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Serenity/Firefly Reading Order: How to read/watch Joss Whedon’s series?

Created by Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Firefly was a short science fiction space western launched on the Fox network in 2002. Despite being cancelled after only 14 episodes had been produced, Firefly went on to become a cult classic, spawning a film, a short web series, novels, video games, and several comic books.

Five hundred years in the future, humanity has spread across the stars, terraforming planets for colonisation and creating a new frontier reminiscent of the Wild West. Following the Unification War, a conflict between the Union of Allied Planets and the Independent Planets, Malcolm Reynolds became the captain of a run-down transport ship called Serenity. Along with his crew, he tries to make a living on the fringes of society.

Two years after the TV show ended, the film Serenity was released, expanding the Firefly universe! The film was accompanied by The R. Tam Sessions, a series of five promotional videos.

It was also at this time that the first novel, as well as the first comic by Dark Horse Comics, was released. A story originally developed as an anime project to bridge the gap between the series and the films, it ended up being released as a comic miniseries, the first of several that Dark Horse would publish over the next decade. The Firefly Universe expanded in new directions and gave a second life to the characters on the page.

This lasted until 2017. Dark Horse lost the franchise, which was acquired by Boom! Studios. The publisher went on to reprint the old Serenity comics from Dark Horse, as well as releasing an ongoing series, a limited series and more!

Six years later, Boom Studios chose not to renew the licence, bringing Firefly comics to an end. At this time, there has been no announcement of new comics from another publisher.

Serenity/Firefly Reading Order

Serenity Dark Horse Comics or Firefly Legacy Edition

The Legacy Edition contains reprints of the Serenity comics by Boom Studios. These comics are an official sequel to the Firefly TV series and the 2005 film Serenity, and were originally published by Dark Horse Comics over several years. They have been released in two collections:

In two trade paperbacks:

  • Firefly Legacy Edition: Book One
    Collects Serenity: Those Left Behind #1-3; Serenity: Better Days #1-3; Serenity: The Other Half; Serenity: Downtime; Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale; Serenity: Float Out #1 ; It’s Never Easy.
  • Firefly Legacy Edition: Book Two
    Collects Leaves on the Wind #1-6; The Warrior and the Wind; No Power in the ‘Verse #1-6.

In One Deluxe Edition, a hardcover volume:

  • Firefly Legacy Deluxe Edition
    Collects Those Left Behind, Better Days, The Other Half, Downtime, The Shepherd’s Tale, Float Out, It’s Never Easy, Leaves on the Wind, The Warrior and the Wind, No Power in the ’Verse

Boom Studios Firefly Comics

From 2018 to 2024, Boom Studios released new tales from the ‘Verse, also released in two editions.

Firefly by Boom Studios:

Or in Deluxe Edition, a hardcover collection:

Uncollected

The Firefly Novels

The Firefly/Serenity Chronological Reading Order:

The Firefly universe has expanded to include new stories that explore the adventures and history of the characters before, during or after the TV series and film. It is not always easy to define the place of certain stories in the chronology, as there is not always enough information.

Also, many fans consider there to be two Firefly continuities: one based on the books and Dark Horse Comics, and the other based on Boom Studios. Boom Studios does not seem to respect the previous continuity very much, and there is no communication between them and the publishers of the books.

Here, this is one big timeline for those who want to combine everything (the good, the bad, and the things that aren’t entirely consistent with the continuity). In all cases, have fun! 

  1. Fun With Dick and Jayne – short story included in Still Flying.
  2. Firefly: Malcolm Reynolds Year One #1 – One-Shot telling how Malcolm became a Browncoat.
  3. Tam Sessions – Short Serenity promotional videos
  4. Firefly: River Run – One-Shot telling how Simon saved his sister from the Alliance Academy
  5. Firefly, The TV show, episodes 1 to 6
  6. Firefly: Bad Company – A one-shot telling the secret origin of Saffron.
  7. Firefly, The TV show, episodes 7 to 10
  8. What Holds Us Down – short story included in Still Flying.
  9. Firefly: Aim to Misbehave – Novel
  10. Firefly, The TV show, episodes 11 to 12
  11. Serenity: Downtime – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book One.
  12. Firefly: Carnival – Novel
  13. Firefly: Big Damn Hero – Novel
  14. What Makes Us Mighty – Novel
  15. Crystal – short story included in Still Flying.
  16. Firefly: The Sting – Comic
  17. Firefly, The TV show, episodes 13 & 14
  18. Firefly: Coup de Grâce – Novel
  19. Firefly: Generations – Novel
  20. Firefly: The Magnificent Nine – Novel
  21. Serenity: Better Days – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book One. It occurs before Serenity: Those Left Behind and the film Serenity, but after ‘Objects in Space’
  22. The Ballad of Chang-Benitez – Included in Firefly: The Unification War Deluxe Edition, this story is about why Leonard became a bandit.
  23. Firefly: The Unification War Vol. 1 – Firefly #1-4
  24. Boss Moon: Birth of a Unificator – Free Comic Book Day 2019, collected in Firefly: The Unification War Vol. 2, detailing how Boss Moon was recruited as a Unificator.
  25. Firefly: The Unification War Vol. 2 – Firefly #5-8
  26. Firefly: The Unification War Vol. 3 – Firefly #9-12.
  27. Firefly: The Outlaw Ma Reynolds – Collected in Firefly: New Sheriff in the ‘Verse Vol. 1
  28. Firefly: New Sheriff in the ‘Verse Vol. 1& 2 – Firefly #13-20
  29. Firefly: Blue Sun Rising Vol. 1 – Firefly: Blue Sun Rising #0; Firefly #21–22
  30. Firefly: Blue Sun Rising Vol. 2 – Firefly: Blue Sun Rising #1; Firefly #23–24
  31. Serenity: Those Left Behind – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book One.
  32. Serenity: The Other Half – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book One.
  33. Firefly: The Ghost Machine
  34. Haven and Hell – short story included in The Ghost Machine.
  35. Firefly: Life Signs – Novel
  36. Serenity, the movie
  37. Take the Sky – short story included in Still Flying. (thanks to Jeff in the comment for this placement)
  38. Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book One. The Events mostly occur prior Fun With Dick and Jayne, but some events take place during the movie and are spoilers.
  39. Firefly: Watch How I Soar – Like The Shepherd’s Tale, it offers background on a character but uses events from the movie.
  40. Serenity: Float Out – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book One.
  41. Serenity: It’s Never Easy – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book One.
  42. Serenity: Leaves on the Wind – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book Two.
  43. Serenity: The Warrior and the Wind – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book Two.
  44. Serenity: No Power in the ’Verse – Collected in Firefly Legacy Edition: Book Two.
  45. Firefly: Holiday Special #1 – One-Shot
  46. Firefly: Return to Earth That Was Vol. 1 – Firefly #25–28
  47. Queen Of The Night – Collected in Firefly: Blue Sun Rising Deluxe Edition. Takes place during #28 as it follows Leonard and Maggie.
  48. Firefly: Return to Earth That Was Vol. 2 – Firefly #29–32
  49. Firefly: Return to Earth That Was Vol. 3 – Firefly #33–36
  50. The Appointment – Short Story released in Firefly: Return to Earth That Was Deluxe Edition
  51. All New Firefly Vol. 1 – All-New Firefly #1-4
  52. All-New Firefly Vol. 2 – All-New Firefly #5-8
  53. All-New Firefly Vol. 3 – All-New Firefly #9-10 and All-New Firefly: Big Damn Finale #1.
  54. Firefly: The Fall Guys – The Fall Guys #1-6

