GateWorld: What was your first thought when you found out you wouldn't be a regular in Season Two?
Rainbow Sun Francks: Actually it wasn't really such a blow. It was something that we, myself and Brad [Wright, executive producer], had spoken about. It wasn't a bad thing taken by me at all.

[In] Season One my character didn't have the development that we though it would. It didn't get the chance because there weren't enough episodes. It was something that happened, and it wasn't a bad thing. We took it as now I have the chance to be there, and when I'm there I actually have a purpose. My character is going on a great story arc that's going to help with the season, and it's going to be a big part of it. It's going to be a part of the story, finally. And that's something that I think I waited for. So less episodes but more actual work. That's more important to all of us, I think.

I think it's all for the good of the series, and having me there as a "Yes man" or a "No man" isn't as important as having me there as a monumental character. I didn't really have any bad feelings. The only bad feeling was financial. But other than that, as an artist, I think it's one of the greatest things that could have happened.

We're both extremely happy with what's been written so far. Martin Gero has definitely written a great first script. And we're really just excited to see where this character is going to go. It's going to be very different.

There was no hard feelings. It wasn't like I felt bad about it. I felt very good because I knew that I was going to get to work. And I was going to get to do good work and they were going to write some really cool stuff for me.

The minute we found it out, in the same meeting it was like, "Alright, we're going to bring you back as recurring." We instantly were coming up with great ideas. It was like, "Alright, this is where this character can go now." And that was really cool, in the same meeting. It wasn't like, "Oh, no. I need a week to figure out life ..." It was like, "OK, so what are we going to do?" It was really cool. So it's definitely going to be a better thing than a worse thing.


Ford reports on the status of General O'Neill's helicopter in Rainbow's first scene on Atlantis. From "Rising."
GW: How many episodes of Season Two are you presently appearing in, that you know for sure?

RF: It's undetermined as of yet. I'm not sure how many it's going to go. I'll definitely be there for at least three.

GW: Do you think that there is a chance that Ford will return to the team full-time, depending on what direction he's going to go in? Do you think there's a chance that it'll be better for your character to return as a full-time character?

RF: I think that one of the things that's so beautiful about sci-fi and so beautiful about Rob [Cooper, executive producer] and Brad, who have been doing this for such a long time, is that they are masters of creating great stories that give them a way in or a way out. And that's what great writing is all about. I think they're masters of that, and so I think that the way the character is going is going to build a lot of interest. The fans are going to really like Ford now. And if they don't like him, they'll still like him for that reason -- they will be interested in him.

So that's really important. And as far as coming back, I personally would love to come back on the show as a regular. I love doing the show. It's my favorite thing to do and it still will be this year. So, as far as coming back, I think it's always an option. I'm not dying and as long as I'm alive they can bring me back. That's sort of the world that we're playing in, which is the great thing about sci-fi. It's not a soap opera.

GW: Exactly. Well, there's a little bit of that.

RF: Yeah, but it's not a soap opera, and that's the great thing! [Laughter]

GW: I keep thinking of the Daniel Jackson analogy that everyone's been throwing at this. It got to a point

Rainbow Sun Francks (born December 3, 1979 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is an actor and songwriter. He is the son of actor/musician Don Francks and dancer Lili Francks, a member of the Plains Cree First Nation. He is also the brother of Cree Summer. For a brief time, he was an on-air personality at MuchMusic, a Canadian music video and variety television channel. He starred in Stargate Atlantis Season 1 as US Marine Lieutenant Aiden Ford. His role was reduced to that of a recurring character for Season 2, and was written out entirely for Season 3. He also produces a hip hop group known as The Oddities.

