 Claudia Black appeared in a recurring role for eight episodes.The ninth season begins with General Hank Landry (Beau Bridges) having assumed command of Stargate Command, and newcomer Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell (Ben Browder) trying to regroup the SG-1 team after the events of the eighth season.The burning of Vala in "Avalon (Part 2)" was a challenging sequence for safety reasons and for still making it believable.