Not many shows gain more popularity in the years after their cancellation, but the short-lived Firefly is an exception to the rule. It lasted only a single season on Fox before it got the axe due to low ratings, but the fanbase refused to give up on the series. A movie and even comic series were produced after the initial cancellation, and fans still hold out hope for a revival. Well, we haven't gotten a revival, but stars Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion have worked together on another project. Con Man tells the story of an actor (Tudyk) whose claim to fame is a short-lived sci-fi show, while his co-star (Fillion) went on to establish a successful movie star career. Tudyk revealed how Con Man was a blast from the past, saying this:
We got to be on a spaceship again where he was the captain and I was the pilot. That brought us back to 'Firefly' days. It felt really familiar and it was good. That was fun for us, and I hope for people that like 'Firefly.'
In Firefly, Nathan Fillion starred as Mal Reynolds, who was captain of the spaceship Serentiy. Alan Tudyk played Wash, who functioned as the pilot of the ship. Mal and Wash had a fun dynamic -- although there was tension from time to time -- that made for some great scenes in the series. Tudyk's comments to Gold Derby indicate that playing captain and pilot once again for Con Man was a seriously good time, and it's exactly the kind of thing that fans love. If we're not going to get the actors back together for another movie or batch of episodes, Con Man does the trick.
Of course, even if there is someday a Firefly revival, we won't get Mal and Wash back together without either ignoring the events of the Serenity movie or setting it chronologically before Serenity went down. It's not out of the realm of possibility if the stars somehow align, as there is precedent for projects using do-overs and timeline shenanigans for revivals. The upcoming Roseanne and Will and Grace revivals will both pretend the series finales never happened, and the Wet Hot American Summer on Netflix just went ahead and used the original cast (now mostly middle-aged) for a prequel series. Fans are often willing to fudge the details if it means recapturing magic, and I'd say that Firefly devotees would be on board for just about anything that brought the cast back together.
We'll have to wait and see if a revival ever happens. In the meantime, we can only hope that Con Man has a long future ahead of it. Alan Tudyk just scored an Emmy nomination for the series, so the critical acclaim is clearly present. Who knows? Maybe he'll be able to reunite more members of the Firefly team in the next batch of episodes. Only time will tell. For what you can watch in the not-too-distant future, take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule. If you're in the mood for a Firefly rewatch, you'll have to look elsewhere than Netflix. Hulu has the whole series streaming, so you can check it out there.
