"After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system, and hundreds of new Earths were terra-formed and colonized. The central planets formed the Alliance and decided all the planets had to join under their rule. There was some disagreement on that point. After the War, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the solar system, far from Alliance control. Out here, people struggled to get by with the most basic technologies; a ship would bring you work, a gun would help you keep it. A captain's goal was simple: find a crew, find a job, keep flying."
— Opening Narrationnote
A Science Fiction Space Western franchise.
In the immediate aftermath of the Alliance-Independents War, the 'verse is a breeding ground for outlaws, criminals, smugglers and any other types who live life on the edge, far from the rigid laws and Vast Bureaucracy of the Alliance and the Core Worlds. In other words, it's The Wild West IN SPACE!!! (well, not quite—outlaws in the Old West probably didn't go around cussing in Chinese.)
Media
Live-Action
- Firefly (2002–2003): The TV series that started it all.
- Serenity (September 30, 2005): A feature-film continuation released by Universal to critical acclaim making Firefly one of the few canceled television series to be spun off into a major motion picture. It was titled Serenity because FOX still owned the rights to the name Firefly.
- R. Tam Sessions (2005): A series of five short Web Videos released online to tie in with the film depicting excerpts of counseling sessions with River Tam while she is held at the The Academy.
- Dark Horse Comics
- Serenity: Those Left Behind (2005)
- Serenity: Better Days (2008)
- Serenity: The Other Half (2008)
- Serenity Float Out (2010)
- Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale (2010)
- Serenity: Downtime (2010)
- Serenity: It's Never Easy (2012)
- Serenity: Leaves on the Wind (2014)
- Serenity The Warrior And The Wind (2016)
- Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse (2016)
- Boom! Studios
- Firefly (2018-2022)
- Firefly: Bad Company (2019)
- Firefly: The Sting (2019)
- Firefly: The Outlaw Ma Reynolds (2020)
- Firefly: Blue Sun Rising (2020)
- Firefly: Watch How I Soar (2020)
- Firefly: Brand New 'Verse (2021)
- Firefly Legacy 1 and 2, trade paperbacks collecting the Dark Horse comics
- Firefly: Return to Earth-that-Was (2021)
- All New Firefly (2022)
Trade paperback collections by Boom studios
- The Unification War 1, 2 and 3 as well as
Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition omnibus - New Sheriff In The Verse 1 and 2
- Blue Sun Riding 1 and 2
- Return To Earth-That-Was part 1 and 2
- The Unification War 1, 2 and 3 as well as
- Serenity (2005): A novelization of the film by Keith R.A. DeCandido.
- Firefly: Still Flying (2010): A background book that included Short Stories.
- Firefly: Big Damn Hero (2018)
- Firefly: The Magnificent Nine (2019)
- Firefly: Generations (2020)
- Firefly: The Ghost Machine (2020)
- Firefly: Life Signs (2021)
- Firefly: Carnival (2021)
- Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty (2022)
- Firefly: Coup de Grâce (2023)
- Firefly Aim To Misbehave (2024)
- Serenity Role-Playing Game (2005): The Role-Playing Game based on Serenity. As an interesting note, the company (Margaret Weis Productions) had only the rights to Serenity (meaning that the events of the Firefly series could only be talked about in very Broad Strokes terms within the book proper), yet nevertheless it obtained high acclaim while it was in production. The "second edition" of this game was made using the Firefly rights proper (which, ironically, means that the events of Serenity are the ones getting the Broad Strokes treatment).
- Firefly: The Game (2013)
- Firefly: Out to the Black (2013)
- Firefly Role-Playing Game (2014)
- Clue: Firefly Edition (2014)
- Monopoly: Firefly (2014)
- Yahtzee Firefly edition
- Firefly: Tall Card (2015)
- Firefly: Shiny Dice (2015)
- Firefly: Fistful of Credits (2015)
- Legendary Encounters: A Firefly Deck Building Game (2016)
- Firefly Fluxx (2016)
- Firefly Adventures: Brigands and Browncoats (2018)
- Firefly Online: A when-it's-ready Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
- An untitled animation adaptation featuring the (still living) cast returning. According to Nathan Fillion, this will be an Alternative Continuity that ignores the events of Serenity (2005).