This weekend, Firefly star Nathan Fillion revealed at Awesome Con that an animated revival of the show is in the works. Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, and Adam Baldwin will reprise their roles on the project, which Deadline confirms will take place between the original show and its film continuation Serenity.
Created by Joss Whedon for Fox in 2002, Firefly followed a ragtag crew of smugglers on the spaceship Serenity. It only ran for one season before being canceled, but developed a cult following, and along with the film, was continued in several books and comics. Whedon is not involved in the revival, something likely stemming from the allegations of verbal abuse on the sets of Justice League and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, although Fillion stated he has given it his blessing.
The show will instead by overseen by Arrowverse veteran Marc Guggenheim, and his wife Tara Butters (Agent Carter). While it has not been picked up by a platform, it is being developed by Fillion’s production company Collision33 with Firefly owners 20th Television Animation, and concept art is being worked on by animation studio ShadowMachine (BoJack Horseman, Robot Chicken).
Adam Baldwin’s involvement has raised some eyebrows. The 64-year old actor, who played Jayne Cobb on the show, is very right-wing, to the point he was involved in and popularized “Gamergate,” the 2014 online harassment campaign that targeted women in the video game industry. His last acting role came on an episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star (co-starring Gina Torres) in 2024.
In contrast, Sarah Michelle Gellar announced Hulu passed on the pilot for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale, a continuation of the original series that would’ve seen Buffy Summers train a new Slayer, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew). Whedon, who wrote the original 1992 film and created the 1997-2003 show, was not involved in the new project either; it was instead written by sisters Lilla & Nora Zuckerman, and directed by Chloé Zhao. Armstrong herself took to social media to share a polaroid of her character:
Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline‘s source say Hulu is still optimistic about a new Buffy project in future, but whatever transpires would presumably be very different from this take.
Fans of Buffy and its spin-off Angel will still be treated to a new series this year, with Dynamite set to debut a reboot of the comic, written by Kelly Thompson, at some point soon. The rights to the comics for Firefly, which were most recently published by BOOM! Studios, remain up in the air. In the meantime, you can head to Deadline for a closer look at the Firefly concept art Fillion et al. shared on Instagram.
