Firefly

FLY HARD

A trustworthy pilot, reliable shipmate and adoring husband - Wash’s role on the ship Serenity is an invaluable one. Acclaimed actor Alan Tudyk examines his role.

In every story with a valiant hero, there’s always another guy helping in the background, who’s just as valuable to the ultimate mission, but usually in a quieter, unassuming way. Now if it’s a story written by Joss Whedon, you can pretty much rest assured that the other guy will be a big ol smart-ass, too. Case in point: Hoban ‘Wash’ Washburne, pilot extraordinaire of the spacecraft, Serenity.

Played with relish by character actor, Alan Tudyk (Dodgeball, 28 Days), Wash is the self-deprecating everyman on the ship, calm in a catastrophic clinch and always relying on his sharp sense of humor. Matter of fact, if you really look at the character, it’s almost uncanny how similar Wash is to the man who created him.

Tudyk laughs in agreement at the observation. “Definitely! One of the first days we were shooting the series, I was there in my jumpsuit with my Hawaiian shirt on and Joss shows up with almost the same Hawaiian shirt on. I was like, ‘Huh, Joss, is there something you want to tell me?,’” he laughs.

Tudyk only got 13 episodes to develop Wash on Firefly, but he still recalls Whedon’s pledge to give the entire cast another opportunity to explore their characters. “At the Firefly wrap party, Joss gave a speech and said, ‘It’s not over!’ He said he would produce Firefly etchings if that was all he could produce,” Tudyk laughs. “You wanted to believe it, but I sure just didn’t. I figured we had a great time, did some good shows and I got a lot of really good friends out of it!”

Yet for Whedon there was more, and that became a reality with the film Serenity. Tudyk admits he was privy to the progress of the developing film. “I had the benefit of updates. A couple of times Joss called Nathan [Fillion] while I was at Nathan’s house. We’d just put him on speakerphone. It was the funniest thing, rounding up everybody, because we were all still stuck together. There was even one time when Joss called and it was Adam Baldwin and I at Nathan’s house! But when it finally happened, it was what I hoped for. It shows that when Joss says he’s going to do something, he really goes to do it. It’s not lip service.”

Most of all, Tudyk says he’s most affected by just being part of a movie that was never supposed to be. “I’m so impressed with this unlikely track for a project to go on,” Tudyk says with all sincerity. “These fans are, by far, the most devoted and generous fans. It’s years after the 13 episodes and they are still talking about it! Thousands of people are still holding on and still believing in it. For the fans, that’s why I like how it landed. Those people that didn’t give up and wouldn’t let go anymore than Joss.”

Read the complete interview in the Serenity: The Official Movie Magazine, on sale September 13.