Should they heve killed Shephard Book in Serenity?

Question

Just watched Serenity (again). Is it me or should Joss Whedon have let Book live so that they could make a sequel focusing on his past?
I was always curious of Book's past in Firefly and was really hurt when he died and we still knew nothing.
Also what do people think Book did in his past before living on Serenity?

Answer 1

Didn't you catch the line in "Serenity" when Mal and Book were standing on the rock overlooking the camp at Haven and Mal says something like, "someday, you will have to tell me about how you know all this", and Book responds, "No, I don't." That wasn't just Book talking to Mal.

In the series, Book actually suggests to Mal that he would someday tell him. So by Serenity, Joss apparently has decided that it wasn't necessary to tell that story - that we knew, by his suggestions, all we needed to know or, at least, all he was planning to tell us.

As fascinating and as deep as Book's character was, we all knew he was either ex-military, or ex-police, or (on the basis of the movie) ex-Operative, he grew a conscience and found religion, and became a shepherd, leaving his prior life behind.

Book was there to provide a moral compass to Mal - Joss is all about redemption in his stories and Book was a foil for Mal's redemption, whatever the particulars of his backstory may or may not have been.

I, on the other hand, wonder what it was that caused Inara to leave Sihnon in the manner in which she apparently did - brief hints through the series, and it is clear that Joss had something in the way of major revelation planned.

Book was, all in all, pretty much an open book by the end of the tell.

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Addendum:

Knight-wing, you just emailed me, but your email address is not confirmed so I couldn't respond directly to you.

Rather than misunderstanding your question here, I think I understood it. You may have misunderstood my answer.

Joss had decided he wasn't going to explore Book's past any further. He had gotten what he wanted from Book, when Book passed on his "Believe" comment to Mal in his death scene. That's all we needed, I think he was telling us.

There is certainly a vicarious interest in many in the particulars of Book's past, but it is now meaningless in Joss's story arcs.

At the end of Serenity, Inara has rejoined the crew. I believe the next sequel - if there was one, and there won't be - was to be about Inara's past.

Answer 2

Joss said in an interview that even though Book was killed it didn't mean that his past couldn't be revealed through another character or back story/flashback as Firefly did use that format in various episodes. I think his death helped show the danger everyone was in, it wasn't meaningless. I trust that Joss has plenty of ways to tell us what we want to know, he would have a contingency plan.

Book definitely worked for the Alliance in the past, as what? Well could have been covert ops, gathering intelligence etc. I think he would have had a decent rank, given what he knows and what happened in 'Safe'.

Answer 3

I don't know if they'll get to do any more but if they did it would make a great story line if Shepard Book's past comes back in some way and they have to find out about him and discover who he was in order to solve the problem at hand. Their actual knowledge of him was so limitted that it would be easy to do.

No idea what the problem could be though.

I didn't mind that they killed him off and I quite liked the fact that he was asked and decided not to say what his past was, made a nice change. I did find his death a bit abrupt though but I think that was the point. It put a lot more credibility behind the *Imminent Threat*.

Answer 4

The chances of there being a sequel are not good. The movie, although a good one, didn't make enough. I think the best a fan can hope for would most likely be a movie made for the Sci-Fi channel.

I don't know why they killed off Wash too, but it was Whedon's to do with what he wanted.

They could still make a "prequel" about his past.

I think Shep was probably an assasin, mainly because he didn't talk much about it.

Answer 5

no comment.

for those of you with the jones for more Firefly...check out author Michmak on Fanfiction.net. and others doing Firefly fanfics. there are some very good stories there...

and Michmak's 'Little Things' series takes place right after the events in Serenity.

The Shepherd's dead. Long live the Shepherd .

Answer 6

although i was sad to see book go i think that in killing him off joss lulled us (well me anyway) in to a false sense of security, i knew that someone was gonna kick it and when book died a assumed that was it so when wash was killed it had a slightly bigger impact.

if they make another (and i pray every day that they do) books story could stil be revealed, like others have said in flash backs, just think how many characters will killed in buffy/angel yet they still got to either come back or have their stories told in flashbacks.

one more quick point, its joss whedon! the man is GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

should of let book live

Answer 8

Mmmmmmm,now there's a question...blah blah oops:-)

Answer 9

i think so