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Fox wants to give Joss Whedon another shot at Firefly (1 Viewer)

Adam Lenhardt

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I think it'd be great, if they could get the surviving cast -- Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher and Summer Glau -- back, perhaps with one or two new cast members. It would actually seem to be a pretty fortuitous time: Nathan Fillion's "Castle" got cancelled at the end of last season, Gina Torres's run on "Suits" recently ended, Jewel Staite's been doing guest roles since "The Killing" ended, Sean Maher has mainly been doing voice work, and Summer Glau's most recent guest spot was an episode of the aforementioned "Castle".

That just leaves Morena Baccarin, who is a series regular on "Gotham" and is signed for the Deadpool sequel, and Adam Baldwin, who has been shooting the fourth and fifth seasons of "The Last Ship" back to back since last November. If they shot a short-run revival where all the episodes are shot before the first one airs, they could probably find a way to make the scheduling work -- especially since neither plays a character that's in every scene of their existing shows.

All of that being said, it sounds like something the FOX exec just threw out there as a hypothetical. It doesn't sound like there's any movement behind the scenes on this.
 

Josh Steinberg

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I would think that after Dollhouse, Whedon would be very reluctant to return to Fox. They promised him that it would be different with Dollhouse and that they wouldn't interfere with the show, and then of course they did exactly that. I also wonder if the guy just might be done with TV, too. He worked on the Agents Of SHIELD show (and I think he remains a PINO on it), and his multi-year deal with Marvel came to an unceremonious and bitter end.

I have mixed feelings about this if it were to turn out to be true. I think Firefly is easily the weakest of Whedon's shows - I think it had potential, but was axed before it could grow into anything. I've watched it several times, and I just can't fall in love with it. It's a decent idea for a show, but it never actually turns into a good show. I think a lot of people who love the show are loving it for what it could have been, and not for what it actually is. (Though of course all of this stuff is subjective anyway.) With that being said, I thought the "Serenity" movie was fantastic. It expanded on the most interesting stuff in the show, and discarded most of the stuff that didn't work for me. In my (probably minority) view, he was able to take a mediocre show and get a great movie out of it.

If it were to come back, I'd certainly watch it. But I also hope if it comes back that it's not beholden to any comics based on it. I'm not saying wipe them out of canon the way Disney did with the extended Star Wars universe. But if it comes back, I don't want it to feel like I need to read a bunch of comics for it to make sense, or that the story onscreen has been predetermined by existing comics. (In that sense, I don't object to Disney wiping the Star Wars slate clean, because I'd hate for the new Star Wars movies to simply be adaptations of existing books that have been out there forever. When The Force Awakens came out, whether you had only watched the previous movies or had read every single Star Wars book ever, you were still on the same page as everyone else - no one knew what was coming next. If Firefly comes back, I hope it's the same deal.)
 

TravisR

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But I also hope if it comes back that it's not beholden to any comics based on it.
My guess is that they'd just avoid contradicting anything in the comics (which would be easy) rather than actually utilizing info from them. Since they'd likely write new episodes as if the viewers had never seen the original show, they probably would refer back to as very little previous history as possible.
 

DaveF

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I have mixed feelings about this if it were to turn out to be true. I think Firefly is easily the weakest of Whedon's shows - I think it had potential, but was axed before it could grow into anything. I've watched it several times, and I just can't fall in love with it. It's a decent idea for a show, but it never actually turns into a good show.

"me too...", he whispers furtively, hoping his Brownshirt friends don't overhear...
 

Adam Lenhardt

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I've watched it several times, and I just can't fall in love with it. It's a decent idea for a show, but it never actually turns into a good show. I think a lot of people who love the show are loving it for what it could have been, and not for what it actually is. (Though of course all of this stuff is subjective anyway.)
"Firefly" is a strong contender for my favorite series of all time. I absolutely adore even the episodes that are objectively subpar. It came at a unique point in television, bridging the gap between the cheesiness of past TV science fiction programming and the mature sophistication of later efforts. I'm in love with the elements that they borrow from the past, and I'm in love with the elements that are precursors for the future.

It should be noted that almost all of my contenders for favorite series of all time have very short lives, often cancelled very prematurely. And I think that's because they were snuffed out before the rigors of producing 22 hour-long episodes of television could trigger the quality to start slipping. "My So-Called Life" had a brilliant first season. But I once heard or read Winnie Holzman's plans for the second season that was never to be, and they would have almost certainly been a disaster. At 14 episodes, "Firefly" went out with its identity firmly established and not yet compromised. It was still in the phase where it was discovering itself and experimenting. The show didn't last long enough for staleness to start to creep in. And then Serenity blew through a season's worth of plot and revelations. The overall effect is that I'm left wanting more, which is always a good thing.

