The upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot has an official title, and franchise icon Sarah Michelle Gellar has explained why it holds such importance to her. Produced over at streaming platform Hulu, this fresh iteration of the beloved series already has a pilot episode in the can, with Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao calling the shots. Although Gellar is indeed sprinkling her magic on the project by returning in front of the camera as Buffy Summers, the main driver of the story is a new slayer, Nova, played by Star Wars: Skeleton Crew‘s Ryan Kiera Armstrong.
Guesting on the latest episode of the Shut Up Evan podcast, Gellar told host Evan Ross Katz:
“It’s not a sequel, it’s not a reboot — it’s a continuation,” and looks to reveal where her character “is now in this world, and what is this world that Buffy lives in with her and without her. So it’s not a reboot, it’s not picking up with all of the same characters right away. It is not like a sequel… That’s why the name was even important to me — Buffy: New Sunnydale. It’s Buffy, but it’s also something else.”
During the same conversation, the actress also admitted that she had been hit with a “hard” life lesson about saying “never say never”, having been staunchly against resurrecting Buffy in the past.
“I will eat my words, and I’m OK with that — I learned my lesson. I never saw how and why it could be as good [as the original series]. I’m not trying to be better. I just want to hold and honor the memory and what we created. I know sometimes that memory is conflicted for people about how they’re supposed to feel about it, but a lot of people put their blood, sweat, and tears into making what I think is an incredibly great show, and I’m incredibly proud of it.
“Chloé Zhao came to me and not just her passion, because I’ve seen people with passion before, but she knew how to go into the world. She knew what the world was, and she knew the way. And that was the first time I said, ‘Maybe, could I possibly do this? And this went on for three years now… me and Chloé going back and forth, saying I could do it, saying I can’t, and really spending the time to develop what it is and why it is.”
‘Buffy’ Reboot Will Be “Meaningful” to Fans of Original Show
This comes after Gellar promised IGN that Buffy: New Sunnydale would be “meaningful” to fans of the original show, which aired between 1997 and 2003, and became one of the most influential titles ever made. Without it, we wouldn’t have Supernatural, True Blood, The Umbrella Academy, or The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, to name a few.
“Fandoms like Buffy still resonate today because it’s not just about the show, but about the community that’s grown around it. For me, the heart of Buffy was always about found family — that sense of belonging and being loved for who you are — and that’s more important now than ever. That’s what makes this new chapter so meaningful, it’s not just revisiting the past, but honoring the show’s original DNA. The fact that people still carry such love for the show after all these years is incredibly special.”
According to longtime lovers of Buffy, this “continuation” needs to bring back one specific character to stand any chance of success.
- Release Date
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1997 – 2003
- Network
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The WB
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