Booster Gold Creator Dan Jurgens: “I’m Not Saying No” To Nathan Fillion

Not long ago, during a convention appearance, Firefly and Castle star Nathan Fillion said that he’d like to play Booster Gold.

The DC Comics superhero, created in the 1980s by famed writer/artist Dan Jurgens, has always had elements of comedy in his stories and, indeed, there was a period in his publishing history where he was essentially one-half of a Laurel-and-Hardy pairing with Blue Beetle. This makes a dramatic actor with dashing good looks and a wry sense of humor seem like a good match for Booster, although many fans have questioned whether Fillion could fit the role, given his age.

During the In-Store Convention Kickoff event today, Jurgens was quizzed about the idea.

“Wouldn’t that be something?” Jurgens said when Fillion’s name was brought up.

Asked whether he would endorse the idea of Fillion playing Booster, Jurgens said, “I think that I absolutely would, and I would also have a list of probably ten other guys who I’d certainly give a big thumbs-up to. Some of it depends on what is the story you’d ever want to tell? What age is Booster, where exactly are we in his continuum, and what’s the story we want to tell? I’m not saying no!”

Shortly after Fillion’s comments, rumors started to fly that DC TV maestro Greg Berlanti is developing a feature film version of Booster Gold, which might co-star Blue Beetle. ComicBook.com, of course, asked Fillion’s Firefly and Con Man co-star Alan Tudyk, who will appear with Fillion later today on the In-Store Convention Kickoff, whether he would want to take on that role.

“If it’s working with Nathan, I’m in,” Tudyk said.

After creating Booster in the ’80s (and both writing and drawing a series that lasted for two years), Jurgens returned to the character numerous times over the years, including a run from 2006 until 2011 in which he wrote and/or drew nearly all of a fifty-issue run; and a two-issue Convergence miniseries that gave the pre-Flashpoint Booster Gold a new role in the current DC Universe. In both that Convergence miniseries and the Time Masters: Vanishing Point storyline that serves as an emphasis on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Jurgens wrote an older Booster Gold — probably Fillion’s age or a little older — who was both father and trainer to Time Master Rip Hunter.