Nathan Fillion Couldn’t Believe ‘Firefly’ Was as Popular as ‘Castle’
Actor Nathan Fillion has been the lead in several hit shows, with one of his most popular projects being Firefly. The show has been canceled for years, and yet Fillion is still recognized by the series to this day. However, he also starred in the hit series Castle, attracting a new legion of fans. But which one does he think brought him the most popularity?
Nathan Fillion was constantly recognized for ‘Firefly’ and ‘Castle’
It’s easy to see why Fillion would be recognized for Castle. The show was a hit on the network series ABC during its original run. But surprisingly, Firefly might’ve rivaled Fillion’s Castle fame even at the peak of the show’s run. Firefly only lasted for one season from 2002 to 2003. Whereas Castle had a long eight-season run.
It also eventually had a movie, Serenity, which gave Fillion’s Firefly crew more of a respectful sendoff. But even after almost a decade of being off air at the time, Fillion was still being recognized for the Joss Whedon sci-fi show. Which was a testament to the show’s quality.
“The Castle success – obviously more apparent, more mainstream, just simply more people watching the show,” he once told Assignment X. “There are far fewer episodes of Firefly. I’ve never done anything that has had legs like that show. People talk about it like it was yesterday. It was almost a decade ago. [At 2010] Comic-Con, there was a three-year-old boy dressed up like Malcolm Reynolds. Man, it lights my fire. Kids are into it. People are still coming to it, people are still enjoying it.”
But Fillion confided that Firefly would always stand out because of the influence it had on his career.
“That show and that experience especially has a very special place in my heart and in my life. That shaped everything. Joss Whedon gave me my very first opportunity to step up and take a leap [as a dramatic leading man]. No one wants to give you the opportunity. No one wants to give you the chance. No one wants to gamble. ‘Yes, he’s good, but we don’t know if he can handle a lead.’ I’ve heard that so much. If you want a job, they look at your resume and say, ‘Well, but you haven’t worked.’ Everywhere you look,” he said.
Nathan Fillion felt his ‘Firefly’ and ‘Castle’ characters were complete opposites of each other
Fillion’s Castle and Firefly roles couldn’t have been anymore different. Castle saw Fillion playing a wealthy crime novelist who enjoyed interfering with police work. In Firefly, Fillion played Malcolm Reynolds, who led a team of misfits on the spaceship Serenity. But apart from their backgrounds and different universes, Fillion felt they had two different approaches to life as well.
“I love that character, I loved how much he would lose,” Fillion said about Malcolm Reynolds. “I loved that he was a loser. He kept losing, and I loved that it never stopped him. He would fight knowing he would lose. I loved that about him.”
Whereas The Rookie star felt Rick Castle didn’t have this same mentality.
“I don’t know that Castle knows he’s in a fight,” he said. “What I love about Castle is, Castle gets knocked down and he doesn’t know that he’s been knocked down. He thinks he’s pretty cool and when things happen and shows everybody how cool he isn’t, he’s unfazed. It doesn’t bother him. I think that’s one of his strengths. First of all, he lacks a filter in what he does and says on his actions going out, but on the rest of the world coming in, he has a filter that he doesn’t understand when he’s losing.”
