Firefly

Actor Alan Tudyk has spoken to Hypable about his recent run-in with Joss Whedon, the never-wavering fan support for Firefly, and the Ant-Man rumours.

Yesterday we brought you an exclusive scoop on Suburgatory from Tudyk, who could tease some big developments between Noah and his wife.

Firefly castToday it’s time to talk Firefly – remember that little show that went on for a season and ended more than 10 years ago? Wait, why are we even still talking about that? Oh right, because 10 years on and the Browncoats are still clamoring for the series to come back – and apparently so are the cast and crew.

Even after all this time, “Not only is there a want from fans, but there’s a want from Joss [Whedon], and from Nathan [Fillion], certainly, and the cast,” Tudyk confirms.

But even if there is a will, is there actually a way? Talking more logistically about how it could actually work, Tudyk points to Arrested Development as an example of how the show could be brought back. “This was taken off the air right about the same time that we were,” he says, “and that was a show that was on Fox, with a bunch of people who have gone on to do many other things, and they’re getting them back together for another 14 episodes. So it can be done.”

Alan Tudyk wants Firefly back He even has the technicalities worked out. “Netflix has a business model that works to revive a show that has an existing audience. As a subscriber-based service they can make it work financially.”

Joss Whedon himself recently spoke about Firefly, and expressed his desire to revisit the show at some point, but didn’t want to commit to anything. And Tudyk reckons that’s probably the one thing that might hold the project back. “I don’t think it’s gonna be done unless it’s perfect, as far as, Joss has the idea and he’s like ‘Ooh, that has to be done,’” he says honestly.

Alan Tudyk Wash FireflyWhen we ask – a little skeptically – whether there might come a time when it’ll simply be too late to bring the show back, Tudyk is insistent that this fandom doesn’t have an expiration date. Because, while “all the characters were great, and everyone was important,” ultimately Tudyk believes that, “as long as we’ve got Mal, I think that you can stitch it back together.”

And in Tudyk’s opinion, that could happen at any time after Castle ends and there’s a break in Fillion’s schedule. “He could be 50 when that happens,” he says enthusiastically, going on to share his (suprisingly detailed) idea of how the story could continue: “You could find Mal living on some moon somewhere, and then somebody finds him. It’s that old set-up where somebody finds him and they’re like, ‘you’re needed.’ Something happens that he saddles back up, gets in the ship and goes. And he puts the band back together. And finds everybody wherever they are, to go do something.”

Tudyk, for certain Serenity plot reasons, doesn’t believe he himself would be able to return for another movie or season. But we were persistent that he has to return as Wash for this to work, which led to some impromptu brainstorming about how that could be done:

You could come back in flashbacks.

Well, there’s a time limit on that one. That’s the only thing there’s a time limit on, because I’m not gonna look like me in a flashback by next week. ‘Well this was Wash when he was 20,’ hmmm wow, yeah, no. They’d have to make some kind of excuse for the aging process that took place.

You could be looking at an Indiana Jones kind of situation. Mal and his son, off on adventures, and then you…

[Laughs] Mal and his son! I’ll play his son.

There you go.

It’ll be a stretch, but…

Or you could imagine some kind of Obi-Wan Kenobi thing where you appear in a blue light and guide them all on their quest.

‘Use the force, Mal.’ ‘What?’ ‘The force!’ ‘What is that?!’ ‘Hmm.’

‘Hmm, we don’t have one of those here.’

‘The force field? We don’t even have that.’

See? Joss Whedon, if you’re reading (and we’re sure you are, because it’s not like you’re busy or anything), there are a lot of ways it could be done.

Tudyk, of course, must have had a lot of opportunities to think about how Firefly could be brought back, considering that he is asked about the show in almost every single interview he does. Luckily, he doesn’t seem tired of talking about it.

“I think that we knew that it would always have a place in our hearts, but we did not know when it was cancelled that it would have a place in other people’s hearts, not like this,” he admits. “This is, it’s gotten – it’s gotten a little silly at this point. My goodness, people talk about it on other shows! There are other TV shows on the air where they mention it, and how it needs to come back. I saw it on Community, and they do it on The Big Bang Theory, and…” he pauses (and we hold our breaths, sure he’s about to tell us that we’re crazy), “and it’s so cool. I’m blown away.”

Alan Tudyk holding on to Firefly Tudyk finds the fan support especially touching because of the way the Fox network so unceremoniously let them go. “I don’t know what all the reasons were … but back when it was on, we were fighting, holding on, and being like, ‘don’t cancel us. We think this is awesome! What’s wrong with you?!’ So to have people who agree with something that you were fighting so hard for is amazing.”

But for now, Nathan Fillion still has Castle and Joss Whedon of course is busy with Avengers 2 and S.H.I.E.L.D. And don’t expect Tudyk to appear on the latter any time soon. “I just saw Joss the other day. I just went and checked out the… what is that show they’re doing? S.H.I.E.L.D. Not SWAT. Shows how much I know about it,” he laughs.

But was he trying to trick us? Was this really a meeting to discuss super secret S.H.I.E.L.D. guest appearance plans? …No. “I just happened to be on the lot where they were shooting, and I was leaving,” Tudyk quickly clarifies, “and a Firefly fan was there who worked on the lot, and they asked if I was there to see S.H.I.E.L.D. And I was like, ‘what? They’re here?!’ So I texted Jed [Whedon] and was like, ‘where the hell are you?’ And I went by and Joss was there, it was very cool.”

Alan Tudyk Ant-ManAnd Tudyk fans should prepare to be left a little more disappointed by his answer to our question about whether there’s any truth to the Internet rumours that have him playing Ant-Man in the upcoming movie adaptation of the comic books.

“I’ve heard about that, but no,” he says. “That’s a shame,” we reply, because it is. “I know, I’m a fan of ants,” he sighs empathetically. “But no.”

Don’t be too sad though. There’s still the ever-floating possibility of Firefly returning, Arrested Development-style, with Wash as a robot, a clone, and/or a hologram, right? “I really think there’s a chance that it could happen,” Tudyk reaffirms. “I think that as we go forward, as it gets cheaper to shoot in digital … yeah, I hope so. We all want it.”

…Now, how about that Dollhouse movie?! No? Fine, we might have to let that one go.

Thank you to Alan Tudyk for the great interview – and if you like Firefly, you’ll want to keep your eye on Hypable in the next couple of months, because we’ve got some very fun things planned!

Stay tuned for the final part of our interview with Tudyk, where he previews his role in 42, the upcoming movie about baseball legend Jackie Robinson.