The fact that Firefly is one of two shows battling it out in the final round of Esquire's TV reboot tournament is no surprise. The Joss Whedon and fan base and the Browncoats, specifically, are famously legion and famously loyal to Nathan Fillion, et al. But here's what is surprising: At the moment, Firefly looks poised to lose.

Pushing Daisies—the ABC dramedy about a pie maker who can bring the dead back to life—is currently leading by a fairly healthy margin as we head into the home stretch of voting (the poll closes at 11:59 a.m. Eastern tonight). As a seven seed requiring upsets of juggernauts Veronica Mars, Chappelle's Show, and Freaks and Geeks in order to make it to the finals, the Bryan Fuller series has played Cinderella in this tournament of unjustly cancelled TV shows, which seems appropriate, given that Pushing Daisies is all about finding new life and renewing hope.

Lee Pace, who played Ned, Pushing Daisies' pie maker with the heart of gold and the finger filled with rejuvenatory powers, has been watching in happy amazement as his dearly departed series has emerged triumphant, repeatedly, during this bracket. He called to discuss all of this from Atlanta, where he's currently filming season two of his latest series, AMC's Halt and Catch Fire, and to affirm that, if there a Pushing Daisies reboot ever does happen, he's totally in.

Pushing Daisies is leading at the moment. You're beating Firefly.

That is unbelievable. I love that show so much—I think Firefly is such an awesome show and I'm not surprised to see it in the final two, because it was like: Why the hell did they cancel that show? It's so funny. So smart. It's just a home run, in my opinion. Don't tell anyone I voted for Firefly.

You guys have gone through several rounds and already beaten some pretty great shows, including Chappelle's Show and Freaks and Geeks.

What?

Yeah.

That's insane.

There's obviously a lot of fan support around Pushing Daisies. Is that surprising to you?

You know, at this point, it's kind of all about the fans. We made those shows a few years ago, a bunch of years ago. Not many people watched it. That's why we're not on the air anymore. But people have just been watching it so much since, it's kind of all about them now. It's like they're taking it on and making it their own, in a way. I guess, you know: you always do it for them. You hope people will like what you do but yeah, at this point, it's really all theirs. It's very little to do with us. It's all to do with the community they've built around the show. Wow. It's so nice that they still care, you know?

Pushing Daisies TV Reboot Tournament ABC

Definitely. I believe you've been trading tweets with Nathan Fillion, who, along with costar Alan Tudyk, have been making the case for Firefly on social media. Make a sales pitch here. We're in the final hours of voting. You said you love Firefly. But why does Pushing Daisies deserve a win over Firefly?

Because I think Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk are so cool that, you know, maybe, maybe, if the Pie Holers are as committed as the Browncoats, then maybe they'll want to be my friend. Maybe I'll show them that I'm worthy of their friendship.

Here's a question: is Pie Holers now the official name for Pushing Daisies fans?

I read it in the article.

Well, I put that in there.

You might have coined that. I'm sorry. [Laughs.]

It made sense to me so I just tossed that in there. I feel like maybe we should make it official.

I'll leave that to Bryan Fuller to make that official. It sounds a little dirty to me, if I'm honest. [Laughs.] I'm not opposed to that… But yeah, make it official. Go for it. Do the fans like it? It's up to them.

That's true. They really have to decide. We'll let time make the call, I guess. It's interesting because the Browncoats and the Firefly fans are more organized as a fan base, with Firefly conventions and Can't Stop the Serenity. Are the Pushing Daisies fans sort of an underground army that no realized was already mobilized?

I don't know about that, but what I do know is that I get so many nice comments about Pushing Daisies. If I get a comment about anything, it'll be Pushing Daisies. If I'm like, in a grocery store—I don't get recognized that much, but it's like, you know, when someone comes up to me and says, "Hey, I'm a big Pushing Daisies fan." You just feel like, "Oh, wow: You're the one who watched it. So nice to meet you."

