7 Things You Need To Know About Nathan Fillion And Alan Tudyk's New Web Series

Harken, Firefly fans.

On March 10, Alan Tudyk launched an Indiegogo campaign for Con Man, a web series he's producing with Firefly co-star Nathan Fillion.

Con Man

The series focuses on two former stars of the fictional sci-fi TV show Spectrum, which, according to a press release, "was canceled too soon yet became a cult classic."

Con Man

Con Man

Jack Moore, played by Fillion, "starred in the series and has gone on to become a major movie star." Wray Nerely, played by Tudyk, also acted in the show, and now "tours the sci-fi circuit as a guest of conventions, comic book stores, and lots of pop culture events."

SOUND FAMILIAR, Firefly fans?

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BuzzFeed talked to Tudyk about the new series, his friendship with Nathan Fillion, and what Joss Whedon thinks of the web series.

Con Man

1. Yes, Con Man is based on Firefly. Kind of.

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"There are some stories, mainly based on the conventions, that are directly [from my experiences and Nathan Fillion's experiences]. The idea echoes our experience with Firefly."

2. But there are also some big differences.

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"We were halfway through filming an episode of Firefly, and we got the word from Fox that we were canceled. So we still had half an episode to film. It ended up being a great thing. We were able to relish those last few days, and our relationships, and our time there on our spaceship. But in Spectrum, they are two days into filming, they get the word they're canceled, and the creator flips out, takes all of the dailies from that episode, and leaves the country to go into seclusion."

3. Firefly creator Joss Whedon signed off on Con Man.

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"I just gave Joss a basic sketch of an outline. I said, 'Hey, I want you to know that I'm doing this. It comes from the world of conventions, and it has echoes of Firefly. You should know about it.' — just to get his opinion on it. And he said, 'It sounds great. Just whatever you do, respect the fans.' People have identified sci-fan fans as weird, and it's outdated. The Firefly fans are respectful. I attribute that to Joss Whedon's intelligence. The people who tend to like his work are of that same mind."

4. Tudyk has loved conventions since his first one for Firefly.

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"The most exposure I get to fans is at conventions, and I've been to so many, shaking hands and giving hugs. Talking to people, hearing their stories. Every single day, as long as I leave my house, I run into people who are Firefly fans. They're the ones who love it so much, and I'm always happy to meet them ... My first convention was in England with Nathan after Firefly. That was my first exposure. I had only seen a Star Trek documentary, and I was wondering if people would be dressed like my character, and how people would express their fandom. I was worried. And then it quickly turned around. It was fun."

5. And Tudyk's convention experiences inspired Con Man.

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"One of the first conventions I went to was in Australia. They have amateur wrestling in Australia, and I went to the convention there where they mixed amateur wrestling with the convention. You could hear the constant BOOM of people being thrown around during the panel. There was actually blood in the green room. It's the type of experience you can only be exposed to at conventions. It really made me think, This should be a show."

6. The web series was originally picked up, but then got dropped at the last minute.

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"At least a year and a half ago, I pitched it to a company. It was just an idea — I hadn't written anything at that point. They were extremely excited about the project and as they were drawing up contracts, their one funder went, 'I'm out! I'm done with original content.' But it had already gotten enough off the ground that I was excited and had started thinking of stories and couldn't stop."

7. Con Man is making Tudyk's dream of working with Fillion again come true.

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"Nathan was an obvious choice for this project from the beginning. I've wanted to work with him again since Firefly, really. We're close friends."

BONUS: His favorite Firefly memory with Fillion involves torture.

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"The episode when we were being tortured ['War Stories']. We were blindfolded at one point with these leather blindfolds, walking around a torture chamber half arguing. And we actually could not see anything, and the chamber had really sharp bits you could really hurt yourself on! So we were having a lot of fun. It became a funny game of 'Careful, you might cut yourself open.' We always have fun when we're together."