SCI FI Channel has confirmed Lou Diamond Phillips, Ming-Na, Elyse Levesque and Alaina Huffman as cast members of the highly anticipated new original series "SGU: Stargate Universe," which began production last week in Vancouver. They join the previously announced stars Robert Carlyle, Justin Louis, David Blue, Jamil Walker Smith and Brian J. Smith in the latest adventure of the Stargate franchise produced by MGM television.

Edgier and younger in tone, SGU will take the franchise in a dynamic new direction, appealing to longtime Stargate fans and first-time viewers alike. The series is expected to premiere in October 2009.

SGU follows a band of soldiers, scientists and civilians, who must fend for themselves as they are forced through a Stargate when their hidden base comes under attack. The desperate survivors emerge aboard an ancient ship, which is locked on an unknown course and unable to return to Earth. Faced with meeting the most basic needs of food, water and air, the group must unlock the secrets of the ship's Stargate to survive. The danger, adventure and hope they find on board the Destiny will reveal the heroes and villains among them.