Ever since Joss Whedon's space western Firefly was canceled by Fox after just one season, hardcore fans of the property, or "firebronies," have been clamoring for someone to bring the show back, even attempting to use crowdfunding to purchase the rights and give them to hunky star Nathan Fillion. Back in 2002, when Firefly originally aired, the concept of resurrecting a dead series and bringing it back as some kind of intellectual property zombie was practically unheard of. Today, however, we've seen the X-Files, Full House, the Gilmore Girls, and even Twin Peaks brought back, to name a few, and it's been working, giving Hollywood yet another excuse not to bother coming up with any new ideas. So could a Firefly revival be more likely than ever?

Rejoice, firebronies! For Fox Broadcasting President of Entertainment David Madden, the answer is yes! From an executive panel via TV Overmind:

Given the success of Fox's reboots of The X-Files and 24, and Prison Break returning this year, Madden said he'd be open to a Firefly reboot if Joss Whedon himself wanted to revisit it. Madden suspects Whedon is now too busy with movies, and he would not consider doing Firefly without Whedon.

While Madden says that Firefly creator Joss Whedon may be too busy to work on the show, Whedon could pull the ol' nepotism bait and switch like he did with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., hyping up the show as "Joss Whedon's MCU TV show," only to hand it off to his brother and his brother's wife as the actual showrunners.

Sadly, if Firefly were to return, it would be without actor Ron Glass, who passed away last year.

Stay tuned to Bleeding Cool for updates on Firefly returning to TV, and for later updates on it being canceled, again, after one season.