20 years after the events of the TV series…

  1. Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse – Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse #1-6
  2. Firefly – 20th Anniversary Special – One-Shot (with flashbacks of earlier times)
  3. Firefly: Keep Flying #1 – One Shot (with flashbacks of earlier times)

And Finally…

  • Firefly: ‘Verses #1 – A What If Story? that can be read at anytime after the first viewing of the show and movie!

Note: An earlier version of this guide appeared on our site in 2021. It has since been updated multiple times, including the last Firefly stories from Boom Studios!

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9 thoughts on “Serenity/Firefly Reading Order: How to read/watch Joss Whedon’s series?”

  1. Jeff Hohner
    Reply

    Thanks for the chronology. I’d place Take the Sky immediately following Serenity because the events it contains are linked to that larger story much like those in The Shepherd’s Tale. I won’t say more because it appears you’re being careful about spoilers. Is there a forum to discuss some of your placement decisions? I’ve placed a few stories like Crystal and Downtime in different places for various reasons.

  2. Sean McLaughlin
    Reply

    Been using this chronology lately, and it really helped out in seeing where most of the comics for with the show and movie.
    Gotta say though, Unification War and the Sheriff stuff just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the comics or leading up to the movie. Only thing it has going for it is making the town of Haven more significant, bit otherwise it just doesn’t fit the stories of Mal, Inara, or Book, especially.
    I’d treat it as more of an alternate timeline if you’re trying to experience a coherent narrative.

  5. Clayton
    Reply

    Thanks for this! I’m just now getting into the books as I recently had to go rewatch the show and movie again and I’m absolutely loving the comics

  6. Tom Walworth
    Reply

    Some of this order seems to be subjective. Many of the stories in “Still Flying” could be placed anywhere. I noticed that Book doesn’t appear anywhere in The Sting, so I assumed that story took place after he leaves. Is it here because Inara hasn’t told Mal that she is leaving yet?

    A little disappointed in the novel editors for not paying attention to show canon (I would have placed What Makes Us Mighty after Objects in Space due to certain River related revelations). You’re doing great, but I would love to know the methodology for arranging the stories in this order.

  7. Andy
    Reply

    Just finished reading Return To The Earth That Was Deluxe Edition, which in addition to including Holiday Special and River Run, also features an exclusive story called The Appointment. This is set just after the conclusion of #36 (the end of Return To The Earth That Was). I have yet to read the 2 20th Anniversary stories, the Gospel According To Jayne arc (All New Firefly #1 – #10 plus Big Damn Finale) or the Keep Flying one shot, so if anyone has any input there, be good to know. The only other entry is the novel coming this year called Coup De Grace, of which I know little.

  8. Tom Walworth
    Reply

    I’m just now reading The Ghost Machine and in a Wash POV chapter, he mentions things that happened on Thetis “a few weeks back.” This is referring to The Magnificent Nine, obviously. On the surface, it would seem as if the entirety of the BOOM! Studios run (Unification War through Blue Sun Rising) needs to exist before Magnificent Nine if this reference from Wash is accurate. That, or we have to refer to the BOOM! Studios run as an Elseworlds event with the show and movie as nexus points. Or the novels are Elseworld stories.

    1. Carole
      Reply

      Hi Tom!

      Thanks for your comment! I know that, for a lot of people, they like to consider there are two continuities: one with the books and the Dark Horse Comics and the other with Boom Studios. Especially as Boom Studios seems to not really respect the past continuity and there is no communication between them and those publishing the books.

      Anyways, I choose to make one big timeline for those who want to mix everything (the good, the bad, and the not totally coherent with continuity), but your suggestion is spot on!

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