Composer Says 2002 Sci-Fi Series With Almost Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score Would Not Have Been Canceled Now

Firefly was a series that never seemed to reach its potential, and this is something that the composer who worked on the 2005 spin-off film Serenity believes would have been very different if the series was released now on a streaming platform. David Newman, who worked on the equally ill-fated movie based on the character of the Joss Whedon series, is pretty confident that the current cult status of the sci-fi series would have grown considerably with the power of Netflix or Apple TV+ behind it.

Firefly, which was led by MCU star and the DCU’s new Green Lantern Nathan Fillion, became the very definition of a series that achieved its cult status because of the way it was canceled before its first full season even completed airing. Premiering in 2002, only 11 of its 14 episodes actually made it to screens, although the lost episodes were later released on DVD. It was though the show’s home video release that its popularity grew, and this eventually led to the release of Serenity. However, despite the movie gaining strong reviews, it underperformed at the box office, only just making back its $39 million budget and sealing the fate of Firefly for good.

Firefly

Release Date

September 20, 2002

Seasons

1

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Speaking with Screen Rant about the deluxe release of Serenity’s soundtrack on vinyl, Newman shared his thoughts on the legacy of Firefly. To the composer, Serenity would almost certainly have been a second season of the show if it had been released now on a streaming platform. He said:

“We finished, we went to a premiere, and there was a big party at Universal, and then it just didn’t do enough business. It’s too bad, because it’s a terrific movie. It’s really good. It’s funny, it’s exciting, it’s cerebral, it’s interesting, and there are some really standout performances. Summer Glau’s performance is great. I think the movie was a little ahead of its time. It’d be more like an Apple or a Netflix extended series now, which is probably where Joss initially envisioned it—as another season of Firefly.”

I could see this doing incredibly well on an Apple TV+ if it had come out now. Yeah. If you look at the difference between movies and episodic television now, episodic television has gotten really good. It has really good effects. It looks just as good as a movie, but it’s spread out over five, six, seven, 10, or 12 episodes.

Will Disney Revive Firefly?

Firefly is now part of the Disney family thanks to their merger with Fox in 2019. As the House of Mouse sifts through IPs from the Fox catalog to revive and reboot, there have been questions over whether Firefly could be one franchise that may finally get to continue its story on Disney+.

Last year, Firefly star Jewel Staite discussed a possible revival of the series. While she did not see how it would be possible for a second season to happen, she did marvel at how fans are still demanding it after two decades. She said:

“I get asked all the time about Season 2 of Firefly, which makes me laugh because it’s been like 20 years, but when I get asked that, I’m like, ‘There’s a better chance of L.A. Complex than there is of Firefly… Oh, I just wanted her to be a mom. [Simon would be the baby daddy.] I think Kaylee would have made a wonderful mother, and I love the idea of a baby being on the ship and raising the stakes so much. I feel like it would just show different sides to every character’s personality to have a baby around.”

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