Fox is “wide open” to a Firefly revival

Okay Browncoats, let’s all be leaves on the wind and soar into some potentially exciting Firefly news. If you’re unfamiliar, Firefly was a sci-fi western with a very large cult following that was canceled by Fox because the network hates nice things. The Joss Whedon show has been off the air for nearly 20 years (there was also a movie, Serenity, in 2005), but there are still fans keeping the fight alive.

Recently, executive producer Tim Minear tweeted a photo from the last day of shooting, which pulled on the nostalgic heartstrings and worked fans into a frenzy.

That’s cast members Nathan Fillion (Mal), Alan Tudyk (Wash), Gina Torres (Zoe), and Morena Baccarin (Inara). Tudyk, who had a very prolific career after the show, quickly responded:

Whedon then retweeted Tudyk. All this tweeting reawakened something, because The Wrap soon after asked Michael Thorn, president of entertainment at Fox, about the possibility of a Firefly revival. “The macro answer is, any time we look at one of our classic titles, if there’s a way to reinvent it for today so it’s as resonant now as the original was, and is, to the fans, we’re wide open,” he said. “I loved Firefly, personally, and I watched every episode. I didn’t work on it, but I loved the show. It had come up before, but we had The Orville on the air and it didn’t make sense for us to have, as a broadcast network who is very targeted, to have two space franchises on our air.”

So is he saying a Firefly could have happened already if not for The Orville? Maybe, but Thorn was quick to point out that Minear is currently “very busy” at Fox being the showrunner of 9-1-1 and its spinoff, 9-1-1: Lonestar. Still, “In this crowded marketplace, if you can start with some kind of brand awareness and IP that has a vocal support and, in this case, a crazy, passionate love for it, you’re ahead of the game,” he said.

Naturally, talk like this just inflamed fans further, with star Jewel Staite (Kaylee) weighing in on Twitter:

For his part, Minear said he’s been talking to Joss Whedon off and on about Firefly for a while now. “Joss did sort of revive it by making Serenity,” he said. “But we have talked about different permutations and how that might work. Do you take two of the characters and put them in a different place and sort of retell a new story with two old characters, with new characters?”

"You’re not gonna get everybody back — unless you did something like a limited series, like they did for The X-Files. Then maybe you could get these people to come back. ‘Cause Nathan is a little busy doing The Rookie. But I also know, ’cause I just texted a little bit with Nathan over the weekend, when I posted those pictures from Firefly and he got very sentimental. Everyone who worked on that show dearly loves it and they all still talk to each other. I still see Alan occasionally."

It sounds like Minear would be interested in doing a limited series run for a possible Firefly revival. “I would love to see, like, an eight- or 10-episode limited adventure in that universe.”

While there is nothing resembling confirmation of the possibility of Firefly returning to Fox, for now, we’ll just have to remain hopeful.

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