Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character and the protagonist of the
Firefly franchise. Mal is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV
series Firefly and the 2005 film Serenity. In the series, Mal is a former
Browncoat sergeant and the captain of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity.
The character was named #18 in TV Guide '​s Greatest Sci-Fi Legends list
in 2004. Production details
Conceived by Joss Whedon, the character Malcolm Reynolds was the only definite
character he had in mind when formulating the ensemble cast. He wanted
a hero, but not a hero in the classic sense; someone that is "everything that
a hero is not." In the proposed pilot, Mal was much
darker and considerably more closed-off. Fox network executives objected, and
asked that Mal be "lightened up". For the second episode, Whedon created a
more "jolly" Mal Reynolds. Fillion shares his view on the
motivations of the character he portrayed. Mal has lost so much that
each character in the crew he has gathered on Serenity represents an
aspect of himself he no longer has. "In Wash, he has a lust for life and a sense
of humor he's lost. In Jayne, he has selfishness. In Book, he has
spirituality. In Kaylee, he has innocence. Everybody represents a facet
of himself that he has lost and that's why he keeps them close and safe, and
yet at arm's length." = Casting=
The role was originally written for Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star
Nicholas Brendon; however, the shooting schedule conflicted with his commitment
to Buffy. Whedon approached Nathan Fillion to play
the lead, and after explaining the premise and showing Fillion the
treatment for the pilot, Fillion was eager for the role. Fillion was called
back several times to read for the part before he was cast. He noted that "It
was really thrilling. It was my first lead and I was pretty nervous, but I
really wanted that part and I wanted to tell those stories."
= Costume design= Los Angeles prop shop Applied Effects
was approached by Randy Erikson to create Mal's main gun, a "Moses Brothers
Self-Defense Engine Frontier Model B", and gave them a week and a half. Erikson
provided a foamcore conceptual mockup and the base guns, one of which was a
five-shot .38 caliber Taurus Model 85 revolver. Erikson researched American
Civil War-era revolvers for inspiration and the final mockup had a brass or
bronze look, with the revolver a little elongated. The biggest challenge was
masking the shape of the original revolver and still keeping it operable.
On the TV series Firefly, a cast bronze pistol was used, but for the film
Serenity, a more detailed replica was created which had moving action and a
blank pistol hidden inside, so that it could be fired in close-ups. Since this
version was quite heavy, a resin replica was also constructed, which in addition
to being less tiring for the actors to carry, could be thrown or dropped with
less fear of injury. Nonfunctional replicas of the gun are commercially
available for fans and collectors. GBB Custom Gunleather was tasked with
creating Mal's gun holster, which was made out of oak-tanned carving leather.
The character's coat, a relic of his time as a Browncoat, was a collaboration
between Firefly costume designer Shawna Trpcic and Jonathan A. Logan, a leather
artist. Trpcic sketched her idea and a cloth mockup was created before the
final was made with domestic-farmed deerskin. The cuffs are actually the
sleeves folded back, evoking the style of Oriental robes with their silk
linings. Two coats were made for the character, one called "Number 1" coat
and another called "The Hero" coat. The Number 1 coat's bullet hole is drawn in,
while The Hero version has a detailed cut and sewn repair. As with the gun,
replicas of Malcolm Reynolds' coat have also been made available commercially
for fans. Character biography
Malcolm's main mission is to keep his crew alive and to keep his ship flying.
As Firefly writer Tim Minear stated in an interview: "It's just about getting
by. That's always been the mission statement of what the show is — getting
by." In Serenity, Mal says of himself: "[If the] Wind blows Northerly, I go
North." Screens from Serenity suggest that Mal
was born on September 20, 2468–which would make him 49 at the time of the
series Firefly–though this may be a transposition of 2486, since the
information screen also misspells his name as "Malcom". Mal was raised by his
mother and "about 40 hands" on a ranch on the planet Shadow. Though Mal usually
seems more practical than intellectual, he occasionally surprises his friends by
displaying familiarity with disparate literature varying from the works of
Xiang Yu to poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, though he has no idea "who"
Mona Lisa is. Mal volunteered for the Independents
army during the Unification War against the Alliance, gaining the rank of
sergeant during that time. His loyal second-in-command Zoe was by his side
for most of the war, surviving many dangerous conflicts with him. The show
mentions three such battles, including the Battle of Du-Khang in 2510 and a
long winter campaign in New Kashmir where he commanded a platoon. Mal was
also involved in the ground campaign during the Battle of Sturges, which
according to Badger was the "bloodiest and shortest battle in all the war",
although Mal considers it a distant second. Mal fought in many more battles,
but the turning point for him and the Independents came with their physical
and emotional defeat at the Battle of Serenity Valley on the planet Hera.
On-screen information in Serenity shows him to have been attached to the 57th
Overlanders Brigade; in the series pilot, Badger calls it the "Balls and
Bayonets Brigade", though it is unclear whether that was a disparaging nickname
coined by Badger himself or the actual unit sobriquet, a deleted scene in
Serenity marks it as the actual unit sobriquet. It is unknown if the deleted
scene can be considered canon or not. After the war, Mal acquired his own
ship, a derelict 03-K64 Firefly-class transport. Mal named the ship Serenity
after the Battle of Serenity Valley, the decisive battle of the Unification War.
Reception Fillion won the "Cinescape Genre Face of
the Future Award — Male" award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy &
Horror Films, USA for his role as Malcolm Reynolds. Fillion also won the
SyFy Genre Awards in 2006 for Best Actor/Television and was runner-up for
Best Actor/Movie. The character was named #18 in TV
Guide's "Greatest Sci-fi legends" list in 2004. In 2008, Empire ranked Mal as
#51 on their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters. In 2011, SFX Magazine
voted Mal Reynolds #1 on their Top 100 Sci-Fi icons of the century.
In her review of the film Serenity for The New York Times, Manohla Dargis had
this to say about the character and Nathan Fillion: "Mal is no Neo redux;
he's closer to Indiana Jones, if absent Harrison Ford's rakishly handsome looks
and star magnetism. Like the rest of the cast, Mr. Fillion is a charming
performer, but he borrows rather than owns the screen, which dovetails with
Mr. Whedon's modest aspirations for this film."
Notes References
Whedon, Joss. Firefly: The Official Visual Companion, Volume 1. UK: Titan
Books. ISBN 1-84576-314-9. Whedon, Joss. Serenity: The Official
Visual Companion. UK: Titan Books. ISBN 1-84576-082-4.
Joss Whedon. The Complete Series: Commentary for "Serenity". 20th Century
Fox. Firefly. 20th Century Fox. December 9,
2003.