Samantha Carter

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Captain Samantha Carter first appears in "Children of the Gods", the pilot episode of Stargate SG-1, as a United States Air Force captain who joined the fictional SG-1 team under the command of Colonel Jack O'Neill. After being promoted to major in Season 3, Carter remains O'Neill's second-in-command until her promotion to lieutenant colonel early in Season 8, at which point she assumes command of the SG-1 team and O'Neill is promoted to brigadier general in order to lead Stargate Command. Between Seasons 8 and 9 of SG-1, following the defeat of the Replicators and downfall of the Goa'uld system lords, she accepts a position as Head of the Stargate Research and Development Program, based in Nevada. She is assigned to Stargate Research and Development at Area 51 when the Ori emerge. Upon her return to Earth, she is reassigned to SG-1, now under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell. Following the defeat of the Ori in Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Carter is promoted to full colonel and appointed as commander of the Atlantis expedition early in Season 4 of Atlantis. Carter is later given command of the Daedalus-class ship, the George Hammond. Before the present-time events of Stargate SG-1, Samantha Carter worked at the Pentagon for several years, trying to get the Stargate operational. She has a Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics and logged over 100 hours in enemy aircraft during the Gulf War. She is the daughter of Major General Jacob Carter, and has a brother named Mark. Her mother died in a car accident when she was a teenager.

In Their Own Story

Holding the rank of captain, Samantha Carter joins the SG-1 team in the pilot episode, "Children of the Gods". She comes under the temporary control of the Tok'ra Jolinar in season 2 and retains many of her memories, leading to an alliance with the Tok'ra against the Goa'uld. Carter's brief merging with Jolinar also assists her in detecting a Goa'uld presence and using certain Goa'uld technology. Carter is promoted to the rank of major early in season 3. When an advanced lie detector shows they are concealing something in early season 4, it forces Carter and her superior officer, Colonel Jack O'Neill, to admit that they care for one another "a lot more than [they're] supposed to". In Exodus (season 4), Carter uses a stargate to destroy a star by dialing the gate on P3W-451, the planet being consumed by a black hole (originally discovered in A Matter of Time), and launching the active stargate into the nearby star; the resulting imbalance in mass causes the star to go supernova and destroy Apophis's fleet. Trapped on board the Earth ship Prometheus in season 7's "Grace", Carter realizes that her feelings for O'Neill stop her from exploring other romances. Two episodes later in Chimera, Carter begins dating her brother's friend Pete Shanahan, but Pete disrespects her privacy and the confidential nature of her work. Pete gaslights her and stalks her until she is forced to disclose her job to him. In the season 8 premiere, "New Order", Carter gets captured by a humanoid Replicator named Fifth she had first encountered in season 6's "Unnatural Selection". Fifth eventually releases her, but keeps a replicator copy of her, known commonly as 'RepliCarter'. Upon O'Neill's promotion to brigadier general in the same episode, he promotes her to lieutenant colonel. Carter assumes command of the SG-1 team, which includes the de-ascended Daniel Jackson, the alien Teal'c, and herself. Shortly after the death of her father in late season 8, Carter breaks up with Pete and goes fishing with Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c to celebrate the defeat of the System Lords. Season 9 reveals that Carter left SG-1 to work at Area 51 after the collapse of the Goa'uld power structure. After Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell assumes command of SG-1, General O'Neill orders Carter to assist SG-1 on a mission concerning the new Ori threat. Carter officially rejoins SG-1 in the season 9 episode "Ex Deus Machina". Samantha Carter appears in the 2008 direct-to-DVD films Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. Lieutenant Colonel Carter makes her first appearance in Stargate Atlantis at the end of its first season (airing in parallel to season 8 of Stargate SG-1), receiving a very brief data transmission from the Atlantis expedition to Earth. The Atlantis character Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett) has a hallucination of Carter which enables him to survive while trapped in a sinking Puddle Jumper in season 2. Lieutenant Colonel Carter approaches McKay's sister Jeannie Miller with an offer to work for Stargate Command in season 3. At an unknown point after the end of the Ori conflict in Stargate SG-1, Carter is promoted to a "full bird" colonel and is transferred to the Midway space station to oversee the final stages of completion. The IOA appoints Carter as the new commander of the Atlantis expedition early in season 4 of Atlantis. Carter finds the Atlantis command experience quite relaxed in terms of military protocol, but enjoys it nonetheless ("Midway"). True to her SG-1 heritage, she conducts herself bravely by actively taking part in missions ("Reunion", "Trio") and protecting and defending those under her command ("Be All My Sins Remember'd", "Search and Rescue"). Carter even builds a more amicable relationship with Dr. Rodney McKay, having put their past tensions aside, and clearly respects Lt. Colonel Sheppard's command and past accomplishments in the Pegasus Galaxy. Carter is recalled to Earth at the end of the first episode of season five for a Tok'ra extraction ceremony concerning the final Ba'al clone (a ceremony witnessed in Stargate: Continuum), followed by an exhaustive first-year command review by the International Oversight Advisory (IOA). Upon arrival, however, Richard Woolsey informs her that the IOA has removed her from command, and that he will be replacing her. As of "Enemy at the Gate", she is the temporary SGC base commander while General Hank Landry is heading a task force based in Washington. After this assignment she is to be made commander of the new Daedalus Class (BC-304) battlecruiser, formerly known as the Phoenix, now named the George Hammond in memory of General George Hammond. Carter is in command of the George Hammond when it ferries personnel from Earth to Icarus Base to witness the latest attempt to dial the ninth chevron. The Hammond attempts to fight off the assault on the base by a fleet of Goa'uld ships that Carter presumes belong to the Lucian Alliance. Although they are unsuccessful in preventing the destruction of the base, they are able to rescue most of the survivors stranded outside, including Colonel David Telford, who was to command the expedition to Destiny. She also appears later in season 1 where she is the officer in charge of the assault on the Lucian Alliance base.

