- You can take my love and take my land,
but you can't take my Nerdist News from me.
Welcome to Nerdist News.
(upbeat music)
From the X Files to Gilmore Girls,
you just can't keep a good TV show canceled these days.
Heck you can't even keep some bad ones canceled,
I'm looking at you Fuller House.
But good or bad, the point remains
TV has become a much bigger, much more diverse landscape
than it was just a decade ago.
A glut of niche cable networks
and specialized streaming services
have created an environment where shows with small,
but loyal fan bases can be revived
to greater success and acclaim.
And if we're talking about shows
with small but loyal audiences,
there's one classic that seems ripe for a return.
A show that fans have been clamoring to see make a sudden
but inevitable comeback for years.
Yes, brown coats, I'm talking about Firefly.
Joss Whedon's cowboys and space drama disappeared
after a mere 14 episodes in 2003
and a single movie in 2005,
but ever since then loyal Whedon-ites
have been keeping it alive through fan screenings,
art work, and an entire Etsy industry devoted
to selling orange and yellow knitted caps.
If any show could benefit from this recent wave
of soft reboots, surely Firefly is it
and maybe it still could.
Fox president of entertainment David Madden
recently made a statement where he said the option
for Firefly to return is definitely on the table,
but it comes with one huge caveat.
They'd only be willing to do it if Whedon agreed
to be on board.
Talk about your double edged swords, guys.
On the one hand, it's awesome that the network would be
that devoted to a show's creator.
Fox knows Firefly was special because of Whedon
and fans probably wouldn't respond well
to a version that excluded him.
On the other hand after helming two
of the biggest blockbusters of all time,
Whedon is way more in demand than he ever was in 2003.
The chances of getting him back seem a lot slimmer
now that he's making Avengers money.
Plus he probably doesn't have the time,
'cause he's super busy.
So what are the real chances of Whedon shepherding Firefly
back to the small screen?
Well, he's had a lot to say about the over the years,
including this quote from a BuzzFeed article
back in 2013, a couple years from when I'm no longer
the Tom Hagen of the Marvel Universe
and making a giant movie,
we might see where the market is then.
But right now, it's a complete non-Kickstarter for me.
Presumably by non-Kickstarter Whedon was referring
to the then somewhat common trend of shows looking
to fans to finance new episodes films.
See Veronica Mars as the classic example.
But as we said up top,
the marketplace is pretty different
than it was even four years ago.
Veronica Mars would probably have a good shot
at finding a home with Netflix or Amazon these days
and with the Russo brothers sitting in the captain's seat
of the MCU, the conditions Whedon required
to consider a return are pretty much in place.
Of course that doesn't mean the cast is ready
to come back.
Over the years Nathan Fillion
and company have cooled on the idea of returning
to their iconic roles
and even expressed annoyance
over continually getting asked about it.
Plus, there's the fact
that even if they did get the full cast back,
they'd have to deal with the fact
that fan favorite Wash was killed off
at the end of Serenity.
(buzzer buzzes)
Now Whedon is no stranger
to bringing characters back from the dead
when he wants to, but he's pretty stubborn
about it when he doesn't.
Wash's untimely impalement seemed pretty final
and even if Firefly does come back,
we can see Whedon putting his foot down
about bringing Wash back.
So yeah, all in all, even with Fox's statement,
a Firefly return seems unlikely but not impossible,
and hey, if Whedon is willing to return,
but a lot of the cast isn't,
maybe there is the rare case
where a full reboot would actually be great.
After all Whedon has always complained
about how difficult it was to work
with Fox on the show back in the day.
A fresh page could give him a chance
to finally realize the show as he fully envisioned
while Nathan Fillion gets to keep living the easy life
on those sweet sweet Castle residuals.
But we wanna hear what you guys think.
Could Whedon really return to Firefly?
And if so, would you watch it with a new cast?
Let's discuss.
(intriguing music)
(mechanical whooshing)
(pencil scribbling)
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