Filmjerk.com has released details of the set-up and characters that will make up the new series Stargate: Atlantis.

In the show an international team of scientists and military personnel investigate a newly-discovered ancient city, located on a planet in the Pegasus Galaxy. From this city they are able to enter a whole new Stargate network, and a new enemy, the Wraith.

Casting is now taking place with three major roles waiting to be filled. Leading the team is Doctor Elizabeth Weir, who Stargate fans may recall appeared in the parent show.

This time around a different actress will play her and not Jessica Stein. Dr Weir is described as "attractive, brilliant, and the master of five languages". A fierce critic of the governments military spending, she decided that the best way to fight the system was from within.

Major John Sheppard is a gifted military pilot who is also a closet mathematical genius. He distrusts authority and can be bloody-minded. Luckily his natural charm and common sense mean he's respected.

The third key character is Mikala, a young alien girl who loses her world and her family to the Wraith in the pilot episode. She joins the team to help defeat the Wraith.

Mikala and Major Sheppard are attracted to each other, but both realise the mission must come first.

Stargate: Atlantis begins filming in Vancouver in February 2004. A two-hour movie and twenty episodes will be screened from summer 2004.