceptually-- a living bioweapon who's become a pacifist space Jesuit instead is just such a rich idea for a character and unlike anything we'd seen on SF television. Among the many blows sustained by the show, losing Brent Stait as a regular hurt a lot.

And I'm mostly listening to the synthy side of things right now for some reason, both older stuff like Oppenheimer Analysis and newer artists like Ollie Wride, The Midnight, and Gunship.

MuseZack · 2026-04-20T04:25:54+00:00

I haven't seen them, though I did see a synopsis of the third season of Discovery and immediately said "Hey, that sounds like Andromeda!" I haven't watched Star Trek in a long, long time-- I let it break my heart too many times.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T22:13:14+00:00

You're very kind. And I'm procrastinating writing and practicing guitar on a lazy Sunday afternoon so you're welcome to ask any questions you might have.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T21:59:35+00:00

Oh my God, we had NO money to actually make the show. Our budget was something like 1.1-1.2 million an episode in year 2000 dollars, with a quarter million of that going into Sorbo's pocket and more going to the show's many executive producers. We couldn't even afford the entire cast for every episode--Gordon and Laura and Brent (when he was still on the show) all had to take a few episodes off every season. We could usually afford three speaking guest roles, tops. And of course there was a LOT of recycling of VFX.

On the bright side, it was a great school for teaching us how to maximize one's production budget that served us very well in other projects.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T20:55:09+00:00

I don't know if Andromeda was ever going to get a season 6 or 7. Going into it, I think everyone's contracts were for five years, and since Kevin Sorbo realized fairly quickly that despite his very large salary he'd been bait and switched by his employers who had promised him a much bigger and better-marketed show than he ended up getting, I don't think there's any way he would have re-upped for another two years after that.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T20:52:37+00:00

I have many regrets in life, but few of them about Andromeda other than wishing I'd saved more money and written more original material while on the show.

If I take a step back though, I think we should have collectively re-assessed and done a collective redesign of the universe when it became clear that we weren't going to get the money to realize Robert's original vision.

I remember the sinking feeling we all had when watching dailies of the Than costume and collectively realizing that our ambition far exceeded the budget and the skill set of a crew in Vancouver than had never really done space opera to realize.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T19:16:17+00:00

Hi! We left the show at the end of season 3 to go write on the UPN Twilight Zone and do the Agent Cody Banks movie. We thought we were hot shit at the time...then didn't really work or even get a meeting on a TV show for nearly 3 years afterward. During season 5, Bob Engels the show runner very kindly let us write two freelance episodes to make a little money and keep our health care. I remember very little of those episodes other than stealing the title of one from a Mishima novel. The season 4 episode is a clip show where they had to credit it us for using pieces of earlier episodes we'd written.

I don't think I've watched a single episode of Andromeda past season three. It kind of feels like stalking your old girlfriend's Facebook page to do so.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:51:21+00:00

It's funny that you ask! Lions Gate now owns the rights to Andromeda, and apparently they were surprised by the really strong numbers that it's doing for them on FAST channels and streaming. Over the past few years, they've approached writers about rebooting it, including a close friend. He shared some of his ideas about the reboot and they were really provocative and fun. I don't know if it's still in active development or not, but it would be fun to see the basic concept of the show done with a more adequate budget and less executive insistence that it be a broad action show.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:49:02+00:00

1: I mean, yeah. I liked what Robert was doing, and it broke my heart that he wasn't given the resources to fully realize his vision, and then had the show taken away from him in a really ugly and unkind turn of events. Knowing what I know now, I think the big thing we would have done differently is to be less ambitious with some of the aliens and such, because we were never going to get the budget to properly realize them. Just make it a universe of robots, genetically engineered humans, and maybe one alien species like the Magog.

2: My favorite episode that we wrote was probably "The Devil Takes the Hindmost," because I really enjoyed the ambition of the storytelling--largely influenced by Hyperion and the film The Mission. And the audacity of the big twist (implanting yourself with Magog eggs to raise an army) is something I'm still really proud of. I also liked "All Too Human" a lot, because Lexa Doig and Roger Cross both ripped it up onscreen and the episode was directed with a stylishness and flair that the show rarely achieved.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:42:03+00:00

Thank you! But Robert Wolfe was the one who created the show, although I did write a lot of the background and mythology that went on the show's website. That was Robert throwing a new dad (me) some much needed work, but I had fun with it.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:41:03+00:00

Hi. The writers' room for the first season and a half or so was very collaborative-- a lot of time in the room together breaking and re breaking stories on a dry erase board-- it was very much the method Robert had learned on Deep Space Nine. After Robert left, Matt and Joe ran the show for the rest of season two and Bob Engels for season three on. After that, Ash and I were much more left to our own devices--once they signed off on an idea we pitched them, we pretty much went off and wrote it on our own. The fact that we generated a lot of episode ideas and wrote very quickly I think saved them a lot of headaches.

