Sarah Michelle Gellar debunks the reports released so far about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. It was announced in February that Hulu was moving forward with a pilot order for a Buffy reboot. Gellar is slated to recur, reprising her seminal role as Buffy Summers, but the main focus would be on a new slayer. Oscar-winning Nomadland director Chloé Zhao will direct the pilot, with Poker Face showrunners Lilla and Nora Zuckerman writing the script. So far, along with the news that the pilot will film in Los Angeles, that’s all that is known about the reboot.
In an interview with Elite Daily, Gellar addressed recent reports of the characters that will appear in the reboot and said that the character details that have circulated online so far is fake. That would include the mention that the potential series will focus on a slayer named Nova, with her friends Hugo and Gracie. Gellar, an executive producer on the reboot, who is currently partnering with MyFitnessPal on its new meal-planner tool, also opened up about why she agreed to be part of the Hulu project. Read her quote below:
Every pitch I heard was just like, ‘Let’s just do Buffy again.’ Why?” “ut the passion that [Zhao] came to me with, what she wanted to do with the show and the character, and why Buffy is needed now — it was the first time where I thought, ‘OK, there’s a reason.’”
“We’ve been at this for three-and-a-half, maybe four years now. We won’t do it unless it’s 100% right and there’s 100% a reason.”
“Those are all fake characters. That thing that got released is all fake.”
“The whole point of an antihero is to be a hero for the people who don’t fit in the box, the people who aren’t like everybody else. That’s who I want to tell stories for: the person that really looks to these stories to feel a connection.”
The Project Is Still Developing
For a comparison of the progress of the Buffy reboot, it is worth looking at the Prison Break pilot, which is also in development at Hulu. The project was first announced in November 2023, with casting only starting to be announced in 2025. It may be the case that the Buffy project will move on a faster track, but it also could be the case that the producers are taking their time to figure out which characters to put front and center.
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This is not the first time a Buffy reboot has been tried. There were reports of a movie reboot in the 2010s, which wouldn’t have involved any of the original cast. It didn’t move forward. A reboot attempt announced in 2018 stalled right out of the gate and was put on ice after the workplace abuse allegations against franchise creator Joss Whedon. In an era where almost everything gets a reboot, it hasn’t been easy bringing Buffy Summers back. That puts extra pressure on which characters might join her.
Our Take On The Buffy Reboot News
It’s A Tough One
Considering that almost every show ends up getting rebooted, it is a badge of honor that the supernatural teen drama leader has managed to avoid getting rebooted for the sake of it. But, given its status and importance to generations of viewers, there’s also added pressure to the question of which Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters should appear alongside Gellar.
Source: Elite Daily
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
