I enjoy good science fiction as much as the next person. Give me a good Star Wars movie or a good Star Trek TV series, and I’m a happy man. Is there a TARDIS nearby? Might there involve a time-traveling telephone booth? (air guitar riff)
Then again, some science fiction fandom can border on the – for lack of a better term – obsessive.
No, seriously.
There are some people who still pine for a new season for THIS television show.
Firefly was a mashup of science fiction and Wild West tropes, and was created by Joss Whedon after he successfully piloted Buffy the Vampire Slayer into television gold. The series created its own world-building mythos, complete with show-specific slang and mannerisms, and hopes were high that the program would evolve into a long-running series that could spin off to movies and other side projects.
Trust me. You haven’t lived until you’ve run into a Brownshirt (Firefly fan) who still refers to Fox as that gorram television network that took their shiny show away, and someday they’ll get it back, and no power in the ‘verse can stop them from making it happen.
Yep. After about three months in the “Friday Night death slot,” Firefly was cancelled.
Trust me. Fans screamed and hollered and gnashed their teeth and rendered their garments. How DARE Fox cancel their series!!
Sadly, television shows get cancelled, even the ones we hope will last for ages. Trust me on this, I’m still hoping that someone greenlights a Max Headroom revival or a Timeless reboot. 😀
And somehow, there was enough buzz that someone greenlit a full-length Firefly movie, Serenity, that premiered four years after Firefly‘s cancellation.
And … that movie came and went.
But the fans wouldn’t let go. Wouldn’t give up. Even though the stars of Firefly moved on to different TV shows. Heck, Firefly lead actor Nathan Fillion has helmed TWO long-running TV shows since Firefly‘s cancellation (Castle and The Rookie). And with the exception of a few group appearances at conventions and a couple of sly nods to the TV series in other projects, the only thing that kept Firefly fans going was the possibility, ever so slim, that a new series could be made.
And 25 years later … there’s a series of cryptic social media posts that seem to hint at something shiny on the way.
Holy two by two, hands of blue, Batman, is this what I think it could be?
Calm your jets. No, seriously. CALM YOUR JETS.
The plan is for a big announcement at a fan convention on March 15. Does that mean a new Firefly-themed movie? Or (gasp) a return to television??
Let’s be logical about this. There’s no Firefly reboot on the way. Several of the actors are already earmarked for television shows or motion pictures, which would certainly interfere with a weekly shooting schedule.
Could it be a reboot? New cast, new stories? Nah. I don’t think the fans would put up with a recast Firefly series, it’s not like you can swap out Captain Mal and the rest of the crew the same way you would swap out David Tennant for Matt Smith or for Peter Capaldi or for Jodie Whittaker or for Ncuti Gatwa or for (fill in the next name).
My money says it’s most likely a line of Funko Pop figurines or commemorative bobbleheads with the likenesses of the Firefly crew. Or maybe a line of articulated action figures. Longshot? A LEGO set of the Serenity and a batch of Firefly crew minifigs.
In other words … I’m not getting my hopes up for some ‘verse-shattering announcement. Firefly had its moments, for sure. But it cribbed so many tropes and styles from Cowboy Bebop and Blake’s 7 that royalties should be paid. And Joss Whedon’s post-Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV projects have essentially crashed and burned – his post-Firely series Dollhouse lasted two seasons (and barely got the second season), while an HBO series The Nevers was cancelled so quickly you probably don’t even remember it existed.
I mean, yeah. Fans want to believe. But you have to take into consideration that the show itself is 25 years old, it was a very expensive niche program that barely drew enough viewers to keep it on the air, and even a full-length theatrical film wasn’t enough to prolong the adventures of Mal, Wash, River, Jayne and the rest of the crew.
Chuck The Writer 