GoKawiilNathan Fillion has revealed that a Firefly animated series is in early development at 20th Television Animation, ending a week-long social media campaign hinting at some news involving the project.
Fillion shared the news in an Instagram video, where he was joined by his Firefly costars, and at Awesome Con in Washington.
The animated reboot is being developed through Fillion’s production banner Collision33 in partnership with 20th Television Animation, which controls the rights to the franchise. Married writer-producers Tara Butters (Agent Carter, Dollhouse) and Marc Guggenheim (Arrow, Flash) are set to serve as showrunners, in their first professional collaboration together, on the series, for which a script has already been written. Additionally, early concept art has been developed in collaboration with Oscar- and Emmy-winning animation studio ShadowMachine. The project is expected to be taken out to buyers soon. The series would be set in the timeline between the original, 11-episode TV run in 2002 and the 2005 feature film continuation, Serenity.
Fillion said in his Instagram video that he received the blessing of Joss Whedon to embark upon this new iteration. Whedon created the original series, produced by 20th Century Fox Television, which aired for one season before developing a following through DVD sales, streaming platforms and Serenity.
The announcement came during a panel and live taping of Fillion and co-star Alan Tudyk’s podcast Once We Were Spacemen. The pair were joined by fellow original Firefly castmembers Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Sean Maher and Summer Glau.
And the news caps a week of viral social media teases from Fillion and his co-stars of some sort of Firefly news.
Watch Fillion’s video announcing the Firefly animated reboot below.