Every Nathan Fillion TV Show, Ranked (From Firefly To Lanterns)

Nathan Fillion is a legend on the TV circuit, and even more so among sci-fi and fantasy fans, but how do his greatest hits stack up compared to one another? Today, Nathan Fillion is one of the most recognizable figures on the small screen, with a healthy dose of feature film appearances taking him into the mainstream Hollywood.

However, Fillion kicked off his acting career with a handful of small roles in the early 1990s before eventually landing a recurring but brief role in the soap opera, One Life to Live, which netted him an Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Young Actor. Clearly, Fillion’s talent was enough to get him recognized, which led to his true breakout role as Captain Mal Reynolds in the cult hit, Firefly.

Today, Fillion has led several major TV shows, and appeared in many dozens more, with some standout appearances in shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Modern Family, Santa Clarita Diet, Community, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which secured his spot as a familiar face, but the best performances of his career came in far more substantial roles.

10

Drive

Image via Everett Collection

While Firefly has gone on to become one of Fillion’s most beloved roles, the show faced issues that put a stop to the series after a single season. So, in the wake of Fillion’s turn as Captain Mal in 2002, he went on to work on a much less impressive series called Drive, which came out in 2007 and also lasted for just a single season.

In fact, similar to Firefly’s fate, the show ended up being canceled early, with this series barely managing to get 4 episodes on the air before Fox decided to call it quits. Fillion played Alex Tully in what was intended to be a high-concept illegal street racing drama, but unfortunately, the show didn’t have the drive to go on.

9

One Life to Live

Briefly mentioned above, Fillion’s breakout role was a soap opera called One Life to Live. While the show has been running from 1968 all the way through to 2013, racking up an impressive 5000+ episodes in its run, it would be a shame to exclude this entry from a list of Fillion’s most defining works.

Fillion played a character by the name of Joey Buchanan, and he continued to hold on to that role between 1994 and 1997. As noted above, this also earned him a Daytime Emmy nomination, and kickstarted his career. And while it is inevitably a show that has had a tentative audience for decades, it’s hard to compare against modern serials with clear character arcs and narratives.

Fortunately for One Life to Live, however, it clearly outperformed Drive, which struggled to eke out even a single series and has never managed to gain much recognition from audiences.

8

Con Man

This is where Nathan Fillion’s body of work starts to get more interesting, in the comedy series Con Man, where Fillion starred alongside Firefly co-star and beloved Hollywood actor Alan Tudyk. The series was created by Tudyk as a meta commentary on life as an actor in spaces where fandoms play a major role.

Having gained incredible success and widespread recognition in the years after Firefly aired, both Fillion and Tudyk were veterans of the comic convention scenes, and this web-series played on those ideas as a foundation. Fillion plays Jack Moore, an exaggerated version of himself, and the series is an underrated gem.

7

Gravity Falls

Now, while Fillion is best known for his face, charisma, and charm in the many appearances throughout his career, he has also lent his voice to a number of projects over the last few decades that have managed to earn plenty of acclaim of their own, with his most notable coming from his time voicing Preston Northwest in Gravity Falls.

Preston is the father of Pacifica, and it’s fair to say that he is eccentric, which, paired with Fillion’s enigmatic and recognizable voice, makes for one of the most enjoyable recurring characters on the show.

6

A Series of Unfortunate Events

On the back of his time on Gravity Falls, Fillion played Jacques Snicket in the Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, which also starred Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf. This series was a wonderful adaptation of the book series, and despite not getting the recognition it deserved, it earns a spot on this list.

Of course, Fillion plays a swashbuckling, theatrical figure who crosses paths with Count Olaf a handful of times before meeting his untimely fate by Olaf’s hand. He is audacious, daring, and heroic in his mannerisms, but none of that amounts to much after he is eventually killed off in the series.

5

Two Guys and a Girl

Going back in time again, to 1998, Nathan Fillion landed a major role in a sitcom called Two Guys and a Girl, which originally featured the more descriptive mouthful of a title, Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. Fillion plays Johnny Donnelly, who joins the show in season 2 and remains a central part of the cast through to the show’s resolution.

While season 1 sees two suitors pursuing Sharon, Johnny manages to make a lasting impression that sees him become the unofficial “Third Guy” of the series, and the one who manages to become the boyfriend, and eventually husband to Sharon, despite the efforts of the original characters. It’s a fun, low-stakes story with a solid execution and a great cast, which earns it a spot at number five.

4

The Rookie

In 2018, Fillion took on a new leading role as the titular protagonist of this series following a noticeably older police recruit in LA. The Rookie is easily one of Fillion’s most successful shows of all time, with the series about to drop its ninth season early in 2027 and no clear end in sight.

Fillion plays John Nolan, an enigmatic, determined, and optimistic gentleman who is willing to go through the humbling process of becoming a cop later in life as a way to fulfill his dreams of helping people and making a difference in his community. The show is wonderfully funny, hopeful, and built around a cast of great characters that make this an easy stand-out entry.

3

Lanterns

MovieStillsDB

Lanterns is the most recent series to feature Nolan, and as part of the expanding DCU, it sees him reprise his role as Guy Gardner, aka the Green Lantern. The reviews for the series have been overwhelmingly positive, and it appears to be one of the strongest parts of the DCU to date, but with only one season and an incredibly recent release, it’s hard to defend placing it higher on the list than number three.

That being said, Fillion’s appearance as Guy Gardner is a highlight of the season, and he is settling into playing the role of an unconventional superhero spectacularly well.

2

Castle

Credit: MovieStillsDB

Taking the second place spot, Fillion’s turn as Richard Castle in Castle between 2009 and 2016 has to take it. This procedural crime mystery series is a wonderful outing from Fillion alongside his co-star, Stana Katic, who plays NYPD Detective Kate Beckett.

Castle is a highly successful author whose expertise in the thoughts and minds of criminals makes him a uniquely perfect partner for Kate as they seek to uncover the truth about various dark crimes and murder mysteries. It’s thrilling, endearing, and full of wonderful twists and turns that make it a joy to watch from start to finish.

1

Firefly

However, among his many credits and remarkable leading roles, there is nothing that stands out as being close to the magic of Firefly. In 2002, the show faced incredible bad luck, or perhaps woeful neglect, as the show aired out of order, and ultimately faced cancellation with timeslot changes and other challenges. But, despite all of that, the show gained a loyal cult following, which eventually led to the rest of the premiere season being distributed.

The show also managed to get a sequel film, Serenity, which gave audiences some closure, but in the face of all the setbacks, this series managed to create a new genre of TV. The space Western, with a team of ragtag heroes played by some of the most remarkable developing talent of the time, Firefly is in a league of its own.

It’s clear that Nathan Fillion has had an incredible career to date, with several of his characters leaving a lasting impression. And in no small part, this is down to the energy he brings to each character, and the vibrancy and joy that becomes part of the makeup of any project he is involved with.