Two major characters from the original Firefly just appeared in Brand New ‘Verse, and one of them potentially has a tragic life after the Serenity.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse #5 by Josh Lee Gordon, Fabiana Mascolo & Lucia Di Giammarino, on sale now
One of the most exciting elements of Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse has been learning more about the fates of the remaining members of the original Serenity crew. While many answers have been provided about the surviving members of the crew, there are some notable omissions that have finally been cleared up in the latest issue.
In Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse #5 by Josh Lee Gordon, Fabiana Mascolo and Lucia Di Giammarino, the crew discovers the current status of River Tam– and receives a dark tease about the potential fate of Mal Reynolds.
The current crew of the Serenity have found themselves in an increasingly dangerous situation. Although Emma and Lu Bao were able to evade capture by Blue Sun and save Rasalina, a survivor from Earth-That-Was, in the process, Emma’s mother Zoë, Salo, Simon, Kaylee and their children have all been captured. The escapees do their best to avoid detection by hiding on a mysterious asteroid in a remote area of space. There, they discover another former member of the crew: River Tam. River’s escape from Blue Sun was the inciting incident of the entire Firefly series. Captured by the Alliance in her youth and morphed into a traumatized living weapon, River was rescued by her brother Simon.
Fleeing the Alliance, they ended up on the Serenity and became crucial members of the crew. Although Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse teased her place in the universe years after the events of the original series, Emma and her companions manage to find her. Exploring the remote and technologically advanced compound, Emma and her friends finally discover River with a young girl named Shakti. Although River doesn’t confirm her parentage, she does speak about the love a mother has for a daughter — implying she may actually be another member of the Tam family. There are a number of other beds in the little girl’s room however, suggesting River may have been serving as something of a den mother or adopted protector for other small children.
River is quick to offer her support to the group, openly referring to Emma as her family. It’s clear that River and Emma did spend time together when the latter was growing up, and it’s clear that River’s bond to the Serenity crew — including her brother and his family — is enough to convince her to help reveal Rasalina’s secrets. But they’d better hurry, as the Blue Sun Corporation is more than willing to torture any potential information out of Zoë and the rest of the group.
This includes using a device that exposes Zoë to her memories. Notably, one of the flashes she witnesses is the first hint so far at the ultimate fate of Mal Reynolds, the former captain of the Serenity. Nominally the lead character of the original Firefly, his absence in Brand New ‘Verse has been a notable omission for the franchise. But it seems that this is because Mal eventually fell into a great depression for some unconfirmed reason. Zoë’s memory of her former captain, the man she followed into battle, is of a wreck of a man, clutching a bottle of alcohol under the caption “others simply lost the will itself,” suggesting Mal was finally broken by his adventures.
It’s a genuinely tragic ending for the character if it’s indeed the final story of Mal. It ended with Zoë and Emma alone on Serenity, suggesting the pair eventually made their way through the universe without him. There might yet be more to be revealed about the former captain — but it certainly paints his potential ending in a dark light.
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