After the slipcase art came out, someone asked and was told that "they" wanted to stick with the four-person framed by a gate they'd been using for 9 years. Which makes sense, so I expected Vala to be elsewhere. Guess not.

I'm not a Vala fan, but it does seem odd she's not included when TPTB were singing her praises so much. I do know that actors have the right to approve their images that will be used on items, so perhaps that's coming into play here.

I learned this after a brouhaha about an SG-1 card collection in which the binder didn't have a picture of the team, but only Sam and Jack. Let's just say some folks were raising holy hell about it. ;) They were told that each vendor is given a certain number of images they can use for their product, but the actors have final say-so over how it looks, so if 1 out 4 of the cast doesn't like how the team shot looked, then that image is out. IIRC, it was never said who was the one who cast the nay vote, but it could have been one who essentially voted themselves off the cover, or it could have just as easily been one who still remained on the cover too.