If you assemble a list of TV shows that were cancelled too soon, Firefly series will very likely be on it. Starring actors like Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, and Summer Glau, the show was cancelled before all 14 episodes were aired. Fans were understandably dismayed and series creator Joss Whedon knows how they feel.

In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Whedon shared that the cancellation upset him so much that he couldn’t bring himself to return to episodic television for years. He shared that Firefly is “still the greatest grief I have about my career” and the whole experience made him “the sourest man alive.”

“I stopped having ideas, which for me is an extremely rare experience,” Whedon said. “It was something much more subtle [than losing hope], it took away my ability to think in terms of episodic television. For years.”

Whedon did return to television and the FOX network a couple years ago with Dollhouse. That series ran for two short seasons but he was at least able to craft an ending before it left the airwaves.

That also left him feeling pretty angry but Whedon feels like he’s in a good place now, especially with plans to direct the upcoming comics-based movie, The Avengers.

Whedon said, “Honestly, this year with my career, I’ve been going, Okay, is it over? Are they done with me, and is it time for me to start doing really small or make a graceful exit? Because I’m okay. I have my family, I love to write, I’ll always write, they can’t stop me doing that. But maybe I’m not going to get my shot to reach a mass audience. But then I got The Avengers. So, clearly, I’m an idiot.”

What do you think? Are you looking forward to Whedon’s Avengers movie?