Rumours of a Firefly reboot abound, but should the Serenity fly again?

Firefly holds a special place in the hearts of many sci-fi fans. First off, this 2002 western-in-space show by Joss Whedon is good, with a great gang of funny and engaging characters at its heart. Second off, it was tragically cancelled in its first season, with all its promise intact. Then Whedon, blocked from making more TV episodes, capped off the series with a Hollywood movie, Serenity, in 2005. The movie showed exactly why the cast and the series would have had the chops to run and run, had the show’s network, Fox, not upended its running order and then cancelled it.

In the 21 years since the movie, there’s been plenty of time for the Browncoats – as fans are known – to get excited over every suggestion of a reboot. It’s all come to nothing. Now the Browncoats are, probably, having their hearts toyed with yet again. Nathan Fillion, who played the captain of a beat-up ship called Serenity on the show, has been going round to former cast members and asking them cryptic questions laced with key quotes from Firefly, and then posting the mysterious interactions online. Apparently, we will find out on 15 March what this is all about.

Oh, we are definitely being toyed with, especially as there are a million reasons against a reboot (just one of them being the fact that Whedon has fallen from favour after being accused by several actors of creating a toxic atmosphere on set; allegations he denies.) But how can we not secretly hope that it might happen?

For the purposes of this article, I rewatched the first, feature-length episode of the 14-episode run and then the capstone movie to viscerally refresh myself on a body of work I have already (arguably) watched an unhealthy number of times. I’ll try to write this without spoilers for the lucky readers amongst you who have not yet seen any of this.

Two things struck me about TV episode one, entitled Serenity. First, what a confident magpie Whedon really was. Everything he loved, he put in the show, and he did it with huge élan. In this one episode the main characters: fight in something that looks a bit like the American Civil War, wearing their now-famous brown coats; ride horses, cowboy style, on an alien planet; illegally strip salvage from an abandoned spaceship in a scene that could come straight from Star Wars; hide from an enormous Imperial-style ship as it passes by; hide from a ship of killer zombies; and reckon with a super-mysterious stowaway on their creaky “Firefly-class” ship – where the gravity works perfectly and everyone has a surprisingly large bedroom. And somehow it all works!

Second, Whedon was always superb (as his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer proves) at quickly establishing credible groups of on-screen friends, but here he was particularly lucky with his casting choices. There are no weak crew members. Rewatching it, Alan Tudyk, who plays the pilot, particularly stands out for his humanity and comic delivery. But they are all good – although it’s a shame that Nathan Fillion’s love interest, played by Morena Baccarin, is a sex worker with a heart of gold (sigh).

Watching the movie straight after, I notice how obviously the production value radically ratchets up, which is excellent. My main feeling about the film, other than sadness over the arguably unnecessary death of a key character, is that – even with a few moments of slightly jarring exposition necessary to fill in viewers who might not have seen the TV show – it’s easily as good as major movies that went on to become big franchises, such as Guardians of the Galaxy. My other main feeling was: wow, what a difference a world-class baddie makes. Chiwetel Ejiofor is brilliant in the (fantastically written) role of an assassin for the ruling “Alliance”. Oh and also: the dialogue! There are such delightful lines here from “I am a leaf on the wind” to “Somebody fire!”

So yes, I realise fans are being played with. Our hopes for Serenity flying again will surely be dashed. Just to put in my pennyworth, though: why not reboot this? There is so much meat on the bones of this universe and these characters.

Some people on the internet say, “Oh, but they are all too old now.” But I mean, too old for who? They all look shiny enough for me. More scientifically speaking, several of the original cast are now TV-powerful enough to lead in big shows. Why not let them spend some of their TV lifeblood on seeing where Serenity could take them next? I can imagine it working just fine with some extra years under those gun belts.

(And yes, yes, yes, I know they’re just going to disappoint us again.)

Emily H. Wilson is the author of The Sumerians trilogy and a former editor of New Scientist