EXCLUSIVE: Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk are still riding on a high after announcing on Sunday that there’s a Firefly animated series in advanced development.
And with the explosion of stories and fan support that has emerged, likes and shares of their viral social campaign, could it possibly and finally be the right time for more Firefly?
Deadline caught up with the pair on Wednesday to explore the topic more in depth and to answer this and more of fans’ burning questions.
First, as a refresher: We reported on March 15 that Fillion, Tudyk, and their Firefly costars, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, and Adam Baldwin, have committed to bringing their original characters back as voice actors. The show will go on without series regular Ron Glass, who died at the age of 71 in 2016.
The animated reboot is being developed through Fillion’s production banner Collision33 in partnership with 20th Television Animation, which controls the underlying rights to the franchise. Married writing-producing team Marc Guggenheim (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow) and Tara Butters (Agent Carter, Reaper) are attached to serve as showrunners, and a script has been completed. Original series creator Joss Whedon is not involved in the new project but has given his blessing.
The proposed series is set in the timeline between the original 2002 television run and its 2005 feature film continuation, Serenity, expanding the universe while preserving continuity with the established lore.
Find our Q&A with Fillion and Tudyk below.
‘Firefly’ cast members, from left: Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Ron Glass, Sean Maher, Morena Baccarin, Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk and Summer Glau in 2002
DEADLINE: It’s been 24 years since Firefly premiered. How did plans come together in 2025-26 to commit to doing an animated series?
NATHAN FILLION: I have never met a fan of Firefly — be it at a convention on a bus or at an airport or walking down the street getting ice cream — who has ever not said to me, “Is there going to be more?” In the zeitgeist of my experience, it’s always been ever-present. So here I am at this stage of my career, and I’m diversifying with a production company and trying to make TV shows, and this is a show that was extremely meaningful for me. It was an incredible part of my life. It built the foundations of my career.
This was the job to which we all, as a cast, set the bar for all other jobs. This set our expectation for what a working experience would be. We’ve all remained friends throughout the years, and we all have this incredible experience with the conventions that we still get to get together, we still get to reminisce and rejoice in the experience that was Firefly.
DEADLINE: Did your podcast with Alan, Once We Were Spacemen, play a role in wanting to push this forward in a big way now?
FILLION: I wish I could say that there was a connection. But what’s been great for me is… You know, Alan is a working actor. He’s very busy. I have jobs as well. He lives in Canada for most of the time. And thanks to this podcast, I see him more than I have in the past decade. We’re always in touch, but those moments of seeing him get more and more rare. This podcast has been a blessing.
“Once We Were Spacemen” hosted Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk key art
Once We Were Spacemen
Editor’s note: Tudyk joins the conversation.
ALAN TUDYK: My apologies for my tardiness. Hello.
DEADLINE: Alan, Nathan was just saying what a joy it’s been to work on the podcast with you and how it’s brought you guys closer than ever—and you get to talk about your shared love for Firefly. What’s your experience been like?
TUDYK: On the podcast, we get to talk about Firefly, and we get to bring all of our friends from the show on to talk about things that we’ve maybe touched on before. But we’re also digging deeper and deeper into Nathan and my relationship, and then also got into when Gina was on… That was a big confession for me. Um, maybe I don’t want to point it out anyway. There are secrets that have been buried that are coming out in the podcast. You can listen to them. There’s so much joy in this thing. I’m having fun, not just connecting with Nathan, which is the key to what I think makes this work, but also the Firefly cast.
FILLION: When I called them, they said what they always say to me, which is, “How did you get this number?”
TUDYK: [Laughs]
FILLION: But after that, they said yes. I said, “Hey guys, if I could do this, if I could bring it back, if I could do it in such a way that nobody has to move back to LA and everybody can keep the jobs that they have. If I could do it so that you’re just recording in the back room of your house, whenever is convenient for you. You guys want to bring this back?” Everybody said, yes. None of this could happen unless everyone was in and everyone was in.
