Firefly Reboot: What Have the Cast Been Up to Since the Cult Show Ended

For fans of the sci-fi series Firefly, the show’s cancellation in 2003 (after just 11 episodes had aired) remains one of the great tragedies of 21st-century television. The show’s creator, Joss Whedon, not only rounded up an incredible cast but also repackaged the punky, irreverent, yet still heroic vibe of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a story about intergalactic space smugglers and terrifying Reavers — but for one reason or another, it was taken from the world all too soon.

Of course, Firefly fans were able to get some closure with the release of Whedon’s feature-length film, Serenity, in 2006. And now, a full 20 years later, it looks like Mal, Wash, and the rest of the crew are preparing to take to the stars once again. Speaking recently at a live podcast recording at Awesome Con, Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, and most of the original cast members confirmed that they would be reprising their roles for a new, animated series set during the years between Serenity and the original show. Whedon (perhaps for obvious reasons) is not involved, but with Arrow co-creator Marc Guggenheim at the helm, this one looks like it’s in safe hands.

While we wait for more details, it feels like the right time to check back in on the original cast members and see what they’ve been up to in the intervening years. Read on to learn a bit more about each of them, and use the guide below to find out where to stream some of their most prominent work from that time on AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

Nathan Fillion (Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds) 

He might have appeared briefly in Saving Private Ryan a few years earlier, but Firefly was the show that made Fillion a star as well as a beloved mascot of the sci-fi community — a role that he has embraced with open arms. 

Since those early years, he’s essentially appeared as (or voiced) versions of himself in everything from Rick and Morty to Community to The Big Bang Theory while paying the bills with long-running series like Castle and The Rookie. Perhaps most significant in the years after Serenity, however, was his lead role in James Gunn’s Slither — a breakout hit for the director, which started an enduring friendship between them that’s seen Fillion pop up in many of Gunn’s projects for Marvel and DC. You can catch him in the Gunn-produced Lanterns later this year. 

Gina Torres (Zoe Alleyne Washburne)

When Gina Torres hopped directly to the Matrix franchise to play Dozer’s widow, Cas, in Reloaded and Revolutions, it looked like a thrilling career in sci-fi cinema might be on the cards, but the actress has mostly kept to the small screen since then.

She worked quite steadily in the years that followed the show’s cancellation, but it wasn’t until she landed the role of Jessica Pearson in Suits that she really found her footing again. Torres appeared on that show in 94 of its 134-episodes before getting her own spin-off miniseries, titled Pearson, in 2019.

Alan Tudyk as Hoban "Wash" Washburne

It would take a heart of stone not to love Alan Tudyk, which is one of the many reasons why the actor has gone on to have the most varied and perhaps the best career of any of the original Firefly cast. In fact, if cameos and voice roles are taken into account, he currently sits in third place on the list of highest-grossing actors in history — behind only Sam Jackson and Stan Lee.

So yes, that’s him playing Sonny the robot in I, Robot. That’s also him playing K2SO in Rogue One and Andor, and Gary the robot in James Gunn’s Superman last year. In more flesh and blood roles, he was wonderful in James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma and hilarious as Steve the Pirate in Dodgeball. For a full Tudyk hit, however, his lead role in Resident Alien is the one to check out. 

Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra)

If you fell in love with Morena Baccarin while watching Firefly back in the early ‘00s, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that she went on to have a consistent career on American television — although after her role as the companion Inara Serra, she did remain slightly confined to supporting roles. 

Whatever the case, she’s always made her presence felt in her various roles as wives and girlfriends over the years — alongside everyone from Damien Lewis’ Nicholas Brody in Homeland to Ryan Reynold’s Merc with a Mouth in the Deadpool universe to Gerard Butler’s worried father in the Greenland movies. Catch her later this year as the “Sorceress of Castle Grayskull” in Masters of the Universe. 

Christina Hendricks ("Saffron")

Christina Hendricks might have only appeared as the femme fatale Saffron in two episodes of Firefly, but her performances were unforgettable. And even though it took a few years before she landed the role of a lifetime (as Joan Holloway) on Mad Men, it was well worth the wait.

On the big screen, Hendricks has had an interesting run, too. On the back of her Mad Men breakout, she was cast by the Danish shock-auteur Nicholas Winding Refn in his films Drive and The Neon Demon. She has also (like a remarkable number of her Firefly costars) excelled in a variety of voice roles — most notably as the dead-eyed doll, Gabby Gabby, in Toy Story 4. At the time of writing, however, she has yet to be confirmed for the upcoming reboot. 

Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb)

Having played small parts in Ordinary People, Wyatt Earp and Independence Day, on top of having a prominent role as Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, Adam Baldwin was easily the most accomplished actor going into the original Firefly cast. 

Since then, it’s been a bit of a different story: outside of various appearances and cameos on shows like Bones and CSI: Miami, Baldwin’s biggest part since 2003 was his recurring role as Colonel John Casey in the Zacheri Levi-starring spy comedy series Chuck.  

Jewel Staite (Kaywinnet Lee "Kaylee" Frye)

Since playing the plucky mechanic Kaylee in Firefly and Serenity, Jewel Staite has gone on to a consistent career on the small screen. 

Her most notable parts have been on shows like Stargate Atlantis (where she played a young doctor named Jennifer Keller) and The Killing (where she played District Attorney Caroline Swift in Seasons 3 and 4).

Sean Maher (Simon Tam)

Despite his charms and Ken-like good looks, Sean Maher is one of the few Firefly alumni who can still count the show as perhaps the biggest role (he, of course, played Dr Simon Tam) of his career. 

A few years after Serenity, Joss Whedon cast him as Don John in his well-liked modern retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, but if you know him from anything in those intervening years, it’s likely for his voice work as Dick Grayson over seven Warner Brothers Animation Batman films (which were released between 2014 and 2019).

Summer Glau (River Tam)

Since Serenity closed out the Firefly saga (at least for now), Summer Glau (who played Simon’s supernaturally gifted sister, River) has popped up across several fan favourite TV shows. 

You’ve probably spotted the actress in Arrow (where she played Ravager) and in The Big Bang Theory (where she played herself), but her biggest part at that time has obviously been her portrayal of Cameron, the T-900 Terminator, in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. 

Ron Glass (Shepard)

Last but certainly not least is Ron Glass, the veteran TV actor who played Shepard in Firefly and Serenity, who passed away in 2016 after a 40-year career that began with an appearance in Sanford and Son all the way back in 1972. 

Over those four decades of TV roles, Glass was probably best known for playing Detective Ron Harris in the long-running American sitcom Barney Miller. He starred in The New Odd Couple, opposite Demond Wilson, and played Ronald Felcher in Mr Rhodes, but his role as Shepard eventually reintroduced him to a whole new generation of fans. There is no word yet on whether the character will return in the animated reboot.