‘Firefly’ Turns 20: Where Are the Stars Now?
In 2002, when Joss Whedon was still a small-screen storyteller in good standing, he had three TV shows on the air at once, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly. The last of those three was an outlier: Firefly was sci-fi, not supernatural; it debuted on Fox, not on The WB; and it lasted for less than one season, while the other two aired for years.
And yet Firefly, a series about a group of smugglers always trying to stay one star system ahead of the authorities, proved just as scrappy as its characters. Though Fox only aired 11 out of 14 produced episodes—and aired them out of order, no less—Firefly has lived on in reruns, DVD and Blu-ray releases, podcasts, and even the big-screen continuation Serenity.
Now, faster than you can say “Kaywinnet Lee Frye,” the 20th anniversary has arrived on September 20. What have the actors done since Firefly left the Fox airwaves? Read on for updates, Browncoats.
Nathan Fillion (Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds) and Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra)
For eight seasons, Fillion co-headlined the ABC crime dramedy Castle, taking on the title role as mystery novelist Richard Castle. Now he’s starring in a more serious crime show for ABC, The Rookie, as LAPD cop John Nolan.
After Firefly, Baccarin played Anna in ABC’s V reboot, Jessica Brady in the Showtime drama Homeland, Leslie Thompkins in the Fox crime drama Gotham, and Casie in the Viaplay comedy Home Invasion. Earlier this year, she was criminal mastermind Elena Federova in the NBC thriller The Endgame.
Gina Torres (Zoë Washburne)
These days, Torres might be best known for her role as Jessica Pearson in the long-running USA legal drama Suits. She later took that character to the Suits’ short-lived spinoff, the USA political drama Pearson. Now the actress is starring as paramedic captain Tommy Vega in the Fox drama 9-1-1: Lone Star.
Alan Tudyk (Hoban “Wash” Washburne)
Tudyk’s live-action TV credits include Suburgatory, Con Man, Powerless, and Doom Patrol, and he has voiced characters on American Dad!, The Tick, Harley Quinn, and Devil May Care. Now he’s leading the cast of the Syfy comedy-drama Resident Alien, playing the title character, an alien hiding in a human’s body.
Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb)
Baldwin took roles in the short-lived TV shows The Inside and Day Break before starring as NSA agent John Casey on the NBC action-comedy Chuck and naval officer Mike Slattery on the TNT action drama The Last Ship. More recently, he reunited with Chuck’s Zachary Levi in last year’s sports biopic American Underdog.
Jewel Staite (Kaylee Frye)
Staite currently leads the cast of the Canadian legal drama Family Law, which premieres Sunday, October 2, on The CW, and she has a role in the premiere of NBC’s Quantum Leap reboot. She previously starred as Jennifer Keller in the Syfy series Stargate Atlantis and as Raquel Westbrook in the Canadian drama The L.A. Complex.
Sean Maher (Simon Tam)
After Firefly, Maher guest-starred as a closeted gay man in the NBC drama The Playboy Club, canceled after three episodes. Nonetheless, he used that platform to come out as gay himself in a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly. More recently, he recurred on the TV shows Arrow and Eastsiders and lent his voice the Stranger Things spinoff podcast Rebel Robin: Surviving Hawkins.
Summer Glau (River Tam)
Glau kept up her sci-fi cred after Firefly with parts in TV shows The 4400, Dollhouse, and Alphas, plus her starring role as a T-900 robot in the Fox series Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. She later recurred on the CW superhero show Arrow and starred in the Crackle drama Sequestered. And last year, she led the voice cast of the podcast Ctrl-Alt-Destroy.
Ron Glass (Derrial Book)
Glass, who was also famous for his role on the 1970s sitcom Barney Miller, went on to guest-star in shows like CSI: NY, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Major Crimes, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He died of respiratory failure in 2016 at the age of 71.
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