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: Well, it kind of comes down to people having other jobs. Recording a voiceover for the Firefly animated series is low… What’s the word I’m looking for, Alan? It is the involvement, the amount of work that needs to be done. It’s low…
TUDYK: Potato chip.
FILLION: That’s the one.
DEADLINE: [Laughs]
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.
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. And you know that’s a reason why animation is key, because Ron Glass is no longer with us. I like to think, in my heart of hearts, that this is something that he would have wanted.
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.
Can confirm this is really what Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion are like when together.
Once We Were Spacemen
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.
TUDYK: This is where I come in.
FILLION: Exactly.
DEADLINE: This was such a groundbreaking show, for so many reasons. I’ve just started watching it, and a few things really stood out. First, at the time that this came out, there weren’t a lot of Latinos in sci-fi, and Firefly had both Gina Torres and Morena Baccarin front and center. Secondly, I loved how the Serenity was such an underdog, and then of course, its crew. So I’m starting to understand why you all have such a deep love for the show.
FILLION: Last night, I was thinking about this interview and trying to get myself back into the head frame of it. And you know what I rewatched last night, Alan? The fan-made documentary Did The Impossible, which you can pull up on YouTube. It was just some passionate fans who gathered the story of how this little show that couldn’t, became a major motion picture. In it you, Alan, and Morena and Jewel all said, “Here we are in a TV show, playing a crew of people who were underdogs in this universe, of this Firefly universe, and how our story was so well reflected in real life that we were the underdogs of this show on Fox, that, try as we might, we kept our head pushed underwater. I do love the redemption theme. I love it when an underdog becomes the hero and gets what he deserves.
TUDYK: You’re right, absolutely. That’s so well said. It’s something that never goes out of fashion, being the underdog, because it seems like we’re perpetually fighting for the underdog.
FILLION: It’s a theme that everyone can relate to. Everyone has been and is an underdog in some way, shape, or form.
TUDYK: Was the word you were looking for earlier low stakes?
FILLION: Yes, but I also wanted something about the actual time commitment. It’s a low commitment.
DEADLINE: Nathan, I love that you always bring your friends over from one show to one of your other shows. I’m a big fan of your Castle co-star Jon Huertas, and he’s been on your other shows. Could we see any of that, bringing non-Firefly friends over to play?
FILLION: Don’t think for a second I’m not going to pull favors from every friend I’ve ever had to come and do cameos and characters. That’s just been another fantastic thing, is that everyone I’ve spoken to has been fantastic about keeping it very hush-hush.
Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion at Awesome Con on March 14
Once We Were Spacemen
DEADLINE: To close up, is there anything I haven’t asked you that you’d like to share?
TUDYK: If you haven’t seen it in a while, and you love the show, you’re due for a re-watch. A lot of people are doing it, and it is helpful to the campaign, but also it’s fun to re-watch. I did it last year, and I’m always impressed with how funny it is, and I fall back in love with it. I like it more now than I did when we made it. I really do it. I’ve also forgotten chunks of it. There are moments when I’m like, I know we get out of this, but I don’t know how. Now, I can be the true audience member in a way I wasn’t able to be before.
FILLION: I’m going to misquote him, but Ron said something about how incredible the experience was participating in Firefly, being a part of that family, and how wonderful and incredible and delightful it was and humbling, and how it should happen to him more often. And I completely agree with that. What the fans do and what we get to experience when Alan and I and the cast go to these conventions, and we get up on a stage in front of everybody, when we’re meeting the fans face to face and shaking hands and signing autographs and taking pictures. That experience is incredibly empowering and humbling.
TUDYK: Yeah.
FILLION: That is exactly the reason we had the confidence to think that this could happen again, and something that we wanted to happen again. This was an incredible experience for all of us.
TUDYK: Through the cons, this has never stopped. Firefly has never died.
FILLION: It’s been over two decades.
TUDYK: It’s been over two decades. It has continued on, and the Firefly family has grown. People have passed it on to their children. The one thing that we’re missing is more Firefly.
FILLION: The show was cancelled, but we didn’t fail because of the fans.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
