A single season of Nathan Fillion’s Firefly was enough for fans to talk about the show for the next two decades. Fans still discuss the possibility of a revival of the Fox series, which got an unfair cancelation at the studio. While TV ratings didn’t help its case, the series was recognized for its artistic value and gained a cult following.
If you ask Fillion, he might still not be happy with the way the series was treated at the time. However, he once shared that he just didn’t want to ruin the single season of the series with a revival. The series followed the adventures of a group of misfits aboard the Serenity, a Firefly-class spaceship. This group of nine anti-heroes was led by Fillion’s Malcolm Reynolds.
While Fillion is not much interested in a revival (he has also said that he would jump at a chance to work again with Joss Whedon), Alan Tudyk has an idea for the perfect revival, years after the original wrapped. Tudyk played Hoban “Wash” Washburne in the series.
Alan Tudyk’s idea for Nathan Fillion’s Firefly revival is inspired by a Clint Eastwood film
Alan Tudyk opened up about a potential Firefly revival during an interview with Esquire in 2015. Not only did Tudyk stand in support of a revival series today, but he also had an idea for how the series would be brought back. In his Western-inspired plotline, Tudyk shared that Nathan Fillion‘s Mal Reynolds can be roped back into his old ways for one final mission.
However, at the time, Tudyk shared that the viewers had to wait for another 10 years for his idea to work. He shared,
“I’m for a Firefly reboot, personally. But it’s going to have to be in a while. It’s going to take a little time. I like the idea of it in another 10 years or so.”
Tudyk’s inspiration for such a plot comes from several Western films, the most prominent of which would be Clint Eastwood‘s Unforgiven. Tudyk’s idea of an aged Mal returning to his smuggling career is a pretty intriguing storyline. He shared with Esquire:
We can pick up with Captain Mal, living on a moon somewhere … You showed me this idea, Nathan. Was it a fan fiction or something? Anyway, it picks up in another 10 years, so Mal’s going to be a little bit older. And someone comes knocking on his door and says, ‘You’re needed.’ Really, you just need the Captain. Then he can put the band back together. And you’re going to need some young people, because at that point you’re going to be old.
Interestingly, the timeline that the actor mentioned has arrived, and we are still patiently waiting to hear an update on the series. Unfortunately, there are many factors that work against the show being made. Nathan Fillion, Morena Baccarin, Gina Torres, and Tudyk have all gone on to build great careers for themselves and are actively part of successful projects.
Moreover, the show creator, Whedon, has since fallen from grace after he allegedly treated actresses on his set poorly. The most likely possibility for the series to happen is in the form of a miniseries. It wouldn’t take much of the actors’ time out of their busy schedules. And the project has to happen without Whedon.
Nathan Fillion 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 the Esquire interview, 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:
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.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
