By Jonathan Klotz
| Printed
On the 2026 AwesomeCon in Washington D.C., historical past was made in the course of the As soon as We Had been Spacemen podcast panel. Nathan Fillion, co-host of the podcast alongside Alan Tudyk, introduced to the assembled nerds that Firefly is coming again as an animated sequence.
Whereas nobody thought we’d ever truly get extra Firefly outdoors of the comedian books, the information was made even higher: the unique forged is returning. Sure, that features Alan Tudyk, for the reason that upcoming sequence between the tip of the 2001 sequence and Serenitythe animated sequence, will embrace Wash.
Getting the Band Again Collectively
For the previous few weeks main as much as the AwesomeCon panel, Nathan Fillion has been releasing teaser movies strolling as much as his previous co-stars’ houses and saying, “It’s time.” Gina Torres, Morena BaccarinJewel Staite, Adam Baldwin, Sean Maher, Summer time Glau, and, after all, Alan Tudyk, all appeared within the social media clips. Sadly, Ron Glass, who performed Shepared E-book, handed away in 2016. He’d be proper there with the remainder of the crew.
The one notable absence is sequence creator Joss Whedon, who has nothing to do with the upcoming challenge as his Hollywood exile continues to be in impact following a number of #MeToo accusations and the disastrous Justice League manufacturing. As a substitute, the upcoming Firefly animated sequence is being run by Marc Guggenheim, one of many masterminds behind Arrow and Legends of Tomorrowand Tara Butters, identified for Marvel’s Agent Carter and the cult hit comedy sequence, Reaper. Given their pedigree, the present already seems to be in good arms, however then there’s the animated studio, Shadow Machine, which you may acknowledge from BoJack Horseman, Clone Excessiveand Robotic Hen.
An Animated Sequence Avoids The Legacy Reboot Lure
Firefly’s return, 21 years after Serenityis a large shock to the legion of followers, who confer with themselves as browncoats after the identical insurgent military Mal and Zoey fought for in opposition to the Alliance. After years of false beginsvideo video games that by no means materialized, and the continued success of the forged protecting them too busy to ever make a reunion doable, all hope had been misplaced. An animated sequence will not be excellent to some, but it surely’s the very best end result for a revival sequence.
The dying of Wash in Serenity would complicate a sequel sequence, and if it have been a live-action sequence set 20 years later to elucidate why everybody appears older, that’s 20 years of off-screen story improvement. No sequence may fulfill followers by filling in a long time of knowledge that lengthy after the very fact. There’s no connection to any of it, no emotional stakes, and it might actually be a historical past lesson.
An animated Firefly offers us the younger characters that the followers know and love from the short-lived sequence, and doesn’t have to elucidate why Wash is again within the pilot’s chair. The selection additionally permits River to maneuver just like the anime character she was already meant to be. It’s higher this fashion than a live-action legacy sequence that by no means will get off the bottom. There’s at the moment no launch date for the brand new Firefly animated sequence.