| Stargate Universe will be set on the Ancient ship Destiny, which was part of an Ancient experiment to seed the galaxies with Stargates millions of years ago. While a first ship was sent to seed the galaxies with Stargates, the Destiny was to follow a pre-programmed mission to explore these galaxies until the Ancients ascended and left the ship unmanned. In order to reach this ship, an address would have to be dialled consisting of nine chevrons, a possibility that had been unknown in the previous Stargate series. The series begins when a team of soldiers and scientists from present-day Earth step through the Stargate to find the Destiny after their base is attacked. They are unable to manoeuvre the ship or even return to Earth, but they can use the Stargate to visit planets when the Destiny comes into the range of another Stargate and stops for brief periods of time. Life support including air supply is also a problem at first. There will be three major deaths in the pilot episode and one suicide by episode six. The writers have discussed the possibility that each season represents a voyage of the Destiny through a different galaxy. Stargate Universe is written to appeal to both veteran fans and newcomers. It will be firmly entrenched in pre-established Stargate mythology without relying on it too often. Although it will still have the familiar Stargate themes of adventure and exploration, the show will focus mostly on the people aboard the ship. SGU will be more serialized than its predecessors, but the writers attempt to resolve each character story within the episode. There is a conscious effort to avoid making SGU too serialized, and the serialization will mainly stem from character development. The industry describes the show with the buzz words "dark and edgy". According to Robert C. Cooper, the essence of the story is "that sort of fear and terror of a tragedy combined with the sense that there is hope for us in the basic ways in which human beings survive". The increased levels of drama will still be balanced with humour to avoid pretentiousness. The differences between good and evil will be less apparent, as the ship will be populated with flawed and unprepared characters who were not supposed to go here. According to Brad Wright, the show will "hopefully explore the truly alien, and [avoid] the rubber faced English-speaking one". There will be aliens, but not a single dominant villain race like SG-1's Goa'uld and Atlantis' Wraith.
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| Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) – The "ship's brilliant Machiavellian scientist" whom producer Joseph Mallozzi had first mentioned in his blog in mid-November 2008 as Dr. David Rush. The ship's crew believe Rush to be losing his mind, but he does things for a reason. Carlyle explained in an interview that after the death of Rush's wife, Rush is driven by the opportunity to explore the galaxy. Mallozzi rectified casting reports in mid-December 2008 that Rush "is not the leader of the unplanned expedition. That honour falls to Colonel Everett Young. For now. But things could have a way of changing on board a ship manned by a disparate group with very different agendas…". Although a confirmed main character, Rush was not included in the initial casting character breakdowns. Wright and Cooper intended the character to be very different from previous main character in the Stargate franchise, "somebody who is not the hero, not the villain, and more of a very flawed and complex person". About a year before being cast, Scottish actor Robert Carlyle wanted to try something new in his career and approached television companies in Los Angeles. They offered him several parts, but Stargate Universe had the greatest appeal to him as "suddenly a drama [was] opening up in space, [and] in the past that was something that was slightly missing from the genre". He was aware of the success of the Stargate franchise and had seen "quite a bit of SG-1, plus a bunch of Atlantis". Carlyle accepted the role because of Wright and Cooper's take on the drama and direction of the show, and he is "[honestly] more than prepared" to play the character for possibly many years. Carlyle will keep his Scottish accent for the role.
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| Everett Young (Justin Louis) – Described in the initial character breakdown as a "handsome, capable, former SG team leader" in his 40s who holds the rank of Colonel. He is "like the Jack O'Neill of ten years ago" yet has sharper edges. At the beginning of Stargate Universe, he has been married for two years and is the temporary commander of a secret off-world base. Young is Rush's nemesis on the ship.
