Joss Whedon respects, the show had an average of 4.7 million viewers at the time and was ranked 98th in Nielsen ratings, which led to the series' cancelation by Fox. Whedon took to Universal Pictures as a means of achieving a continuation of the story. Following "Firefly" was "Serenity", a follow-up film taking place after the events of the final episode. This developed into a franchise that led to graphic novels, books and other media. New Scientist magazine held a poll in 2005 to find "The World's Best Space Sci-Fi Ever", in which "Firefly" and "Serenity" took first and second place, respectively.
Joss Whedon would not be brought back for a sixth season. Whedon said of the cancellation, "I believe the reason "Angel" had trouble on The WB was that it was the only show on the network that wasn't trying to be "Buffy". It was a show about grown-ups". An official continuation of the story came rather in the form of a comic book series. Following the successful eighth season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", IDW Publishing approached Whedon about similarly producing a canonical sixth season for "Angel". "" released 17 issues written by Whedon and Brian Lynch. Whedon followed "Angel" with the