Wraith characters in Stargate

This is a list of Wraith characters in the television series Stargate Atlantis. The Wraith are hive-based humanoids who feed on humans. All of the named Wraith who have appeared on Stargate Atlantis are named by humans, as no Wraith has been willing to reveal their true names. John Sheppard often gives captured Wraith amusing/generic Earth names. The majority of non-warrior male and female Wraith were played by the same actors, James Lafazanos and Andee Frizzell respectively. James Lafazanos has since left the show after season 2. Other male Wraith have been played by Christopher Heyerdahl (season 3 onwards), Jeffrey C. Robinson (season 2), Dan Payne (season 3), James Bamford (season 3), Brendan Penny (season 4), and Tyler McClendon (season 5).

"Michael"
"Michael Kenmore" is the identity given by the Atlantis Expedition to a Wraith they had transformed into a human in the episode "Michael". He is played by Connor Trinneer, except due to scheduling conflicts during the filming of "Allies" where he was portrayed by Brent Stait. (Trinneer still provided the voice of Michael for the episode ) Michael is the result of the first successful test of Dr. Carson Beckett's retrovirus, which suppresses iratus bug DNA in the Wraith genome. As the process eliminates memory, Atlantis personnel gave Michael a fabricated history and attempt to integrate him into the city. However, he is never fully accepted by the others and the drug is not completely effective; Michael becomes suspicious and eventually learns the truth. He escapes custody and reverts into a Wraith, rejoining his people.

In the episode "Allies", Michael returns with the Hive that took him in, proposing an alliance with Atlantis to use the retrovirus against other Wraith. Michael is unaware however that the Wraith Queen only intends to use Atlantis to find a way to Earth. It is revealed that the other Wraith do not accept him either since his transformation, and in "No Man's Land", fearing for his life, he helps John Sheppard stop the Hive Ships and rescue McKay and Ronon. Nevertheless, at the end of the episode he is forcibly given another dose of the retrovirus. Michael and the other transformed Wraith are deposited on a quarantine planet in "Misbegotten". However, Michael has retained his memories as a Wraith, and engineers a revolt amongst the others. He is believed killed when the Atlantis team bombards his camp with their captured Hive Ship.

Michael is found to be alive in "Vengeance", having been rescued by the Wraith but once again rejected by his kind for his "human" taint, and forced to escape. Embittered, he sets about building his own personal army, mixing iratus bug DNA with that of humans to create a new creature, destroying several human populations in the process. One of his labs is destroyed by the Atlantis team, though Michael escapes to continue his work elsewhere. In "The Kindred", Michael is revealed to be responsible for distributing the Hoffan Wraith-poisoning drug to several human worlds, and for the abduction of the Athosians in "Missing" to use in his experiments. He learned about both from a clone of Carson Beckett he created. The final part of his plan is abducting Teyla, whose unborn child is the key to perfecting his race of Wraith-human hybrids. Michael has subjected himself to the treatments, and no longer possesses the Wraith feeding organs.

In the alternate future of "The Last Man", Michael kills Teyla after she gives birth, as he had no further use for her. With his Hybrids and the Hoffan drug, he defeats the Wraith within a year and then turns to the human population, converting the strong into Hybrids and eliminating the weak. The future Dr. McKay changes this course of events by returning John Sheppard to his original time, with information on Teyla's whereabouts. However, when Sheppard and his team go to investigate, a booby-trap collapses the building they're in. The trap alerts Michael to their presence, and he arrives at the planet and attempts to capture them. The Daedalus arrives and engages his cruiser, destroying it after Sheppard's team rescues Teyla. The IOA believes Michael to be dead, although the Atlantis team suspects otherwise.

"Steve"
"Steve", played by James Lafazanos, is a Wraith who is captured by the Atlantis Expedition in "Suspicion", where he is lured into a trap using a Wraith tracking device discovered in Teyla Emmagan's necklace. He is held in Atlantis, though he assures his captors that by doing so they have only ensured their own doom. Major Sheppard names him "Steve" after he refuses to give his true name.

In "Poisoning the Well", Dr. Elizabeth Weir allows Steve to be used to test a Hoffan drug designed to make humans immune to feeding, despite her ethical reservations. The test is successful, but Steve dies shortly afterwards from an unexpected reaction. Though this is a violation of the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, Major Sheppard argues that the Wraith are not subject to it as they would have eaten everyone if they had attended the meeting.

"Todd"
"Todd" first appears in the third season episode "Common Ground", and is a recurring character in the fourth season, where his "name" is given. He is played by Christopher Heyerdahl and distinguished by a starburst-shaped tattoo centered around his left eye. Rather unusually for a Wraith, he has a sense of humor and a certain degree of honor. He is first encountered as a prisoner of Acastus Kolya, who uses him to torture Sheppard by feeding on him repeatedly. He and Sheppard come to an understanding and help each other escape, during which Todd drains Sheppard's life to defeat the Genii and then returns it, an act Wraith perform only for their most devout worshippers and their brothers.

