Nathan Fillion

SFX: So, you’ve won SFX’s poll for the 100 Greatest Icons of Sci-fi.

Nathan Fillion: Thanks very much!

SFX: How does it feel to know Mal Reynolds is so popular after all these years?

NF: You know what? That television show and that character changed my life entirely. And to this day – it’s a decade later – it still has an affect on my life. So I’m glad to see that it has a place in other people’s hearts and not just mine.

SFX: So what is it about Captain Mal that you think fans of the show like? What is it about him that people connect with?

NF: He’s not a winning guy, and I think we can all relate to that. In our lives we don’t walk around winning all the time; we’re constantly waging little wars everywhere and I think rarely do we, y’know, just walk away winning. I think people can relate to that. People can relate to, “Aw, man, things are not going my way.” And I think people find solace in watching television and finding out they’re not the only ones. I think Mal’s a good man, I think he’s got redeeming qualities, I just don’t think he’s the kind of guy you want to be around for any extended length of time.

SFX: He’s the kind of man who’ll kick the bad guy into an engine, isn’t he? So that’s not necessarily a good thing – heroes don’t go around kicking people into engines. But at the same time you cheer when he does it.

NF: He is a desperate man. I mean, he lives in desperate times. If you say, “Hey, it’s going to be you and me, and we’re going to the mat and I’m gonna kill you,” he’ll finish you. And the better you are, the dirtier he will fight, but he will not lose.

SFX: How much of him is you?

NF: I would say the same amount of me that’s in Mal is the same amount of everybody that’s in Mal. The way that we can relate to him because it’s like, “Oh man, I know just how he feels!” We’ve all been left in the desert naked. “Ah, I knew this was comin’! I knew it!” We’ve all said that. Everybody’s said, “I can’t believe I let that happen.” Everybody’s had that. I’ve had it. But you see it happen to Mal and you can identify, I think, with that feeling.

SFX: Malcolm beat the Doctor. How does that make you feel?

NF: Growing up in Canada, that was one of the sci-fi series we watched. I had a super-long scarf when I was growing up as a kid, because I loved Doctor Who! Oh yeah! I’m not going to question it, I’m just going to take my victories as they come! Just like Malcolm.

SFX: You must be asked if Firefly is coming back lots – will you ever get fed up of it?

NF: I don’t know… It’s been almost a decade and people are asking, “Is it coming back?” I’m not tired of it yet. I wonder when that will happen? Maybe 15, 25 years from now!

SFX: What do you think Malcolm would be doing if the show was still running?

NF: I wanted there to have been a couple of movies, things would get really exciting, more collectables and merchandise… there’s so many things out there already! The legal papers for the licence for the ship, they have it in a nice kind of leather foldover folder thing. People will say, “Could you sign this?” and I’ll go [very squeaky voice], “Where did you get that? It’s amazing!” They have books on Firefly-class ships, it’s like, “Wow! Someone had to work on this really hard and put it out there.” All this stuff is still going on out there for this show! People will give me something and say, “Can you sign this?” I’ll go, “Can I sign it? Can I keep it?”

SFX: Looking back on your time on Firefly, what would you say you’re most proud of?

NF: I’m really proud of the work. Every job has its challenges, and that was my first job as a lead, it was my first one-hour series; the schedule was different, the demands were different; it was my first time getting a hold of that and I was presented with the most incredible dialogue, the best character I’ve ever played, the best stories. There was never a day where I went to work and was looking at the script going, “Meh. I gotta do that?” It was always, “Whoa, I get to do that!”

SFX: Even the day when you had to be naked in the desert?

NF: Even that day! I can’t remember who told me, I think it was Joss, and they said, “There’s an episode coming up where you’re going to be naked. I said, “What?” And he said, “The show opens, the camera pans down to you sitting naked on a rock.” And I started laughing and said, “Okay, I like it.” No explanation.

SFX: It definitely stuck in people’s minds. Maybe that’s why you beat the Doctor?

NF: Doctor Who needs to get naked more. There lies my point, too, that there wasn’t a day when I went to work thinking, “I don’t want to do this.”

SFX: You got a reputation on the show as being called Captain Tightpants. Will that haunt you to the grave?

NF: Wouldn’t it be nice if it did? There’s a lot of things that as an actor you say, “I don’t want to get pigeonholed.” If I had to get pigeonholed, it would be as Captain Malcolm Reynolds, thank you very much. “Oh he’s that guy, you know the guy who’s really crazy awesome, gets beat up all the time, keeps winning a little bit…” Everything about Mal, I just loved him.

SFX: And finally, do you have a message for the readers of SFX?

NF: Keep flying, stay shiny.