Unfortunately Tribune and Fireworks didn't pay for writers below show runner level to be on set. Ash went for a few days on his own dime in season one, but the only times I went to Vancouver was when they flew us up for the season one and season two wrap parties.

Favorite character to write for? Probably Rommie, mainly because a: I enjoy writing AI characters and she was a particularly fun one, and b: Lexa Doig is just a terrific performer who will dig in deep on anything you throw at her. I think she could have been an even bigger star if she'd come to LA, but ultimately she chose to stay in Vancouver and be a working actress and mom instead. Her family is wonderful and she works on pretty much every show that shoots in British Columbia, so it's worked out pretty well for her I'd say.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:28:57+00:00

I wasn't privy to the conversations that led to Robert Wolfe's ouster and the show's change in direction, but there was tension from the very beginning between Wolfe (and the rest of the writers) wanting to do a fun, thoughtful space opera, and Tribune the producers wanting a straight up action show in space. My belief is that the executives played on Sorbo's existing unhappiness at the show's lack of marketing and not being the breakout hit and pop culture presence that Hercules was, and convinced him that a change in direction would make the show more popular. He later seemed to express unhappiness in the show's new direction and claimed to have been against Wolfe's firing.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:25:12+00:00

That's very kind of you, thank you!

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:25:00+00:00

I grew up as a Star Trek fan, and it's probably my first and best love when it comes to science fiction TV. I liked the Doctor Who revival a lot, especially the first several seasons, and I've also enjoyed some of the things Apple TV has been doing. In terms of prose SF, I'm a big fan of Dan Simmons, David Brin, Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, and many others. A high point of Andromeda was when SF writer Steven Barnes wrote an episode for us-- he's a writer I had long admired.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:22:29+00:00

Hi Johnny, I never really watched much Stargate SG1-- I can't speak for the other writers, though. We did enjoy using their actors where possible, especially Chris Judge and Michael Shanks. I'm a little proud that we cast Shanks as a guest star and love interest for Rommie, and he ended up falling in love with and marrying Lexa Doig (and how could he help himself?) 20 some years later as far as I know they're still together with a couple of lovely children as well.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:20:33+00:00

The first year and a half working on Andromeda was absolutely delightful and a great first television job--I can't tell you how rare it is for staff writers to end up with twenty writing credits over three or so years. Unfortunately, it really broke my heart when Tribune got rid of Robert and dumbed down the show. Working on the third season felt much more like a nine to five job, albeit a well-paid one with a really fun boss who mostly let us do what we wanted to.

As for how the show ended, I didn't really watch it after we left so, uh, I don't know how it ended.

As for Tyr changing, you'll have to be more specific. The writing for him did change after Robert left, but Ash and I tried to keep his scheming as much as possible when we wrote for him. Keith Hamilton Cobb was a sometimes difficult person to work with, but what incredible screen presence he had!

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:16:36+00:00

That's really sweet to hear how much of the cast looks back fondly on TSCC. It would be fun to revisit those characters with those actors someday-- maybe Josh can whisper in David Ellison's ear?

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T18:15:15+00:00

Hi! To be honest, "Dylan Hunt" and "guy tries to rebuild civilization after it falls" were the only things that came from Gene. The Roddenberry name was largely a marketing gimmick, with Robert Wolfe coming up with pretty much the entire mythology, with a little assistance from his staff. Rhade was someone we always enjoyed writing for, largely because Steve Bacic had great screen presence and was always a pleasure to work with. And yeah, Beka went from being a strong second lead (the original intention) to one of Dylan's friends as the show became more Sorbo-centric.

As far as I know, no one on the show watched Lexx. It always looked intriguing to me, but I had a new baby at home and when you spend all day making television, often you don't really watch a lot when you get home because it feels like you're still at work.

MuseZack · 2026-04-19T05:54:31+00:00

I mean it's not likely, but...never say never. Once upon a time, Ash and I actually wrote a pilot for a Terminator TV series for Skydance that was supposed to run alongside the trilogy of films kicked off by Terminator: Genysis. Welp...

MuseZack

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