Firefly

Serenity 2: is it happening; is it not happening? All of the Gorram and Firefly/Serenity fans in the universe want to know. But whether it is a misinterpretation of an interview statement or a well-placed piece of buzz to convince fence-sitting executives over at Universal to cough up the dough for another one, the Internet is brimming with speculation. Which led me to a number of discussions this weekend with all of my Firefly loving buddies: should there be a sequel, what exactly should be in it? What shouldn’t?

Here are the big five that came up:

1.) Derrial Book’s (Ron Glass) origin: One thing universally rang out in every conversation I had this weekend. People desperately want to know the greatest mystery left dangling with the far too early cancellation of Firefly: who exactly did Book work for before becoming a man of the cloth, and why does he seem to know so much about military and criminal activities? Was he an Alliance assassin as some theorize? I like to believe he was the General that led the Alliance to success (and to Mal’s defeat) at Serenity Valley, the horrors of which turned him away from military life and into the hands of God, which of course would explain why the ship "Serenity" seemed to "call" to him in the initial episode. Fighting alongside Mal was his penance. It’s a theory, which is all we have right now. Theories. We want answers.

2.) More crew deaths and peril: While every Browncoat out there might at first shriek at the idea, it is what they really want, deep down. What made Serenity so great was the fact that we believed that any of, if not all, of these characters were going to die. And we felt that way until the last moments of the film, when we finally had a chance to bury those that did. A sequel should keep that energy up. The Firefly/Serenity universe is not a nice one. It’s mean. It’s a Western. Good people die in Westerns. It’s what makes them work.

3.) No more River Tam story: We’ve all read Wolverine’s Weapon X storyline by now. Those who haven’t have seen it in the X-Men movies. She’s a government created badass. We get it. It’s time to move on.

4.) Serenity Valley: While I don’t feel the biggest need for it, this came up a lot. People want to see more of Mal and Zoe in the final days of Serenity Valley. This could lead to some incredible storytelling, especially if tied in with request numero uno.

5.) Whedon writes it, but lets someone direct: I love Serenity, but Joss Whedon directs like he’s making good television, not like he’s making movies. Choosing someone with a strong visual style who will make every image just sing will allow his words to simply explode on the screen. The way they should.