Nathan Fillion is ready for a Firefly revival project with Joss Whedon. In fact, Fillion didn’t hesitate to share that his experience with the creator has been the opposite of the allegations raised against him. In 2020, Whedon’s film and TV career took a hit after several actresses from Buffy and Angel came forward with accusations of inappropriate behavior from him.
Fillion treaded lightly with his remarks so as to avoid any controversies against him. However, if he takes on a project under Whedon, it will be essentially career suicide for the actor.
Currently, Fillion is one of the most popular TV actors, with the lead role in ABC’s The Rookie. He is all set to appear as Guy Gardner in James Gunn’s Superman.
Nathan Fillion will have to sacrifice his career if he pursues a Firefly revival with Joss Whedon
When Nathan Fillion appeared on Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, he addressed the revival of his single-season cult show Firefly. They also discussed Joss Whedon’s involvement in a potential revival and whether Fillion would be up for such a project, given the controversies surrounding Whedon. Fillion was ready to work with Whedon in a jiffy.
Rosenbaum asked Fillion what he thought about a Firefly revival without Whedon. The Castle actor didn’t hesitate for a second before replying, “Heartbreaking.” Rosenbaum was intrigued, and Fillion explained that he had read the article on his controversies. However, he shared that it wasn’t his experience with the creator.
Fillion called Whedon “funny”, “self-deprecating”, “incredibly talented”, and “maybe a little haunted.” He further shared that he respected Whedon for admitting to his mistakes and working on himself. Fillion further shared that he would work again with Whedon, whether on a Firefly revival project or any other project. He shared, “I would work with him in a second.”
Multiple actors, producers, and writers spoke out against Whedon for creating a toxic workplace environment. Buffy and Angel actress Charisma Carpenter alleged that Whedon “abused his power on numerous occasions” on the set (via Variety). Other Buffy stars like Amber Benson and Michelle Trachtenberg also corroborated Carpenter’s allegations.
Jose Molina, who wrote two episodes of Firefly, shared that Whedon thought being mean was funny. Molina shared, “Making female writers cry during a notes session was especially hysterical. He actually liked to boast about the time he made one writer cry twice in one meeting” (via PEOPLE). Molina’s account contradicts what Fillion had to say about Whedon.
Nathan Fillion once felt that Firefly was better off with a single season
Fox canceled Nathan Fillion’s Firefly after airing eleven out of its fourteen produced episodes. On paper, Fox couldn’t justify the huge budget of the show with its below-average ratings. Without giving it another chance, Fox decided to pull the plug by airing another hit pilot, Fastlane. However, it didn’t take much longer for fans to figure out that Fox had made a huge mistake.
The series has since gone on to gain a cult following among fans. Fillion once expressed his satisfaction with a single season of the series. During an interview with Esquire, Fillion shared that Firefly never had the chance to drop in quality since it was short-lived.
He shared that it was difficult to make the series go bad, arguing that canceling the series only added to its success. Fillion shared with Esquire:
Firefly, as short-lived as it was, never had an opportunity to suck. It didn’t have that, ‘Oh, well. Season two was kind of slow. It picked up in season three and season four was great.’ It didn’t have that quality. It just has this wonderful introduction to this incredible world where everything is new and everything’s different and everything’s great.
Fillion also shared that the show has never been tampered with since its release. It was pretty much left untouched, without any extra CGI or change in stories/character arcs. However, Whedon brainstormed a lot of ideas to keep the world alive. He eventually pitched a movie idea to Universal and the film, titled Serenity, was released in theaters.
Firefly is now available for streaming on Hulu.
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