Films he has appeared in-

Rainbow Sun Francks is sometimes credited as Rainbow Francks. For television series the years refer to the years he was involved.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) as Earl
This Space for Rent (2006) as Barnaby Sharpe
Stargate Atlantis (2004 - 2005) as Lieutenant Aiden Ford, recurring character as of Season 2
From Stargate to Atlantis: Sci Fi Lowdown (2004) as Himself/Aiden Ford
Preview to Atlantis (2004) as Himself/Aiden Ford
Electric Circus (2002 - 2003) Host
Twice in a Lifetime (2001) as Jimmy
Love Song (2000) as Calvin Dumas
Love Come Down (2000) as Julian
One Heart Broken Into Song (1999) as Hank Johnson
The Planet of Junior Brown (1997) as Buddy Clark
Black Fox: Good Men and Bad (1995) as Frank Johnson
Black Fox: The Price of Peace (1995) as Frank Johnson

Season 1
In "Rising", Ford is first seen in the Antarctica outpost, relaying information to Dr. Weir. Once in Atlantis, he was part of the expedition to Athos. He was guarding the Stargate when the Wraith appeared. When they went back to the Stargate, Sheppard ordered him to memorize the symbols the Wraith dialled. He was later part of the rescue mission, and infiltrated the Wraith hiveship with Sheppard. He set up the explosives and helped the captured Earth personnel blow up their cell door. He later saved Sheppard from the female Wraith keeper.

In one particular episode in season 1, an Athosian boy named Jinto accidentally unleashed an energy being (captured by the Ancients on their research on ascension). In tracking down the energy being, Ford was severely burned when the entity mawed him.

When his team's Puddle Jumper was stuck in an active Stargate, with a bug attached to Major Sheppard's neck, he had to use a defibrillator to stop Sheppard's heart so they could remove the bug. Afterwards, when it became obvious their only choice to get enough forward momentum to get through the gate was to blow the rear hatch, he pushed McKay into the event horizon and blew the hatch with the manual control himself ("Thirty-Eight Minutes").

During The Storm, he, Carson Beckett and Teyla became trapped in the mainland waiting for some Athosian hunters. He wanted to leave but Beckett did not feel he could pilot with such strong winds and, since Beckett was the pilot, they stayed. Once they went back to Atlantis, they tried to help Major Sheppard take the city back from the Genii that had invaded it ("The Storm/The Eye").

He went with Dr. McKay and Dr. Zelenka (among others) to check uninhabited parts of the city for structural damage after the storm. They forced him to play Prime/Not Prime, but he always got it wrong. Soon after, several members of the expedition started falling dead and they found out a nanovirus was loose. When they discover the nanovirus does not work in people with the ATA gene, he asks Dr. Beckett for it, but he's told the treatment would take too long, if it were successful ("Hot Zone").

When everybody was asked to record a personal message to send to their loved ones on Earth, Elizabeth assigned him the task of recording. He recorded his own for his grandparents, who seem to be his only family ("Letters from Pegasus").


Season 2
During the Wraith attack on Atlantis ("The Siege, Part 3"), Ford was being fed upon by a Wraith when a grenade went off near them. Both were blown off the catwalk and into the ocean. Nearly an hour later, after the hive-ships were destroyed and the immediate threat from the Wraith was gone, Zelenka (at Sheppard's urging) expanded the range of the city's Life Signs detector to include the surrounding ocean and located Ford. The Daedalus's transporters beamed the unconscious Ford (with Wraith still attached) into the infirmary.

A Wraith injects its victim with an enzyme that strengthens it ("Poisoning the Well"); otherwise, the victim would die immediately. The grenade-induced shock to the feeding Wraith caused a large amount of this enzyme to enter Ford's system, allowing him to survive face-down in the water for an hour. However, the prolonged exposure caused Ford's body to become addicted to the enzyme, and he underwent both mental and physical changes, becoming more aggressive and developing a solid black left eye and facial creases and markings.

Ford, thinking the citizens of Atlantis were afraid of him and his changes, stole a jumper and fled the city. ("The Siege, Part 3")

Ford begins wandering the Pegasus Stargate network, killing Wraiths and harvesting the enzyme from them. The enzyme gives Ford super-human strength (he's able to lift Dr. Beckett with one arm, is unaffected by being shot in the arm, and is apparently immune to Wraith stunners) but contributes to his increasing mental instability.

Although Ford proves adept at killing Wraith, he seem