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| Eli Wallace (David Blue) – Named Eli Hitchcock in the casting call, Eli Wallace is a "total slacker" in his early twenties and an "utter genius" in mathematics, computers and other fields. He is a social outcast with an "acerbic sense of humour", and lacks confidence in his intelligence. The character breakdown compares him to "Matt Damon's character from Good Will Hunting with a little Jack Black thrown in". He will be the main source of comic relief in the show. David Blue, a self-declared fan of science fiction series, has seen all SG-1 and Atlantis episodes.
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| Matthew Scott (Brian J. Smith) – A skilled and well-trained airman and junior SGC member in his early twenties holding the rank of First Lieutenant. He is "mentally unprepared for the urgency of the situation" aboard the ship. He was named Jared Nash in the initial casting call. Before being cast, Brian J. Smith had been working as a stage actor in New York for a year and a half and had seen a couple of Stargate episodes. Smith taped his Stargate Universe audition and was invited to a screen test in Los Angeles. He received the news of being cast a few days after the screen test. He prepared for the role by doing military research. He had not seen the Stargate TV series before being cast, but caught up with much of SG-1 afterwards.
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| Ronald Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) – In early casting documents named Ron "Psycho" Stasiak, Ronald Greer is a "big, strong, silent" Marine aged 20 with a mysterious past who lacks control over his temper in non-combat situations. The character breakdown compares him to Eric Bana's character "Hoot" in Black Hawk Down. His rank is Master Sergeant.
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| Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque) – She is a "stunning and sexy" daughter of a US Senator around her twenties, whose character is tested "after her father's tragic death and the dire circumstances of being trapped on a spaceship". Her father (played by Christopher McDonald) had political oversight over the Stargate project trying to dial the ninth chevron. Before the producers settled on the final name, the character was named Chloe Carpenter and Chloe Walker. Levesque's "wonderfully nuanced audition" convinced the producers to cast her, as she demonstrated an "impressive range in two very different [and] demanding scenes".
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| Tamara Johansen (Alaina Huffman) – Named Tamara Jon in the character breakdown, she is an SGC field medic in her early twenties with off-world experience, who finds herself the most medically experienced person aboard the ship after the death of the Icarus' Base doctor in the pilot episode "Air" (according to co-creator Robert C. Cooper). She has a modest background, yet is "beautiful, tough, smart and capable", but also has a secretive past with another member of the Destiny's new crew. At the beginning of the series, she is overwhelmed by the lack of medical knowledge, experience, medicine and supplies aboard the ship. Her rank is First Lieutenant. Mallozzi considered Huffman's audition in December 2008 "so good that, quite frankly, we would've been crazy not to cast her".
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| Camille Wray (Ming-Na) – An IOA accountant who becomes the highest-ranking IOA member left stranded on the ship. She has "a false sense of importance and superiority to the other military and civilian population along with a stubborn way of asserting it". Wray was first mentioned in Mallozzi's blog in late November 2008, and was initially considered as a potentially recurring character. She will appear in at least the pilot episode, "Earth" and the mid-season two-parter. She is the first open gay character in the Stargate franchise. Her long-time partner back on Earth, Sharon, will first appear in "Life" in a possibly recurring role. Mallozzi thought in December 2008 that the character "has a lot of potential for getting under Young and co.'s skin. She's a definite love her or hate her type of character, one who'll prove the bane to many a series regular, and probably some viewers as well". While Ming-Na is confirmed to appear in several SGU episodes after her character's initial conception as a potentially recurring character in the pilot episode, she was confirmed as a main character in May, 2009.
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| Colonel Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) – A proud and "stubbornly confident" life-long military man holding the rank of Colonel. He is highly regarded by his superiors and is the chosen leader of the expedition. Unsure about the spelling of Telford's given name, Joseph Mallozzi gave his given name as "Zak, Zach, Zac, [or] Zack". The cast status of Lou Diamond Phillips as a permanent or recurring SGU actor is unclear. Philips was named in a press release along with the confirmed main cast in February 2009. He played the title role in a new stage musical in May 2009 and was a contestant in I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here! in June 2009, both shows taking place during the shooting period of SGU.
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