After Saturdays’s sad news about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival being axed, the nerd world needed a pick me up. This was delivered on Sunday with a surprising yet very welcome announcement that beloved series Firefly is set to return.

Firefly, regularly praised as one of the best sci-fi shows ever made despite it only having aired one season, premiered back in 2002 on Fox. Unfortunately due to Fox’s mismanagement of the series including airing episodes out of order and giving it the worst time slot, ratings were low and it was cancelled before all of its episodes even aired. However, fan reaction was strong and it quickly became a cult classic. As a result, a follow up film Serenity was made in 2005.

Now over 20 years later, Firefly is set to start flying again. Lead actor, Nathan Fillion, announced that an animated Firefly series is in development through Fillion’s production banner Collision33 in partnership with 20th Television Animation who controls the underlying rights to the franchise.

The show will be set between the end of the television series and the start of the film. Series stars Gina Torres, Summer Glau, Moreno Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Alan Tudyk, and Adam Baldwin will all return to reprise their roles. Tragically, the lineup will not be complete as the incredible Ron Glass, who played Book, passed away in 2016.

A script is already completed and married writer/producer team Tara Butters (Reaper, Agent Carter) and Marc Guggenheim (Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow) will be serving as show runners.

Whilst the show isn’t in production yet, it will be soon shopped out to buyers to find a home, all the ingredients like concept, cast/creatives, and script are in place so we’re optimistic that this can go the distance. Firefly fans are some of the most devoted and the cast have always been so passionate about the series and its potential return, so this project feels like a well deserved culmination of love and hard work.

Summarising, Nathan Fillion told Deadline “The dedication of Firefly fans has kept this 25-year-old show relevant. Clearly, the return of Firefly is something the fans want. More importantly, it’s something they deserve.”