Serenity (film) - Sequel Possibilities

Sequel Possibilities

Fans had hoped that if Serenity had been successful, it might lead either to a revival of the television series or a film franchise (colloquially referred to as the "Big Damn Trilogy", or BDT). The former was always unlikely, since Fox still owns the Firefly television rights and Joss Whedon reportedly refused to work for Fox again (though he has since written and produced the television series Dollhouse for the network). Fans' hopes for further theatrical films appear to have been partially dashed by Serenity's mediocre box office showing. Whedon has stated that if a sequel is made, he hopes to address the character Book's backstory and deal with Jubal Early, a bounty hunter character in Firefly. Whedon also revealed that there was a "strong possibility that everyone would return for a sequel", despite the deaths of several main characters in Serenity.

The first major sequel rumor began on December 1, 2005, when IGN Filmforce reported that Universal had expressed an interest in making a Serenity TV movie for broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel (which is owned by Universal), and eventual DVD sale. It was expected that commissioning of a television sequel would be contingent on strong DVD sales of Serenity. In a January 2006 interview, Whedon doubted the chances of a sequel. On June 23, 2006 a number of fans organized and spread word of "Serenity Day", on which all fans were proposed to purchase a copy of Serenity in an attempt to convince Universal that a sequel would be profitable. The significance of this day was that June 23, 2006 was the one-year anniversary of the third and final advance screening of Serenity prior to its release, as well as Joss Whedon's birthday. The impact of the event could be seen from Serenity reaching #2 in the Amazon DVD Charts, the highest ranking the DVD had reached since January 16, 2006.

On October 1, 2006, Whedon posted a comment to the Whedonesque.com website, responding to a rumor that he was currently working on a sequel to Serenity. He wrote,

There's no sequel, no secret project regarding Serenity or somesuch and I'm not even sure how anyone thought there was talk there. I've seen Nathan and Tim (and Summer and Alan) recently because they're my friends because I'm so, yeah, awesome. So let's put that to bed and smother it with a pillow.

Whedon's response to the rumor consequently sparked many websites to publish articles stating that he would never work on a sequel to Serenity. Whedon again returned to Whedonesque.com to respond to the new stories and wrote,

Holy Mother of Oats! I turn my back for five minutes (that's how long it takes to admire my lovely back) and the interweb goes banoonoos! Isn't there any ACTUAL news to get wrong? Sorry about all this; it might be best if I just stay off the computer for a while.... Here's a thing: when Firefly was cancelled, my heart got broke. Sounds a bit much, but it changed me. Not even Serenity could patch that wound. I'm wearier, wearier – after all those years as a movie writer, you'd think I'd be prepared for another lesson on my unimportance in the scheme of things, but I wasn't.... All these rumor of projects or the death of projects... When the two worlds align and something actually happens, whatever it is, you guys know I'll be on this site as soon as I'm allowed to be. And I'll be very very clear. There is no news. Not never, just now.

In an interview at the 2007 Comic-Con, Whedon stated that he believes hope for a sequel rests in the sales of the Collector's Edition DVD. In an August 2007 interview with Amazon.com prior to the Collector's Edition DVD release, Whedon stated, "It's still on my mind, I mean, but I don't know if mine is the only mind that it's on." He later said, "You know, whether or not anybody who's involved would be available at that point – everybody's working, I'm happy to say – is a question, but whether I would want to do another one is not a question." On October 4, 2007, Alan Tudyk suggested in an interview that Universal was considering another film due to DVD sales, although Joss Whedon later discounted Tudyk's statement as "wishful thinking."