Firefly returns in cartoon form as the sci-fi series that refuses to die gets another reprieve.
You know it’s a weird news day when a Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot gets the chop one minute, and bloody Firefly gets an animated series the next. No shade on Firefly – well, a little shade, maybe; it’s a textbook problematic fave – but it’s not a result I’d have put money on.
Nathan Fillion made the announcement while on a panel at Awesome Con in Washington, D.C. on the weekend, where he was recording a live episode of Once We Were Spacemen, the podcast he co-hosts with fellow Firefly veteran Alan Tudyk. Fellow Firefly cast members Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher, and Summer Glau were also on hand, and will be reprising their roles on the new series, as will Adam Baldwin, who was not present.
As per Deadline, Fillion is developing the series through his Collision33 production banner in partnership with 20th Television Animation. Marc Guggenheim (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow) and Tara Butters (Agent Carter, Reaper) are on board as showrunners, and the script is finished.
Disgraced Firefly creator Joss Whedon, whose career imploded after an avalanche of accusations of abusive behaviour, is not involved, but has apparently given his blessing.
Firefly originally ran for a single 14-episode season on Fox in 2002, and was subsequently revived as a feature film, Serenity, in 2005, which wrapped up most of the dangling plot threads fairly efficiently. A sci-fi Western hybrid, the series starred Nathan Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds, outlaw captain, and his crew, in a setting that drew heavily on the post-Civil War American West. Depending on who you listen to, it either never lasted long enough to get bad, or never lasted long enough to address some of the deeply problematic elements it contained. I’m kinda in the middle on that one.
This new series will be set between the original series and the movie, offering the opportunity for certain beloved characters who were bumped off in the latter to return.
Now, this isn’t a done deal; the series package is going out to buyers soon, so it all depends on who bites. But for Browncoats, those most dedicated and annoying of sci-fi fans, it’s a red letter day.
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