Exclusive Interview: Nathan Fillion & Alan Tudyk Talk ‘Firefly’ Animated Series, If Shep Will Return & Why The Underdogs Deserve A Win

This is very interesting to me, it sounds like Fillion and Tudyk are the ones responsible for bringing the show back in animated form. I wonder if that's every happened before, where the actor is the one leading the charge for a 'reboot'.

**Why there are no original writers involved** DEADLINE: When our story came out after the Awesome Con announcement, fans in the comments wondered why you didn’t hire any of the writers from the original series. What say you? FILLION: Running a show is an entirely different beast from recording a voice for a show. So there’s the original folks, like Tim Minear, who are running other TV shows. They don’t have a whole lot of time, and I don’t know that I could even afford them. This is not a big money-making venture, doing an animated program. But what we did manage to do is find incredibly talented people who also love Firefly. Tara and Marc met and connected over their love of Firefly. So when we were looking for showrunners, their passion was palpable for the show. We wanted to find someone who loved it and would care for it the way we do. **The choice of timeline** DEADLINE: What can you share about the timeline you chose, between the end of the TV show and before the film Serenity? TUDYK: It’s called the “Wash Is Still Alive Time.” We refer to it as that. FILLION: Exactly. You can’t bring back Firefly without bringing back all of Firefly. We toyed with the idea of spending some time in the show after the events of Serenity, and I honestly have no interest. I think Serenity was our wonderful farewell to what was an incredible opportunity. Had we only had one more chance to do something, that was it, and it was beautiful. I can’t compete with that. But what I can do is go back in time, bring the gang back together, and give people what they want, which is more Firefly. After Serenity, it’s not the same. I didn’t want to do this without my buddy Alan. **Shepherd Book** DEADLINE: So Shep will be represented in the animated series with a different voice? FILLION: Absolutely, that’s the plan. Yeah, we’re bringing back Shepherd Book for certain. Ron Glass, unfortunately, is not available. Ron once joked that he didn’t get a part when they were looking for a Ron Glass-type, and here we are again. We’re looking for a Ron Glass-type, and it’s not going to be Ron Glass. **Meetings with streamers/networks** DEADLINE: The millions of fans who liked and shared your viral videos leading up to the Awesome Con announcement have to mean something to potential buyers. Is there a dream home for Firefly, the animated series? Have you received a lot of calls yet? FILLION: I don’t care where it lives. I just want wherever it is for the people who are involved to either love it the way I love it or see the importance of what it is. TUDYK: Rosy wanted to know if there was a dream home for the project, but also whether or not there had been a flood of calls since our announcement became such a big hit. Are we just fielding offers? I…don’t…wanna say. I’ll leave this to you, Nathan. FILLION: I don’t think we’re having any difficulty getting the appointment now. You know what I mean? Our foot in the door. TUDYK: Conversations are being had. FILLION: Exactly. They don’t call me directly, Rosy. But I have a team of people who are far smarter than I, which is one of my strengths, recognizing my limitations and putting people in place who are smarter and better.

Since it's animated they can just bring back Tudyk for voice work. He's got a million of em.

I wonder if this, and the Buffy almost-reboot, have to do with Whedon. Or more precisely, the lack of Whedon. It must’ve been well known that he was a nightmare to work with in recent years, so now that he’s persona non grata, and the dust has settled from his fall from grace, it’s looking like a great time to bring back these popular shows without having to deal with working with Joss.

Have they talked about the rights? I’m assuming Fox/Disney still owns them, or Mutant Enemy? I’m curious how this is all working.

Honestly this vindicates a lukewarm take of mine- the biggest hurdle to another season of Firefly (at least before Joss Whedon got cancelled) was actually Serenity They tried to burn through as much plot as possible and killed off a fan favorite character, when Firefly was at its best during its more episodic episodes that focus more on the characters and vibes Now they're shooting themselves in the foot trying to make a series that fills the gap between Firefly and Serenity, and we know that the characters won't meaningfully grow or change because they can't They should bite the bullet and just make Serenity not canon

F*** Adam Baldwin. We didn't forget.

I know this is an unpopular opinion but i don't like animated versions of live action stories. Love firefly, but i will definitely not watch this.

Can we hope for pog form, like ALF?

Immensely disappointed with how they played this. They hyped it up as something that was already in the bag. In effect it's nothing more than "Yeah nothing is filmed and we have no one to pick it up". They should have stayed quiet until they had something to be hyped about.