Jennifer Keller

Dr. Jennifer Keller is a fictional character on the Science Fiction show Stargate Atlantis and is played by Jewel Staite. She first appeared in the last Season 3 episode "First Strike", had a recurring role in Season 4, and is a regular character in Season 5.

Character's background

Before appearing in Atlantis Keller was born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She told Teyla that a few years before joining the expedition her mother died and she is all her father has left. During her schooling years, she was ahead of her class, having graduated High school at the age of 15 and earned a Bachelor's degree before she was 18. She then trained to be a doctor. She also suffers from vertigo.

Appearances

Season 3

Keller became Atlantis' Chief Medical Officer, with some reluctance, after the death of former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carson Beckett in the episode "Sunday". She also says that she is no Carson, but Dr. Weir assures her she will do just fine.

Season 4

One of her first duties seen in Stargate Atlantis was to try to save Dr Weir's life after she was critically injured after the Replicator beam grazed the tower. She talked with McKay and told him that he could save her life with Replicator nanites that infected her in The Real World.

In Doppelganger she was one of many people affected by nightmares in Atlantis after Col John Sheppard touched a crystal life form that invades people's nightmares. In hers, she dreamt that Teyla Emmagan suffered severe abdominal pain and died when an alien insect burst out of her stomach; Sheppard looked as if it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. She revealed that when she was in medical school, some of her friends played a prank by putting a live snake in a cadaver, probably explaining the origin of the nightmare.

In Missing, she and Teyla both went to New Athos on a medical check up. After discovering the Athosians were missing, she sprained her ankle and relied upon Teyla to get through the night until John, Rodney & Ronon sent a rescue mission. While there, she told Teyla that she is from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin where her father still lives, and that her mother passed away a few years back. She said she was all her father had left. She also mentions she went to summer camp and after three days she asked her dad to bring her home. When she gets back to Atlantis, she is the one who discovers that Teyla is pregnant.

In The Seer, she looks after Davos until he dies and asks Samantha Carter whether they are doing this to look after him or to study his special ability.

In Quarantine she develops a romantic interest in Ronon - an interest that appears to be mutual - while the two are locked in the Infirmary during a malfunction of Atlantis' automated lockdown procedures. They almost kissed until the lockdown ended. In Trio she appears to have some romantic interest or maybe only fondness regarding McKay, who saves her life when trapped in an abandoned Genii mine with him and Carter.

During The Last Man (Part 1) while in an alternate timeline, she develops a romantic interest in Rodney McKay after they both leave the Atlantis Project, although later in this time line she dies from complications which are caused by repeated exposure to the Hoffan Drug which causes Rodney to set out to correct the error and send Sheppard back to his timeline which essentially destroys the alternate timeline.

Season 5

In The Seed she was able to wake up Carson Beckett's cloned self from the stasis pod due to a band-aid measure for his degenerative cells that she found.

In Season 5's episode "The Shrine, Rodney tells Keller that he loves her.

Actress

Jewel Staite, who plays Keller, previously played Ellia in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Instinct".

Staite, well-known among sci-fi fans for playing Kaylee Frye in the cult series Firefly, is the third regular Firefly actor to go on to appear in the Stargate franchise. The others were Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb in Firefly) who played Colonel Dave Dixon, and Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra in Firefly) who played Adria.