14 Fun Facts About Joss Whedon's 'Firefly'

Inspiration can come from strange places. That includes the trigger forFirefly. According toJoss Whedon, the show idea hit him while vacationing in England. He tried to skip work by readingThe Killer Angels, a Civil War novel about the four-day fight at Gettysburg.

In a 2002 interview with the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy), Whedon told why the book inspired him:

The small details of the Battle of Gettysburg and the people's lives there really madeFireflypop into my head. I want to see people's lives up close. I plan to show the future as the past by doing this. So I built the world's structure and the show's look on the Reconstruction Era.

During casting, Joss Whedon auditioned several actors. One actor later starred in Whedon's internet musical,Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Dr. Simon Tam almost got the part.Neil Patrick Harris, who was still mostly known for his role asDoogie Howser, M.D.

Actor Sean Maher took the role, bringing less visual baggage to the show. Still, seeing NPH fly through space would have been cool.

Mal Reynolds feels linked to Nathan Fillion, but Joss Whedon considered casting Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander inBuffy, as the clever space captain. Reddit user /u/clockworklycanthroperelated the storyafter a comic-con in 2014. When a fan asked Brendon about his role inFirefly, he said the part for Mal was originally written with him, but Fox wanted the show six months earlier than planned.

Brendon joked, "So, then, Fillion took out my eye and became Mal." (For those unfamiliar with the Buffyverse, Fillion played the bad priest Caleb, who happily took Xander's left eye off in the final season ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer)

You never know when a cuddle might happen on a film set, especially for a scene betweenFirefly's lovebirds Wash (Alan Tudyk) and Zoë (Gina Torres). During a2015Fireflyreunion, Tudyk and Torres shared how they ended up in bed together for real.

While waiting for the crew to shoot a love scene between the couple, Tudyk decided to nap. Torres had the same idea. "We got into bed, spooned, snuggled, and talked about our day, and relaxed," Torres toldVulture. "It was cold, so we just snuggled up." When the crew said they were ready to shoot the scene, Torres joked, "No, we're good."

Some of the best dialogue inFirefly comes from characters using Chinese curse words instead of their censored English phrases. This showed the 'verse culture blended English and Chinese traditions. To learn the Chinese phrases, the actorsJewel Staite would listen to her lines on tape and mimic the dialogue. This worked for every actor except Jewel Staite, who played the ship's mechanic Kaylee.Jewel Staite could not mimic the dialogue. This happened for every actor except Jewel Staite, who played the ship's mechanic Kaylee.

At a 2015 cast reunion, Staite revealed she never listened to the tapes. She winged it. "Actually, all of my Chinese [on the show] is ADR'ed later on, to be more precise, because they couldn't figure out why I was the only one who wasn't getting it."

Nathan Fillion blamed Summer for any mistakes on the set of Firefly.Summer Glau took her role in Firefly seriously. She memorized her lines and rarely made errors. The first time she messed up a major line, Nathan Fillion made it an on-set tradition at the Phoenix Comicon in 2015.Summer Glau took her role seriously. She memorized her lines and rarely made errors. But when she messed up a major line, Nathan Fillion turned the mistake into an on-set tradition at the Phoenix Comicon in 2015.Everyone on set started screaming "Summer!" whenever something went wrong.When Summer forgot a line, Fillion would yell, "Summer!" This started happening quickly.

Soon, everyone on set began screaming, "Summer!" whenever something went wrong.

We had a dog pheromone, and Jayne messed around, then splat! The thing burst, covering us all in the pheromone. So we ran back to the ship with feral dogs chasing us.Don't you wish Firefly had gotten a second season?The crew pitched story ideas to Joss Whedon and the writers constantly. Nathan Fillion said his co-star Alan Tudyk liked the idea of the crew going to aEagle-eyed viewers still see pieces of the purple-painted costumes covered in blood from the Bugs in Starship Troopers.place where half the area was dark. Fillion explained this to Entertainment Weekly.They had a dog scent, and Jayne played around. Suddenly, something burst, covering everyone in the scent. They had to run back to the ship while feral dogs chased them.Whedon mirrored the Firefly cast on characters from Stagecoach, down to their jobs. The character parallels did not just stick to the main cast. He changed the Apaches, the show's main threat, to the Reavers, a group of space cannibals.