But like you say, interest and appreciation is subjective. Different strokes for different folks. I'm sure there are things you adore that leave me cold.
 

Josh Steinberg

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For what it's worth, I absolutely love Serenity. I think it takes all of the promise that the show did have and delivers on it.

My favorite Whedon show might be Dollhouse, which isn't gonna make me popular anytime soon. :)
 

Carabimero

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interest and appreciation is subjective. Different strokes for different folks. I'm sure there are things you adore that leave me cold.
Sometimes my love for a series has just as much to do with what's going on in my life at the time I first see the series as it does with the quality of the series itself.
 

Bryan^H

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For what it's worth, I absolutely love Serenity. I think it takes all of the promise that the show did have and delivers on it.

Yeah, mainly because it is 6 seasons of material crammed in one movie.
That is the thing that hurts me most. Joss had an outline for a 7 season show, and was forced to put the remaining story in a two hour movie.
So much promise of what could have been, so many in between stories, and "small moments" missing.

I liked Serenity too, but not near as much as Firefly.
 

Bryan^H

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I watched Firefly first run. "The Train Job" was a decent first episode, but I sure didn't warm up to the series right away.

By the time I watched "Jaynestown" it was one of my all time favorite series ever to grace the tv landscape. Just like Buffy before it, I cared so much about the characters, I was in a trance with each new episode.

A funny thing, and it bothers me to this day. Fox cancelled Firefly before they aired Serenity(2 parter) which was intended to be the pilot. It was such a solid introduction to the characters, well written, great story...and they aired it LAST! So stupid.

Not to mention the onslaught of promotion for it. ? So they start a show up in the wrong episodic order, have very little promotion except for the "Fox Friday" spots....cancel the series, go crazy with advertisements promoting the pilot(airing as the final episode) for a show that was already cancelled. Perplexing from start to finish with the whole thing.
A real head scratcher as to just how poorly a series could be handled.
 

Hollywoodaholic

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A day late and a dollar short on Fox's part. Sure they wish they had it back at this point. I doubt Whedon bites, though. I'd welcome even another feature at this point. But, ultimately, this may have to exist as one of those great one-off series seasons. They can't take that away from us.

Now bring on Deadwood.
 

Yee-Ming

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"Firefly" is a strong contender for my favorite series of all time. I absolutely adore even the episodes that are objectively subpar. It came at a unique point in television, bridging the gap between the cheesiness of past TV science fiction programming and the mature sophistication of later efforts. I'm in love with the elements that they borrow from the past, and I'm in love with the elements that are precursors for the future.

Hear hear; fully agree. I would absolutely love to see a return of Firefly, and as already noted, most of the actors are sort-of available.

As an aside, I must say the Firefly board game does a nice job in simulating what went on in the Firefly universe. Have a look if you haven't already.
 

AndyMcKinney

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A real head scratcher as to just how poorly a series could be handled.

Fox had a real history of poor handling of shows that they weren't solidly behind. It still makes me mad how they (mis)treated Profit, which is one of my all-time faves. If it wasn't a show that the current execs really loved, Fox would pull the plug pretty fast.
 

DaveF

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I've watched Firefly twice through, and Serenity twice. Firefly isn't a show that I actively dislike: it's not badly done and the Whedon-isms are fun. But it doesn't appeal to my tastes.

What I love about Buffy is it takes the mundane issues of inconsequential high school students and makes them mythic. But Firefly seemed to be the inverse. It took an epic setting of intra-solar civil conflict and made it about the mundane problems of inconsequential people. And despite trying to love, it never captured me.

I rank Dolhouse well above Firefly in my love of Whedon's work.
 

Aaron Silverman

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As an aside, I must say the Firefly board game does a nice job in simulating what went on in the Firefly universe. Have a look if you haven't already.

There are actually a few different games based on the show. This is the one you want:

pic1727008.png
 

RJ992

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Variety recently ran a poll asking what cancelled series viewers would like to see most as a Netflix show. Firefly won by a wide margin. Perhaps that is why Fox might consider it. Josh Whedon has said in the past that he would want to bring it back only as a theatrical feature. Personally I think that Netflix is the better way to go. A lower budget would only help a Firefly series, as it's low-tech aspects were part of its appeal. The series made a point of indicating that many outer planets were lucky to have cattle much less high technology. The Serenity movie altered that somewhat... to the point that, instead of an ATV, the crew now has supersonic landspeeders. A smaller budget pulls the series back to its original concept and would allow the show to concentrate more on characters than spectacle. would love to see it happen but I won't hold my breath.
 

sidburyjr

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I think the original cast is too old to continue the series as if nothing has happened since the end of Serenity. A new cast [Firefly: The Next Generation] would be interesting. Regardless of what they chose I would watch at least a couple of episodes.
 

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