“It’s really fun because Harry gets social situations wrong and there’s a lot of humor that comes out of that,” Tudyk told SYFY WIRE prior to the show’s premiere on SYFY last month.

“Formidable” is often used to describe Gina Torres’ onscreen presence whether she’s playing the unflappable second-in-command on a ramshackle spaceship in Firefly, a midriff-baring Sumerian princess on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, or a high-powered layer intent on making the most of her second chance on Pearson. And the statuesque actor, whose genre-laden career now spans three decades, certainly emanates competence and poise, making her look like every bit the natural-born leader. But a closer inspection of the DNA of a Gina Torres character reveals as much warmth and vulnerability as poise and prowess – it’s not for nothing that Firefly’s Zoë and Wash are one of the most beloved TV couples in the ‘verse.

“At this stage, as times have changed, as we are changing the landscape and experiencing people of colour in a wide variety of situations… and not just people of colour, but of LGBTQ ad women and all of that… now I get to be this beautifully, fully fleshed-out human being in this show,” she continues. “I do get to be a wife, I do get to be a mother and a bada** all at the same time.”

“I’m a physical person, and I love doing my own stunts,” Torres says, adding that she filmed this particular scene on her very first day. “They were like, ‘You’re going to climb this rig… and you’re going to get shot at.’ That was Day 1. But pretty soon, I was just like, ‘I remember this! Being outside, having people shoot at you in 110-degree weather, I’ve done this!'”

What I realized after watching the movie though was most of my memories of the show itself had been replaced by ones from the movie. On the show, River is a mystery and a bit of an annoyance, save for one or two moments. In the movie, she’s not just the star, she’s an unstoppable force – the badass she was surely planned to be all along, which is how I remembered her. The Reavers; the main villains of the film, are only mentioned in the show a few times and seen once, which clashes with my strong memory of them. And that hat Jayne wears, the one you are guaranteed to see at any comic book convention, is only in the TV show for a few scenes, and even less in the movie. If it never became a “thing” in fandom, you probably wouldn’t even remember it.

“I’d come back from shooting a pilot that will never see the light of day, and I kind of went into that place that we all did. ‘Will I ever work again? What’s that going to look like?'” Torres, 51, exclusively told Us Weekly, noting that it was when “everything was shutting down” due to the pandemic. “Then I got a call that Tim wanted to talk – and it was the best phone call of the year.”

The past always has a nasty tendency of catching up with you. No matter how far or fast you run, it’ll always be right behind you. It’s even true for space cowboys. But for some, the sins of the past are far heavier to bear than for others.

Pak’s script perfectly nails the tone and characterization of Firefly. Mal is still cunning and willing to fight for what’s right, even when outnumbered. Kaylee is still the plucky mechanic, and Wash is still the sardonic pilot, Jayne is still Jayne. Fans who love the show will definitely get a kick out of this issue. Pak also balances the various tones that showed up in a Firefly episode: humorous bits (most of them with Jayne) and rather touching moments. There is a heartwrenching scene toward the end with Mal and his mother, and it nearly made me shed a tear.

Morena Baccarin recently appeared on Rolling Stone’s First Times and spoke about moving to America and her experiences on Firefly, Gotham, Greenland, working with Ryan…

It was like a real family. We got on each other’s nerves, we talked a lot, we disciplined. It was fun. We spend a lot of time together and had a lot of challenging moments. And when you’re working with a child — he was a real champ — but you have to bank his stuff first for many reasons, hours and also exhaustion, and it was good and bad.