Firefly’s 50-Episode Syfy Replacement Is The Best Space Western Of The Last 15 Years

Published Oct 3, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT

Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones. 

You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep."

Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant. 

Sign in to your ScreenRant account

Firefly might be known as one of the greatest space Western TV shows ever made, but despite dominating the genre, it is far from the only one, as an underrated Syfy show even surpasses Firefly. Of all the unlikely genre combinations, sci-fi and Westerns are not an obvious partnership, yet the two work together surprisingly well, with even the seemingly non-Western TV shows feeling like Westerns for their themes and visuals. This is where Firefly works so well, because eliminating the spaceship would easily turn the series into a perfect neo-Western complete with gunslingers, lawmen, and frontier justice.

Firefly stood out for taking risks and giving viewers something fresh and new at the time, but one of the reasons it has remained a cult hit is its sense of unfinished business. Firefly is one of many sci-fi TV shows canceled too soon, and this left other space Westerns to pick up where the iconic series left off. Killjoys is a five-season Syfy space opera that is everything Firefly should have been, and while the movie sequel Serenity completed the bare bones of Firefly's story, Killjoys is the closest thing the show has to a spiritual sequel.

Syfy’s Killjoys Is The Closest To Being TV’s Ultimate Firefly Successor

With Firefly following Mal Reynolds' team of misfits and occasionally petty criminals as they take on any job necessary to keep flying, and Killjoys' central trio being space bounty hunters who chase their quarry across the system known as The Quad, the protagonists of the shows appear to be on opposite sides. However, it is likely that the two teams would get on if they found themselves in the same place. Many of the characters in Firefly have counterparts in Killjoys, sharing the same sense of humor and camaraderie, and the occasional complaint about their job.

Comparing Killjoys to Firefly
Title	Year	Seasons	Rotten Tomatoes critics' rating	Rotten Tomatoes audience rating
Firefly	2002	1	77%	96%
Killjoys	2015	5	95%	90%

With a theme centered on a motley crew hurtling through space and a sense of fun even in the most dangerous of moments, it is hardly surprising that Firefly and Killjoys are often compared. Still, while Firefly has often been emulated, Killjoys is far from a direct copy of the cult show, with its own narrative journey and distinctive tone. Killjoys' worldbuilding addresses secret military plots, giant evil corporations, religious groups, as well as the subculture in the local dive bar, far outpacing the lore of Firefly as the show had more time to tell its story.

Lasting for five seasons, Killjoys has several major advantages over Firefly in terms of time, but the factor that makes it one of the most rewatchable sci-fi TV series is its ending. Firefly had a multiseason plan, but Killjoys was allowed to make this a reality, giving fans a genuinely satisfying ending that wrapped up the main plotlines and balanced surprise with fan service. While no space Western will be able to replace Firefly, Killjoys is undoubtedly its ultimate successor, made even better for not trying to be Firefly.

Killjoys Is The Best Space Western Of The Past 15 Years

Firefly is likely to always be the most memorable example of the genre, but space Westerns have been getting more ambitious, with Outer Range transcending not just space but time, and even Love, Death & Robots featuring shorts that fit perfectly within the genre. Now, 2026 has officially been the year of the space Western, with some brand-new entries and sequels to watch. Franchises like Star Wars and Dune have long been considered space Westerns, and with more entries on the horizon, the trend shows no sign of slowing. Even so, any new project faces stiff competition from Killjoys.

Question 1 of 3

More recent TV shows like The Mandalorian might have better visual effects, but Killjoys captures the spirit of the Western better than any other sci-fi series since Firefly. The show spent its five seasons perfecting the genre, from the creed "The Warrant Is All," which leaves room for moral ambiguity and frontier justice, to its found family dynamic that should have made Killjoys' main characters into sci-fi icons. The series is a masterclass in worldbuilding, with its finale beating that of many space Westerns, and even classic Westerns, to the top spot for the genre.

Killjoys