Firefly

Hopes for TV flop to be rejuvenated for the big screen.

Firefly creator Joss Whedon has confirmed he is adapting his failed Fox space adventure series Firefly into a movie. "I’m writing a movie script that I have some hope of actually getting made," reports Whedon, whose mix of wild west action and space adventure was cancelled after 12 episodes.

Whedon says, "It will be a completely new story that will be true to the series for those people who have seen it or see it on DVD, but will reintroduce it to those people who never did."

Confirmation follows a claim from castmember Adam Baldw3in that a film may enter production within 18 months, and co-star Nathan Fillion’s report that, "All looks great on the movie front. A recent dinner with cast members [and] Joss confirmed rumours that we will all be big damn movie stars. Thank you Joss." Fillion, who played the embittered Captain Mal Reynolds, says, "My dream? Every three years make a Firefly movie, like the Bond series—but they won’t start to suck after a while."

Whedon reports that writing a film for both fans and the uninitiated is proving, "a very funny tightrope to walk. I’m basically serving two masters—I want to tell a mythic and exciting and timeless tale about nine people that people have never met, and yet not betray or repeat anything I do on the series. It’s going to be tough."

Audiences will be offered an introduction to Firefly with the release of a DVD set on 9 December, featuring all 15 episodes and audio commentaries by Whedon.