Reader's Guide

Over the course of the two shows, a number of men are in love with, infatuated with, or attracted to, Carter. This includes Jack O'Neill, the Tok'ra Martouf, Dr. Rodney McKay, Fifth, Orlin, Agent Malcolm Barrett, Narim, Pete Shanahan, Dr. Jay Felger, her former fiancé Jonas Hanson, and Joseph Faxon (her duplicitous husband of a possible future in Season 4, episode 16, "2010"). Many of these individuals have (presumably) since died, including: Martouf (and symbiote Lantash); Fifth; Narim; Hanson; and two alternate versions of Jack O'Neill. This has led many of the cast and crew of Stargate SG-1 to humorously nickname her character Samantha "the Black Widow" Carter. Asked why the series never confirmed a relationship between Carter and O'Neill, producer Joseph Mallozzi stated in his blog, "The Sam/Jack relationship was fraught with complications, given that he was her commanding officer. Pursuing any sort of relationship would have been inappropriate for both and would only have really been possible late in the series after Jack's retirement. [...] Jack and Sam could have gotten together after Jack's retirement, but it was never made canon because, quite frankly, it wasn't my call. Still, despite the lack of official confirmation, it was only natural that they should get together after the events of Threads and, in my mind, they have been together ever since. An attempt to suggest as much in [Stargate Atlantis'] season 4's Trio, unfortunately, ended up on the cutting room floor when the episode ran long." In season 9, episode 7, Sam catches up with Malcolm Barrett and tells him that she and Pete had broken up. He asks if she is single, and she responds, "not exactly."

Did You Know?

• Samantha Carter is the character with the most appearances across the entire Stargate franchise, though she ranks second-most — behind Teal'c — in the series Stargate SG-1.
• In season 4's 'Exodus', Carter destroyed a star by dialing a stargate on a planet being consumed by a black hole and launching the active gate into the nearby star, causing a supernova that destroyed Apophis's fleet.
• Carter was temporarily controlled by the Tok'ra Jolinar in season 2, and retained many of Jolinar's memories, which helped her detect Goa'uld presence and use certain Goa'uld technology.
• Producer Joseph Mallozzi stated in his blog that in his mind, Jack and Sam got together after the events of 'Threads', though it was never made canon on screen.
• Carter was nicknamed 'the Black Widow' by cast and crew because many men who were in love with or attracted to her (including Martouf, Fifth, Narim, and Jonas Hanson) died.