Time to brush up on your Mandarin, Browncoats. The big “Firefly” news that’s been teased for weeks has finally been revealed: An animated “Firefly” series is in the works!
Stars Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk (along with the rest of the cast) announced the news during a full-cast reunion panel at Washington D.C.’s Awesome Con Sunday.
A new video popped up on Instagram (timed to the panel) with Fillion saying that not only does he have creator Joss Whedon’s blessing, but 20th Century Fox/Disney is also excited to see Serenity soar again. (“They said yes,” he says.) As for showrunners, Fillion has Tara Butters (“Agent Carter,” “Dollhouse”) and Marc Guggenheim (“Arrow,” “The Flash”) lined up, a couple who met and married through the series. A script is already written and an animation house already lined up: Shadowhouse. All they need now: a home.
Watch the cast’s announcement below:
Fillion and Tudyk — who played Captain Mal Reynolds and Hoban “Wash” Washburne, respectively, in the space Western caper — have been teasing the news for weeks. In a series of videos posted to Instagram, Fillion was seen knocking on the doors of Gina Torres (Zoe Washburne), Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra), Sean Maher (Simon Tam), Summer Glau (River Tam), and Jewel Staite (Kaylee Frye), teasing that something big was on the horizon. (“Oh, it’s happening,” Fillion told Maher at his doorstep.)
Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb) can be seen in the new video posted Sunday, though Ron Glass, who played Shepherd Book, sadly died in 2016.
Firefly was a cult show canceled far too soon
“Firefly” was a show created by Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) and executive-produced by Whedon and Tim Minear (“Angel”). The series ran for only one season in the 2002-03 season before being unceremoniously aired out of order and axed. Three episodes (“Trash,” “The Message,” and “Heart of Gold”) remained unseen until the series’ first DVD release in December 2003.
The show followed the lives of a group of outlaws living on the fringes of society as they attempt to smuggle cargo throughout a universe controlled by a superpower government called “The Alliance.” The space crew is led by Captain Mal, who fought a losing fight in a former civil war with his wartime friend and second-in-command, Zoe. Throughout its 14-episode run, the crew attempts to survive the ‘verse by avoiding the Alliance and cannibalistic Reavers, all while trying to earn enough money to put food on the table and keep their ship in the skies.
Given the show’s hearty fanfare, a $40 million feature film was greenlit, with Whedon once again writing and directing. “Serenity” (which hit theaters in 2005) served as a continuation of the show’s first-and-only season. Set in 2517, it followed the Captain Mal’s crew as they continued their smuggling business and dealt with the danger that River’s secret brought them. Chiwetel Ejiofor joined the movie as the Operative, a mysterious and high-ranking Alliance agent. Despite healthy DVD sales for the series and film, plans for a sequel or trilogy were nixed after the movie barely broke even at the box office.
So let’s hear it Browncoats: Was this the “Firefly” news you were expecting? And are you excited to see Captain Tightpants back in action? Sound off!