Personally, I'd have preferred it if this were set post-Serenity, but I can see the logic of setting it between Firefly and Serenity. And who knows, if this is a success maybe something set post-Serenity could be in the cards at some point in the future? Time will tell, I guess.
And yeah, a live action revival featuring the cast just isn't practical, given they all are have steady acting work with at least three of them being lead actors on TV shows currently in production. There's no way a new cast could be seriously considered, as the whole appeal of Firefly is the cast and how well they all gel together. Without that, there really isn't that much of a draw. And before anyone makes the inevitable Star Trek comparison and that people were saying the same about the TOS cast before TNG started, it is a different situation. The Star Trek franchise in the 1980s had a lot more popularity amongst general audiences than Firefly has in the 2020s. It made sense to take a gamble on a new Star Trek with a new cast. That is not the case with Firefly at all
I'm praying that if this falls through for any reason, my fellow Browncoats behave better than the Buffy fandom did and don't lose their minds.
I think we all know the Browncoats will lose their minds even worse than the Buffy fans are at the moment. Buffy fandom at least got a full series and a spin-off, even if they were both over twenty years ago. If this show falls through, the Browncoats will view it as the franchise once again being screwed over and denied its chance to shine.
Retcon events/time frame from the movie?
That would be my guess, and indeed, the various tie-in material that's been made available over the years has retconned the timeframe established in Serenity. And honestly, eight months just feels like too short a timeframe, even if one just counts the episodes and movie.
Of course, if they do seasons after Serenity, what does that mean for Alan Tudyk? Does start voicing a new character or revive Wash somehow (which I would be against).
I would guess in this scenario Tudyk would voice a new character. With maybe occasional flashback scenes featuring Wash.
Don’t lean into the comic adaptations too much. I want new material (I can budge a little on this point).
The general rule of thumb is that it's generally only 1% of a fandom that bothers with tie-in material, and Firefly fandom isn't as active as the fandoms that metric was used to gauge, such as Star Trek, Star Wars or even Doctor Who. They all know better than to acknowledge their tie-ins in a serious manner in their onscreen material, this show won't be acknowledging Firefly tie-ins either. The whole tail wagging the dog thing.
Keep true to the dialogue, including quick quips, bunk refences and a mix of English and Chinese.
Eh, while the Chinese words to help make Firefly's world unique, I do agree with the criticism that the actors not knowing how to properly pronounce the Chinese words did get distracting. On a related note, I do hope this show corrects the one genuine mistake Firefly is guilty of and includes Asian characters with speaking roles.