When they were shooting “Serenity” at Universal Studios, I got a chance to visit the set and take a walk through the main ship, which had been built to give them a chance to do a full continuous shot from the front of the ship to the back without cutting away or cheating, and I must admit… it’s one of the most impressive sets I’ve seen built. Functional, but completely immersive. It was the ship. I’m so used to seeing things in pieces and in sections that to just step inside something real like that was sort of dizzying.
I’m not rabid about the continuation of the adventures of Mal Reynolds and his crew, but if they made another one, I’d sure see it. I enjoyed the comic series that followed the show, and I think it’s a cool world that they had just started to explore.
When I sat down with Nathan Fillion, it was as part of the press day for “Monsters University,” and I’ll have my interview with him about that film coming a little closer to release. For now, I wanted to run the final question I asked him about whether anything’s changed now that Joss Whedon finally has a billion-dollar-monster under his belt, with another one already in the works.
I was just curious. I haven’t heard any rumblings about them trying to do anything else. Certainly if any project could destroy the speed records set by “Veronica Mars,” it would be a Kickstartered “Serenity” sequel, but I have no idea if Whedon even cares anymore. I was more interested in whether Fillion still has the itch to play the character, if he considers it unfinished business. If he knows more about the potential fate of Mal than we do, things Whedon talked about while they worked together, maybe there’s something he really regrets that they didn’t get to do.
Honestly, though, it doesn’t seem like it. He is very gracious in the way he basically dismisses the possibility completely, while making it still sound like all it would take is a phone call to get him onboard. And now that he’s answered it this way, it’s a question I don’t feel like I’d need to ask him again. I can see how the various “Arrested Development” cast members practically developed a tic every time someone asked them about it until recently, so I appreciate Fillion indulging my curiosity.
“Monsters University” will be in theaters June 21, 2013.
And if you want a Whedon/Fillion fix, the charming “Much Ado About Nothing” is this Friday.