The show was so special. The show was so unique. There was a darkness to the show, there was something really kind-hearted and lovely about the show. I don't know anything about how the fans are organized, but I know it means a lot to me when someone says they liked it, because we worked so hard on it. We knew we were making something different. But we loved it. We loved what was different about this show. We loved that it was a murder mystery that wasn't a conventional murder mystery. It was a love story, but we couldn't touch. There were so many things about the show that we just, making it, loved. That was all Bryan Fuller. When I meet one of the fans, I'm always like, "Aw, one of my people. You liked it, too? I liked it. You liked it. Let's talk about it a little bit."

When people come up to talk about it, what kinds of things do they say?

They love how the show looked. I think that Chuck and Ned relationship—they liked it. I don't know, I think it was the kind-heartedness. There was a real kind of love in the show. When we were shooting it, we liked each other a lot. We had a great time making it. Maybe that made its way onto the screen. Bryan Fuller—he's got a big heart. For all the dark—you know, Hannibal's a very dark show. Pushing Daisies is about a guy touching dead people and bringing them back to life. It's kind of morbid, you know. But there's a love to it. There's a kind-heartedness to it that I think makes it—I don't know, it's a good thing to put out there in the world, so I'm glad people responded. I'm grateful.

You've obviously done a lot of high-profile projects since then. Do people recognize you for Pushing Daisies more than Guardians of the Galaxy or The Hobbit?

I don't look like myself in either of those movies. If you're looking for Ronan the Accuser on the streets of Atlanta, you'll have a hard time spotting him. But Ned—Ned is a lot like me. So that's, I don't know: I'll always have a soft spot for Pushing Daisies. That world that we made, Anna Friel; I loved to fall in love with Anna Friel. It was just a very special time in my life making that show. So it was such a nice surprise last week when I became aware of the bracket that you all were doing. And I was like, Oh, how cool. People are still watching it. People still care. That really makes me feel good.

Pushing Daisies ABC

The underlying point of our tournament is that these are shows that people would like to see come back. I think there was talk at one point about Pushing Daisies potentially being a musical. Is there a real opportunity to revisit it again, in some way? Has that been talked about recently?

Never say never. You know: Never say never. Me and Bryan talk about it every time we get together. We talk about: what if this happened? What if that happened? I mean, story-wise. What if Ned did this? What if Ned and Chuck were that? It's like a story that we never finished, in a way. It's like an incomplete story. We got cancelled too suddenly. It would be satisfying to kind of just finish it and be in that world again. Go back to Coeur d'Coeurs and the Pie Hole and -- so yeah, we talk about it. I'd love to do it. I'd love to play Ned again.

But there's nothing planned officially at this point?

No, not officially. I mean: but it's those conversations that end up being movies. "Hey, do you want to do that? That would be kind of fun." "Yeah. Why not?" So I would be totally up for it if it comes back around.

I watched the end of the last episode last night because it had been a while since I watched it. It really ends in a way that you can imagine it picking up where it left off, even down to the last line of narration: "For endings, as it is known, are where we begin." It makes you want to keep going from there.

Maybe the story would have functioned differently if it wasn't in that TV structure. You know? If it was in a movie structure, who knows if it would have—how the story would have been different? Because there were very procedural elements to the show.

So you see it becoming a movie if it gets rebooted, versus a series?

Oh, you're going to get me in trouble. If all these fans who voted think there's going to be a movie … I would love to do it. But it's not up to me. I don't even know what goes into getting the rights to make the movie, you know, making the money to make the movie. But the fans have said that they would love to see it come back. So if—that's certainly a step in the right direction. Nothing would make me happier.

You guys seem to be in the lead right now in the voting, but things could go either way.

Those Browncoats. You've gotta watch 'em.

They can be sneaky.

It's a real Sophie's Choice here. How do you choose? How do you choose between Pushing Daisies and Firefly? That's tough. It's really, really tough.

If Pushing Daisies doesn't win, what would you like to say in defeat? And if it does win, what you like to say in victory? So basically, what's your concession speech and your victory speech?

I don't know. What do I say? I guess I'd just say thank to the fans for watching the show. And if we lose, then I'd say, "You guys, click harder next time."

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