Casting Couch: Fillion Shifts into "Drive"

That noise you hear? It's the collective sound of Firefly fans gasping for air as Captain Tightpants himself reunites with Firefly executive producer (and Joss Whedon collaborator) Tim Minear.

FOX has announced that Nathan Fillion has been cast as the lead in the midseason drama Drive, about an illegal underground race across America (think The Amazing Race on crack and throw in some violence and you get the idea). He'll play Alex Tully, a landscaper who is coerced into joining the race in order to track down his wife, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious syndicate.

Fillion replaces Ivan Sergei, who played Alex in the original pilot and who will next appear in the pilot for USA's dramedy To Love and Die in L.A.

According to Fillion, he was originally approached by Minear to participate in the pilot but had to turn it down thanks to scheduling issues (he was filming feature White Noise 2), but the two former co-workers met up at a summer barbeque and Minear again brought up the idea of Drive and showed him the pilot.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Personally, I couldn't be happier. I saw the original pilot of Drive back in early November and Ivan Sergei was by far the least interesting element of the pilot, giving a somewhat wooden performance that failed to make the menace, breakneck speed, and tension of the race really come alive. Being a huge fan of Fillion, I think he'll add an emotional, sympathetic note to Alex that's really needed for the audience to jump in his pickup truck with him.

While I was a little disappointed by some elements of the original pilot, I do hear that storylines and characters are being rejiggered for the second go around and Fillion's involvement definitely piques my interest.

And who knows? Maybe Wash and the rest of the gang can turn up along the way.