David Hewlett, who plays Dr. Rodney McKay in SCI FI Channel’s upcoming original series Stargate Atlantis, told SCI FI Wire that his character is as brilliant and arrogant as he was when he was introduced in Stargate SG-1’s fifth season. "He’s back, and he’s just as obnoxious as before," Hewlett said in an interview during a break in filming on the show’s set outside Vancouver, B.C. "He’s the guy at the front of the classroom with his hand up. He’s always got an answer, whether it’s right or not, and so he’s got himself on this gig and a little reluctantly is wandering around the galaxy, actually having to practice what he’s been preaching for so long. And he’s no longer got Carter to blame."

McKay was introduced in the fifth-season episode "48 Hours," where he first famously clashed with Maj. Carter (Amanda Tapping). McKay subsequently appeared in the sixth-season two-parter "Redemption." Now, McKay finds himself part of the team that will journey through the Stargate to the lost city of Atlantis, in the distant Pegasus galaxy. But he’s still hardly a team player, Hewlett said. "I think that’s one of the fun things about this ... show, [that] ... nobody really gets along. I mean, it’s the whole point. There’s this group of people that’s ... thrown together, this international team, everyone from different specialties, and so they all have their own reasons for going to the planets, [and] they all have their own reasons for being there in the first place. And so, inevitably, they end up clashing. And I think that’s what the fun is: ... watching the dynamics of these people as they try to find out how to get along and how not to destroy the new galaxy that they’ve discovered in the process."

Is McKay still carrying a not-so-secret torch for Maj. Carter? "How could you not?" Hewlett said. "I mean, I think more likely, Carter’s carrying a torch for McKay." Spoken like McKay himself? "I keep getting ... accused of getting more and more McKay-like every day. Not a good thing, probably." Stargate Atlantis premieres with a two-hour episode, "Rising," at 9 p.m. ET/PT on July 16.