Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds

Mal Reynolds captains the Serenity, a battered cargo ship at the ragged edge of civilized space. A veteran of the losing side in a war that still defines him, he takes whatever job pays, legal or otherwise, and trusts his crew more than any government. Charming, sardonic, and quick with a gun, he keeps his own code even when it costs him.

Nathan Fillion plays contradiction as a stable state: Mal cracks jokes mid-crisis and means them, is tender with his crew and ruthless with threats to them, believes in nothing and everything at once. The show gives him a lost cause to carry without ever letting him become a martyr, and Fillion's timing keeps the ache underneath the wisecracks visible without ever asking for pity.