James Spader’s Stargate Streams Free on Pluto TV in November 2026

The VisionQuest finale airs this week, bringing Paul Bettany’s Vision and James Spader’s Ultron to the end of their run. Viewers who want more of Spader in a sci-fi role can watch Stargate for free on Pluto TV.

In Stargate, Spader plays linguist Daniel Jackson, who is asked to translate hieroglyphs on a mysterious gate-shaped artifact. The artifact turns out to be a portal to another planet. Jackson travels through it with Air Force veteran Jack O’Neil, played by Kurt Russell, and discovers a world ruled by the alien conqueror Ra.

Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film went on to launch a long-running sci-fi franchise.

Stargate continues to thrive

When Stargate debuted in 1994, it received a mixed reception. Some viewers appreciated the risks Emmerich took, while others found its idea that Egyptian mythology was based on alien visits to Earth too far-fetched. The film later became a cult classic.

Rather than the large-scale destruction of Emmerich’s Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow, Stargate offers intricately designed spaceships and structures. Spader and Russell also give the film a compelling dynamic, contrasting Jackson’s optimism with O’Neil’s emotional repression.

The franchise continued with Stargate SG-1, which picks up after the film and expands on its premise by sending characters through the Stargate to other worlds. Further spinoffs included Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe. Atlantis helped propel Jason Momoa to superstardom.

Stargate co-writer Dean Devlin later revealed that he and Emmerich had planned a trilogy of films that never came to pass:

“The original plan of the movie was to do three movies…we were going to tie everything together into a larger mythology. And it was going to be so much fun. It was going to be so wild. But we never got to go there. We never got to explore it.”

The franchise has another series in development for Prime Video, with WandaVision showrunner Jac Schaeffer tapped to develop it. The announcement followed Prime’s decision to shutter a Stargate series led by veteran writer Martin Gero, who worked on all the spinoffs.

For now, the original Stargate is available to watch for free on Pluto TV.

Source: Polygon