Malcolm "Mal"Reynolds is a fictional character and theprotagonist of theFirefly franchise. Mal is played by actorNathan Fillion in the 2002TV seriesFirefly and the 2005 filmSerenity. In the series, Mal is a formerBrowncoatsergeant and the captain of the"Firefly-class" spaceshipSerenity. The character was named at No. 18 inTV Guide's Greatest Sci-Fi Legends list in 2004.^[1]

Malcolm Reynolds
Firefly character
Nathan Fillion as Malcolm Reynolds
First appearance	"Serenity" (2002)
Last appearance	Serenity (2005)
Created by	Joss Whedon
Portrayed by	Nathan Fillion
In-universe information
Nickname	Mal, Captain, Captain Tight Pants (Kaylee)
Gender	Male
Occupation	Captain ofSerenity
Spouse	"Saffron"
Relatives	Maude Reynolds (mother)
Homeworld	Shadow

Conceived byJoss Whedon, the character Malcolm Reynolds was the only definite character he had in mind when formulating the ensemble cast. He wanted a hero, but not a hero in the classic sense; someone that is "everything that a hero is not."^[2]

In the proposed pilot, Mal was much darker and considerably more closed-off. Fox network executives objected, and asked that Mal be "lightened up". For the second episode ("The Train Job"), Whedon created a more "jolly" Mal Reynolds.^[3]

Fillion shares his view on the motivations of the character he portrayed. Mal has lost so much that each character in the crew he has gathered onSerenity represents an aspect of himself he no longer has. "In Wash, he has a lust for life and a sense of humor he's lost. In Jayne, he has selfishness. In Book, he has spirituality. In Kaylee, he has innocence. Everybody represents a facet of himself that he has lost and that's why he keeps them close and safe, and yet at arm's length."^[4]

The role was originally written forBuffy the Vampire Slayer co-starNicholas Brendon (who playedXander Harris);^[5] however, the shooting schedule conflicted with his commitment toBuffy.

Whedon approached Nathan Fillion to play the lead, and after explaining the premise and showing Fillion the treatment for the pilot, Fillion was eager for the role.^[6] Fillion was called back several times to read for the part before he was cast. He noted that "It was really thrilling. It was my first lead and I was pretty nervous, but I really wanted that part and I wanted to tell those stories."^[4]

Los Angeles prop shop Applied Effects was approached by Randy Erikson to create Mal's main gun, a "Moses Brothers Self-Defense Engine Frontier Model B",^[7] and gave them a week and a half. Erikson provided a foamcore conceptual mockup and the base guns, one of which was a five-shot .38caliberTaurus Model 85 revolver. Erikson researchedAmerican Civil War-era revolvers for inspiration and the final mockup had a brass or bronze look, with the revolver a little elongated. The biggest challenge was masking the shape of the original revolver and still keeping it operable.^[8]

On the TV seriesFirefly, a castbronze pistol was used, but for the filmSerenity, a more detailed replica was created which had movingaction and ablank pistol hidden inside, so that it could be fired inclose-ups. Since this version was quite heavy, aresin replica was also constructed, which in addition to being less tiring for the actors to carry, could be thrown or dropped with less fear of injury.^[9] Nonfunctional replicas of the gun are commercially available forfans andcollectors.^[7][9]

GBB Custom Gunleather was tasked with creating Mal's gun holster, which was made out of oak-tanned carving leather.^[10] The character's coat, a relic of his time as aBrowncoat, was a collaboration betweenFirefly costume designerShawna Trpcic and Jonathan A. Logan, a leather artist. Trpcic sketched her idea and a cloth mockup was created before the final was made with domestic-farmed deerskin. The cuffs are actually the sleeves folded back, evoking the style of Oriental robes with their silk linings. Two coats were made for the character, one called "Number 1" coat and another called "The Hero" coat. The Number 1 coat's bullet hole is drawn in, while The Hero version has a detailed cut and sewn repair.^[11] As with the gun, replicas of Malcolm Reynolds' coat have also been made available commercially for fans.^[12]

Malcolm's main mission is to keep his crew alive and to keep his ship flying. AsFirefly writer Tim Minear stated in an interview: "It's just about getting by. That's always been the mission statement of what the show is — getting by."^[13] InSerenity, Mal says of himself: "[If the] Wind blows Northerly, I go North."^[14]

Mal was raised by his mother and "about 40 hands" on a ranch on the planet Shadow.^[15] Though Mal usually seems more practical than intellectual, he occasionally surprises his friends by displaying familiarity with disparate literature varying from the works ofXiang Yu^[16] topoems bySamuel Taylor Coleridge.^[14]

Mal volunteered for theIndependents army during the Unification War against theAlliance, gaining the rank of sergeant during that time. His loyal second-in-commandZoe was by his side for most of the war, surviving many dangerous conflicts with him. The show mentions three such battles, including the Battle of Du-Khang in 2510 (shown in "The Message") and a long winter campaign in New Kashmir (as told by Zoe in "War Stories") where he commanded a platoon. Mal was also involved in the ground campaign during the Battle of Sturges (as seen in the comic bookSerenity: Those Left Behind), which according toBadger was the "bloodiest and shortest battle in all the war", although Mal considers it a distant second. Mal fought in many more battles, but the turning point for him and the Independents came with their physical and emotional defeat at the Battle of Serenity Valley on the planet Hera. On-screen information inSerenity shows him to have been attached to the 57th Overlanders Brigade. In the series pilot, Badger calls it the "Balls and Bayonets Brigade". A deleted scene inSerenity indicates that this was a nickname given to the unit.

After the war, Mal acquired his own ship, a derelict 03-K64Firefly-class transport. Mal named the shipSerenity after the Battle of Serenity Valley, the decisive battle of the Unification War.

Fillion won the "Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award — Male" award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA for his role as Malcolm Reynolds. Fillion also won theSyFy Genre Awards in 2006 forBest Actor/Television and was runner-up forBest Actor/Movie.^[17]

The character was named #18 inTV Guide's "Greatest Sci-fi legends" list in 2004.^[1] In 2008,Empire ranked Mal as #34 on their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters.^[18] In 2011,SFX Magazine voted Mal Reynolds #1 on their Top 100 Sci-Fi icons of the century.^{[volume & issue needed]}

In her review of the filmSerenity forThe New York Times,Manohla Dargis had this to say about the character and Nathan Fillion: "Mal is noNeo redux; he's closer toIndiana Jones, if absentHarrison Ford's rakishly handsome looks and star magnetism. Like the rest of the cast, Mr. Fillion is a charming performer, but he borrows rather than owns the screen, which dovetails with Mr. Whedon's modest aspirations for this film."^[19]

• Whedon, Joss (2006).Firefly: The Official Visual Companion, Volume 1. UK: Titan Books.ISBN 1-84576-314-9.
• Whedon, Joss (2005).Serenity: The Official Visual Companion. UK: Titan Books.ISBN 1-84576-082-4.
• Whedon, Joss (December 9, 2003).The Complete Series: Commentary for "Serenity" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
• Firefly (The Series) (DVD). 20th Century Fox. December 9, 2003.