SDCC 2012: With The ‘Firefly’ Reunion Panel Wrapped, How Long Until A ‘Serenity’ Sequel?
Posted by Tom Cheredar | July 16th, 2012 at 10:00 am
With San Diego Comic-Con’s Firefly 10th anniversary reunion panel now wrapped up (watch the panel here below), we all know pretty much exactly what we did prior to it happening: Creator Joss Whedon loves this property possibly more than anything else he’s done to this point in his career.
The panel itself was set up by The Science Channel, which has been airing the 13-episode series on the cable network to great success. It’s even planning to do a special feature video that’ll air later this year.
Towards the end of the panel, Whedon made a heartfelt speech to fans that seemed to indicate that there’s more than a glimmer of hope left for the series to once again take shape on the big screen beyond the new Dark Horse comic book series coming later this year.
After a standing ovation by both the crowd in attendance and former cast members on stage, the ever witty (albeit a bit choked up) Whedon said: “Only an idiot would follow that with a sentence.”
Lucky for us, he did, adding:
“When you watch a good movie — i’m assuming this happens to everyone else as well — you feel like you’re in that world… You’re there. When you’re telling a story you’re trying to connect two people in a particular way. It’s not just about what you want to say, its about inviting them into a world..When I see you guys, I don’t think the show’s off the air. I don’t think there’s a show. I think that’s what the world is like. I think there’s spaceships. I think there’s horses. The story is alive.”
With powerful words like that alongside so many actors a decade later, I’d find it hard to believe a sequel to Serenity isn’t happening soon. And by soon I mean announced at Comic-Con 2017. See, the thing is, Whedon just pulled off the third most lucrative movie of all time with Marvel’s The Avengers. That means both Fox and former movie studio partner Universal probably have some renewed interest in anything that has Whedon’s name attached to it, because yes tagging any film with the line “From the director who brought you The Avengers” does actually hold some weight with the broad audience demographics.
I figure Whedon will likely write and direct Avenger 2 and probably a few smaller original films in the next four years. Then, everyone will be sitting around and it’ll hit them, “Why don’t we make a new Serenity movie? There’s really no reason it couldn’t happen now.” The issue of money and gaining approval from a major studio will no longer be an issue. You’ll be able to adjust the schedules of all the actors involved so they’ll be able to participate (incentivized by a bag of money).
But for now, all we have is a YouTube video of the panel, courtesy of TFAW. Enjoy.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
