Filmmaker Joss Whedon (“Avengers”) has had a bad couple of years. Starting in the summer of 2020, after “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” was announced, a wave of accusations about the director’s reportedly appalling behavior on the set of 2016’s “Justice League,” started to surface. Led by “Justice League” actor Ray Fisher, the worst of these claims included allegations that Whedon had threatened Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot during the reshoots of their embattled superhero film.
His reputation eventually in tatters, the accusations led to Whedon’s ouster from the HBO series “The Nevers” and the filmmaker quietly exiting the “Batgirl” movie. Around the same time, the women of “Buffy,” including Charisma Carpenter and Michelle Trachtenberg, spoke out about their bizarre experiences with Whedon on the sets of his various acclaimed TV shows.
Once known as a champion of empowered female characters, thanks to shows like “Buffy” and “Dollhouse,” few of those cast members came to his defense. And most shared similar stories about abusive and emotionally manipulative behavior on set. However, one actor is still standing steadfast by his man.
While speaking on the Inside Of You podcast (listen below), longtime pal and Canadian actor Nathan Fillion defended the” Firefly” creator/director, singling out the January 2022 New York Magazine piece that highlighted Whedon’s history of toxicity and only made an intended comeback worse. Regardless of what was said in the article, Fillion said he would work with Whedon again “in a second.”
Fillion seemed to take the “I didn’t experience this allegation, so it couldn’t possibly be true” defense many people in similar situations have taken.
“I read that article, and nowhere in there at any point in time did he mention ‘Firefly.’ I had an entirely—that was not my experience with that man,” Fillion said on the podcast. During that chat, he described Whedon as “funny, self-deprecating, incredibly talented” and “maybe a little haunted.”
“I mean, listen, by his own admission, that guy’s a work in progress, and I appreciate that,” he continued. “I would work with Joss again in a second. I would work with him again in a second.”
It seems ill-advised to defend a man that a rash of women have come out against. Several actresses on his various shows accused him of abuse of power and very emotionally and psychologically wounding comments about their weight and appearance. Still, sometimes people are unwilling to hear things outside their own experiences or consider gender and power dynamics outside their own.
It’s worth pointing out that Fillion has dealt with his own allegations of mistreating others on set. US Weekly once stated from sources that he had been “nasty” for a long time to his “Castle” co-star Stana Kenic (who played his wife) to the point of making her cry in her dressing room which likely contributed to her exiting the show. One user on Twitter recently recounted some of those US Weekly details and how their relationship became so strained that they were forced to not appear in the same scenes despite being married on the series.
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