It is four months before Serenity blasts into theatres in September and Sean Maher is already soaking up the positive buzz and energy. The night before this interview, Maher, who played the movie’s resident doctor and fugitive Simon Tam, attended a Boston screening along with co-star Morena Baccarin. Needless to day, he was blown away by the experience.
    “It was fantastic!” exclaims Maher. “It was the first time I had seen Serenity. I hadn’t really viewed anything besides little bits and pieces I would do sound-looping for. I don’t want to call it a rough cut, but it was definitely not finished. A lot of music and ADR we did needed to go in. There are no opening credits but still, it was quite amazing. And, of course, sitting in the audience with a bunch of diehard Firefly fans… There was nothing like it!”
    Maher, who made his genre debut with Firefly, admits he needed some convincing before initially committing to the original TV series. “When my agent presented this to me, he was like, ‘Well, this guy Joss Whedon has this new project and it is sci-fi’ and I was like, ‘No! Definitely not!’” recalls Maher. “I look back on that and think, ‘Shame on me.’ It was so subjective because I read the script and I don’t even feel like what we’ve done is science fiction. It sort of feels like this spectacular altered reality, this incredible world Joss has created. I even now forget it is science fiction. Now I am proud to be a part of it.”
    So what exactly attracted Maher to his character Simon and the show then? “Actually, there was no script when I was first told about it. What drew me in was the world. There were very few pages to even audition with so what I got excited about was him talking about the show and giving me a synopsis of his idea. I remember leaving my first meeting with him and I was just under his spell and would do anything in this world. I was so intrigued and inspired by it.”
    Maher was stunned when the FOX Network cancelled Firefly after airing only four episodes. Effectively closing that chapter in his career, Maher never dreamed he would be reuniting with his co-stars until creator Joss Whedon dropped the Serenity bombshell over dinner. “I couldn’t believe it until we sat down at the table read,” says the New York native. “In my experience, I’ve been on a bunch of series that have been cancelled and it is always, ‘this isn’t the end’ and this was the first instance where I though this might have a life afterwards. It was great news to hear.”
    Understandably, Maher was slightly nervous about how the material would translate into a big budget production, but happily reports, “It hasn’t changed much, although it will surely embrace people who haven’t seen the TV show. The story is a lot clearer because it starts at ‘Point A’ and brings you forward. I remember thinking last night while watching it that there’s the same flow, wit, banter, the action, the tone… It is all similar to the series. People who liked Firefly are going to love the movie. In addition, there were a few people there who came with friends, who had not seen the series, and were overjoyed with the movie.”
    Maher stars as Simon, a brilliant young doctor who sacrificed his wealthy lifestyle to rescue his sister River from a government laboratory where she was being experimented on. “Ideally, I went at Simon from a regal point of view,” explains Maher about his approach. “There was an air of upper class he carried so I worked a lot on his speech and certainly the medical stuff was hard. You know, all those ER moments. Then again, there was balancing the dynamics with the crew and his sister. He really wanted to be there to keep her safe and I don’t think Simon wanted to enjoy the crew in any way, shape or form. He has certainly gone through an overall transformation since the beginning of the series.”
    The two siblings eventually found refuge among a bunch of misfits on Captain Malcolm Reynolds’ space heap, Serenity. “What motivates Simon is his love for his sister River and he would do anything to keep her safe, protect her, and figure out what the Alliance has done to her,” says Maher.
    However, time is running out. As Simon slowly pieces together the puzzle, the Alliance and The Operative are two small steps behind them. At one point during a bar break, a subliminal message causes River to go berserk and beat up everyone around her, friend and foe alike. Only Simon’s verbal fail-safe command shuts her down, but the incident has almost everyone spooked.
   “Throughout the movie, I don’t think Simon is totally afraid of River, but he’s utterly baffled by what is going on in her head,” offers the actor. “There are a few instances in the story where they have an exchange and you could call it fear. River reacts to Simon in a way that is perhaps not a way that a sister should react to her brother. We’ll leave it at that.”
    The search for the truth about River leads the ship to the desolate planet Miranda, and it is there they finally uncover the Alliance’s dirty, little secret as well as the origin of the Reavers… “It is funny,” comments Maher. “When I read the pilot for Firefly, I found the Reavers to be the most chilling aspect of the script. What was so scary is you just saw everyone’s reaction to them.”
    In the movie, when the ravenous creatures descend on a small town, not only do Mal, Zoe, Jayne and River witness first hand what the Reavers are capable of, they narrowly escape being ripped to shreds themselves. However, none of that compares to the climatic showdown where the crew must stand up against an onslaught of Reavers. “When I heard there were going to be Reavers in the movie, I was a little disappointed because I thought that that element was missing,” explains Maher. “We did a lot of the Reaver stuff without them even being there. Then one day, they started trickling in and you’d be taken aback and, ‘Wow! That make-up is incredible and they are so creepy!’ The actual day they worked and were banging, growling, and screaming, we were all taken aback by how scared we were. We were totally thrown off guard. I felt my heart rate go up a little bit so they definitely carried a element of fear.”
    Poor Simon, though. In the past, he’s been punched, shot, hit and made a wimpy marksman, so it is hard to imagine him successfully packing heat against such an overwhelming threat. “Simon actually does well,” maintains Maher. “He has a few hero moments in the movie. When you are in that one second where it is life or death, you will do anything, and our battle with the Reavers is very primal.”
    Maher was thankful his character finally grew a backbone and contributed to the action. “I think that was where we wanted to take it in the movie,” he recalls. “We sort of wanted to make Simon a little tougher. The movie starts with a flashback of me getting River away from the Alliance and then cuts to a great deal of time later when we are on the ship. I’ve become accustomed to this way of living so he’s a little rougher around the edges now.”
    A Yoga enthusiast who also excelled at football for the TV movie Brian’s Song, Maher laughs out loud when it is mentioned that his chiseled features earned him the nickname of Sean “The Bod” Maher on the Serenity set. “Yes, Simon takes off his shirt in the movie,” he sighs.
    At least mechanical whiz-kid Kaylee isn’t complaining about the skin. For too long she’s had this crush on Simon and finally blurts out her feelings under the most inappropriate circumstances. “Simon’s love for Kaylee was hard to balance and as an actor I didn’t want him to come across as pretentious, a jerk, or rude,” explains Maher. “It is just that I was on that ship to get a job done, no matter what the cost.”
    However the outburst apparently paid off, as River spies them getting all hot and heavy later. “Yeah, after all this time and pent-up energy, they finally kiss, which was a great surprise and it is not a quick kiss,” states Maher.
    If Simon survives his encounter with the Reavers and the Alliance, Maher already knows what he wants more of in a second go-around. “Just what we were talking about with Simon being a little rougher,” he offers. “I’d love to go farther with that and blend his incredible medicine gift with the recklessness of Zoe and Mal. Maybe more dedication to the crew and more hero moments too. I would love to see more with Simon and Kaylee’s relationship. And of course, I’d like to do the entire movie completely in the buff.”