It may not be a Firefly revival, but this could be the next best thing. Nathan Fillion is going to be reprising his role as Captain Mal from Joss Whedon's beloved sci-fi series, sort of, on an upcoming arc of ABC's sitcom American Housewife. Fillion is set to feature on a two-episode arc, as himself, but he's been wearing his old Firefly costume and has been teasing that Mal is going to factor into this American Housewife storyline. How exactly that's going to happen remains unclear, but this may give Firefly fans just enough reason to tune into the show when these episodes air. This was announced by the ABC Promotions Twitter account.

"Hey look, it's @NathanFillion with @KatyEMixon & @ImMegDonnelly on the set of @AmericanWifeABC! Stay tuned for more information on Nathan's upcoming guest starring role (as himself!) in two upcoming episodes of #AmericanHousewife #ABCPublicity."

In the photo, Nathan Fillion is seen in his signature Firefly brown coat and shirt. The tweet makes no mention of the short-lived but beloved series, but it's clear they wanted people to know Fillion is going to be in his Captain Mal uniform. Nathan Fillion, being the man he is, has also been teasing this event on social media. In a series of Instagram posts, he revealed some of the Firefly stuff taking place during filming on these episodes of American Housewife. One post features his Captain Mal outfit hanging up in a closet behind him, with the caption saying, "Hmm...that's familiar." He also posted another picture with the inside of the Serenity from Firefly in the background, with his caption jokingly misremembering the name of the ship.

"Shh. Gimme a second to concentrate. It's on the tip of my tongue. I wanna say, serendipity? #americanhousewife"

Firefly debuted on Fox in 2002 and ran for just a single season, consisting of 14 episodes. Joss Whedon's series may have been just a bit before its time, as the series, though it didn't run long, has found a massive audience in the years since it went off the air. He made a movie, Serenity, in 2005 that unfortunately didn't do much business at the box office. That's probably why a proper Firefly revival never actually happened. But fans have held out hope, despite the fact that there's been no real indication that it's ever going to happen.

The world of Firefly has continued in other mediums, like comic books and video games, but there's also a new series of canon novels coming out, which Joss Whedon is involved in. Still, we're not going to see any new episodes of Firefly, at least not anytime soon. So seeing Nathan Fillion as Captain Mal in American Housewife will have to do. ABC has yet to announce when Fillion's episodes will air, but the series airs Wednesdays on the network. You can check out ABC's announcement tweet and Nathan Fillion's Instagram posts for yourself below.