Todd returns in, to forge an alliance with Atlantis against the Asurans, informing Atlantis of their new strategy of wiping out every human in the galaxy to deprive the Wraith of their food supply. He requests Rodney McKay's cooperation in modifying their computer virus to shut off the Asurans' attack command, as it was McKay's tampering with the Asuran base code that made it ineffective in the first place. Todd is stranded on Atlantis after his hive ship is destroyed by another suspicious hive, and remains in captivity working with McKay until the episode "Be All My Sins Remember'd". During this time he hacks McKay's computer and obtains data on the Intergalactic Gate Bridge, allowing the Wraith to invade the SGC. Todd however later claims that the data was stolen from him.

In the episode "Be All My Sins Remember'd", Todd convinces seven hive-ships to join the Atlanteans in battling the Asurans, gaining his freedom in the process. During the battle he commands one of the hive-ships, surreptitiously launching a mission to steal ZPMs from the Asuran city. The ZPMs are stolen from him in by another hive, to use in powering a cloning facility. Todd is due to be fed upon, but is rescued by the Atlantis team and helps them destroy the facility. He escapes in a dart separately from Sheppard's team. The Atlanteans encounter Todd again in, while investigating a Wraith facility where many have been killed by the Hoffan drug. Todd informs them that all the Wraith factions have been affected, and asks for information on the drug so that he can develop an antidote. The Atlantis Expedition trades him the data in exchange for intelligence on where Michael is keeping Teyla. In the alternate future of, Todd dies fighting alongside Ronon Dex to destroy one of Michael's research facilities, the two sacrificing themselves to allow Ronon's strike force to escape before setting off their explosives.

Minor characters

 * "Bob" (played by James Lafazanos) The pilot of a Wraith Dart that scanned Atlantis in "The Siege". After he completes his mission, he beams into Atlantis and sets his ship to self-destruct. However, his presence is detected by Teyla and he is captured. Sheppard shoots him after Teyla's attempt to initiate telepathic contact goes awry.
 * Ellia (played by Jewel Staite) A young female Wraith who appears in "Instinct". She was discovered as an infant in the wreckage of a Wraith ship by a man named Zaddik, who raises her as his daughter. Though Ellia shares his human values, she's unable to overcome her biological need to feed on humans. Thus, she resorts to feeding at the same time as an adult Wraith who also survived the crash, and leading her father to believe that he has found a cure for her condition. In an effort to become human, Ellia takes Carson Beckett's anti-Wraith retrovirus before it is ready, causing her iratus bug DNA to take over. Now violent and uncontrollable, John Sheppard and Ronon Dex are forced to kill her. The injury she inflicts on Sheppard triggers a similar iratus bug transformation in him, seen in "Conversion".
 * Keeper (played by Andee Frizzell) The first female Wraith to appear in the series, in "Rising". Her purpose is to watch over the other hibernating Wraith. Her Darts capture a number of Athosians and Atlantis personnel, and she learns of Earth from Colonel Sumner before feeding on him. She is stabbed with a Wraith stunner by John Sheppard, and upon her death all the other Wraith in the galaxy begin to awaken.
 * Wraith Leader (played by Dan Payne) A powerful Wraith from the episode "Sateda", who recaptures Ronon Dex and sets him free on Sateda with a tracking device, so as to be hunted by his warriors. Ronon eventually challenges him to single combat, but is severely outmatched. The Leader is destroyed by Drone Weapons fired by Rodney McKay and Carson Beckett.
 * Wraith Queen 1 (played by Andee Frizzell) The Queen who rules over the Hive Ship attacked by Aiden Ford and his followers in "The Lost Boys" and "The Hive". She attempts to interrogate John Sheppard, but is interrupted by the arrival of another Hive Ship. Sheppard fools her into believing that he is a spy for the other hive's Queen, and she is shot in the back by Ford.
 * Wraith Queen 2 (played by Andee Frizzell) The Queen of a Hive Ship who offers an alliance with Atlantis in "Allies", having taken in Michael and learned of Carson Beckett's Wraith retrovirus. Her true purpose however is to obtain information on how to reach Earth. In "No Man's Land", she is unaffected by the retrovirus that turns the rest of her hive human, and is shot by Atlantis personnel.
 * Wraith Queen 3 (played by Andee Frizzell) The leader of the great alliance of Wraith during their first siege of Atlantis 10,000 years ago, in which her cruiser was shot down. In "Submersion", she awakens when a team from Atlantis arrives at a nearby Ancient geothermal drilling station. She activates her cruiser's self-destruct and swims to the station in an attempt to find an escape ship. However, she is captured, and Teyla tricks her into deactivating the self-destruct using a mental illusion. She is killed while attempting to feed on John Sheppard.
 * Wraith Queen 4 (played by Andee Frizzell) A Queen from "Spoils of War", where she is spawning thousands of new warriors using a cloning machine, powered by a Zero Point Module stolen from "Todd". Teyla telepathically forces her to release the Atlantis team, and she is killed when the facility is destroyed.
 * Wraith Queen 5 (played by Andee Frizzell) The last of the Wraith Queens in the alternate future presented in "The Last Man". She is decapitated by Michael, and her head held up as a symbol of his defeat of the Wraith.
 * Wraith Survivor (played by James Lafazanos) The sole survivor of a crashed Wraith supply ship in "The Defiant One", who persisted for 10,000 years by feeding on the captive humans and later his own crew. He ambushes a team from Atlantis investigating his ship, and engages in a prolonged fight with John Sheppard while trying to steal his Puddle Jumper. He is destroyed by Drone Weapons fired by another Puddle Jumper.