Michael Shanks to appear in two SGU episodes

When it comes to a spin off series from a something that was hugely successful, these often seem to be an anti climax; with Stargate SG1 the series had the complete package.
But when it comes to Stargate Atlantis and more recently SGU does the appeal transfer across to the spin off?
It seems that the one of the main things that prop these spin offs up is the prospect of characters from SG1 joining the new show and this has been successfully done in both series.
It’s great to see that Michael Shanks will be returning to SGU for two further outings and considering that the series is struggling to find new fans it cannot be a bad thing that the producers will be bringing in up old school talent.