He is portrayed by Scottish-born Canadian actor Paul McGillion, who previously played Dr. Ernest Littlefield in the first season of SG-1.

At the beginning of Stargate Atlantis, Beckett is a doctor with an extended knowledge of medicine and just discovered the Ancient gene.

Elizabeth Weir selected him for the Atlantis Expedition and stationed him at the Ancient outpost in Antarctica,[1] where the SG-1 team had defeated the nemesis Anubis in the Stargate SG-1 season seven finale, "Lost City".

[3] While in the Antarctic outpost in the pilot episode "Rising", Dr. Rodney McKay forces Beckett to sit in an Ancient control chair.

Beckett's Ancient gene causes him to accidentally activate a drone weapon zeroing on General O'Neill and Major Sheppard's helicopter, but he manages to stop it.

After finding and arriving in the city of Atlantis, Beckett examines a severed Wraith arm that Major Sheppard brought back from the planet Athos.

[7] In the second season, Beckett takes up more offworld activities, including one mission where he removes a Wraith tracker from Ronon Dex's spine in "Runner".

Although the clone suffers from a degenerative condition that will lead to his death, he insists on helping the team find the pregnant Teyla from Michael's capture.

[15] Cloned Beckett briefly returns to Atlantis in "Whispers" to stop a herd of Michael's failed experiments.

[17] In the Atlantis series finale, Beckett flies the city from M35-117 back to Earth to defeat a super Wraith Hive Ship.

Beckett is forced to land Atlantis, cloaked, outside San Francisco Bay and later stares at the view with the rest of the command staff.

[18] Producer Martin Gero described Carson Beckett as the "older brother" in the Atlantis crew, a "superswell" and "loveable guy" who has a lot of "heart and warmth".

[19] McGillion described his character as trepidatious, but Beckett gains more courage throughout the series as he becomes more familiar with his surroundings in Atlantis and offworld.

Although they have completely different personalities, they are the "everyday hero guys", and often share their thoughts after saving Atlantis or the galaxy from dire situations.

McGillion said in an interview with The Sci-Fi World, "We improv[ise] a lot after the scene's over, and sometimes they'll keep some of the material and sometimes they won't.

[19] McGillion was originally planned to play Scotty in a parody of Star Trek in the Stargate SG-1 episode "200", but producer-writer Brad Wright filled in for the part in the end.

[27] McGillion learned of the writers' exact plans for Beckett's departure in "Sunday" two months before the episode was filmed.

[33] Paul McGillion was nominated for a Leo Award for "Best Supporting Performance by a Male" in 2005 for his role as Beckett in "Poisoning the Well", but he and fellow Atlantis actor David Nykl lost to Matthew Currie Holmes of Godiva's.

[37] Between 60 and 100 fans from all over the world gathered for a peaceful protest outside The Bridge Studios in Vancouver on March 22, 2007, hiring a local pipe band.