The costumes were worn by the Alliance troops.

The Buffy and Angel writers would go out at set times and ask us to join them on the patio.The Firefly and Starship Troopers costumes are the same.The Buffy and Angel writers would go out at set times and ask us to join them on the patio.

The Firefly and Starship Troopers costumes are the same.The Firefly and Starship Troopers costumes are the same.The Firefly and Starship Troopers costumes are the same.Jayne said, "The Train Job."The Firefly and Starship Troopers costumes are the same.The Firefly and Starship Troopers costumes are the same.Eagle-eyed viewers still see bloodstains on the purple-painted costumes from the Bugs in

Joss Whedon used the cast ofThe Firefly and Starship Troopers costumes are the same.The Firefly and Starship Troopers costumes are the same.

, the 1939 western by John Ford. The film shows nine characters moving through the southwest to find a new home. Whedon liked this idea and used it for his show.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.Whedon copied the cast of

, right down to their jobs. However, the character similarities did not stick only to the main actors. He even swapped the Apaches (the show's main threat) for the Reavers, a wicked group of space cannibals.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.You can thank Stagecoach for its many characters.Whedon took this to production. This created three Whedon-produced shows writing and filming at the same time. Jose Molina, who wrote the episodes "Trash" and "Ariel," said it was possible to find writers from each show smoking and pacing on a patio at Whedon's Stewart Street production studio. Molina explained:

When Fox put Firefly into production, three Whedon shows were writing and shooting simultaneously. Jose Molina, who wrote the episodes "Trash" and "Ariel," told io9 that finding writers from each show pacing and smoking on a patio at Whedon's Stewart Street production studio was possible. As Molina explained:The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.Firefly and Starship Troopers shared costumes.The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.

The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.The Buffy and Angel writers would wander out at given times and ask us.Guys asked, "Did you get any time with Joss today?" We replied, "Yeah, we got half an hour," and they shook their heads. They said, "Lucky bastards, he loves you more than he loves us."

Fox never got that hot on.FireflyAfter Whedon delivered the script for the two-hour pilot episode, "Serenity," the network asked for something lighter. Whedon and showrunner Tim Minear went back to the drawing board, locking themselves in a room at Whedon's Mutant Enemy office.

Minear said the process of writing the new episode was "crazy."told.The Hollywood Reporter.We broke the story and each wrote half the episode. By Monday morning, we wrote the 'Train Job' episode, and the network liked it. They picked us up.

The cast worked hard on the first and only season ofFireflywhen Fox started pushing theirdisastrous marketing campaign.Fifteen years later, Alan Tudyk toldThe Hollywood Reporterthe cast heard a rough cut of a promo. Fox clearly did not know who was on the show. But the actors did not let this affect them.

"The promos" used a scratch track for the voiceover, but the announcer mispronounced our names. So on set, we started calling each other by those mispronounced names," Tudyk said.

When Fox announced the show's cancellation, it was not the worst time. The axe fell mid-filming of the episode "The Message." Even though they were leaving, the cast kept shooting. They found secret ways to tell Fox to leave.

Gina TorrestoldThe Hollywood Reporter, "One of the little games we played in those final days was giving small Easter eggs, coming up with new ways to flip the bird. Like a scene where I tucked all my fingers but one into my pocket."

No two actors had more fun on set than Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk, they are not telling. InThe Hollywood Reporter'soral history ofFirefly, it came out that the two friends spent much time racing golf carts around the Universal lot while filmingSerenity.

They would try to run each other off the road and shoot at each other for fun in front of the tourist trams.