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Buffy Reboot: Charisma Carpenter Hopeful for ‘Poetic' Return After Character's ‘Unjust' End in Spinoff
Despite Cordelia Chase's unfortunate demise in the Buffy spinoff Angel, Charisma Carpenter is game to revive the character in the upcoming Buffy reboot.
In June, Sarah Michelle Gellar said her 'dream is to bring back everyone who has died' in Hulu's forthcoming Buffy series. Speaking with IGN, Carpenter threw Cordy's hat into the ring, saying that her return to the series would be 'poetic' after the character's 'unjust' end in Angel's final season.
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'I am so excited for fans, and I know it will be fantastic because of who's involved,' the actress said of the project, which is being lead by Gellar and Oscar-winning Nomadland director Chloé Zhao. 'To see this actually happen for the fans makes me thrilled. I am so hopeful to be included, for Cordelia to be a part of this new iteration.'
Carpenter was a series regular on Buffy through Season 3. She then crossed over to Angel, but after several seasons, she was written out, only to be killed in a one-off guest-spot in Season 5.
'I don't know really what to make of it,' Carpenter told the publication, in reference to her character now being eligible for a comeback. 'I'm sure there are caveats — Cordelia died on Angel, not on Buffy,' she said. 'I don't know what that means for Cordelia specifically, but I'm hopeful that it includes Cordelia, obviously. It would be a dream to be included, and it would just be so poetic for that to occur, and for it to occur with this group.
'These writers are wildly creative, I'm sure they could figure it out if they wanted to, if it was a fan thing, where if there was a thirst or craving or need for Cordelia to be there. I'm sure with one hell of a creative team they have leading the writers' room, it would be possible.'
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Carpenter added: '[Cordelia] was built up so big, she'd grown so much, she'd had this remarkable journey, and for her to go out the way that she did just felt so unjust.'
The actress previously returned to the franchise in an Audible spinoff series titled Slayers that starred Carpenter as an alternate universe version of her character, one in which Cordelia was a vampire slayer. That audio-only series reunited the actress with other Buffy alums including Emma Caulfield Ford (Anya), Amber Benson (Tara), Anthony Head (Giles), James Marsters (Spike) and Juliet Landau (Drusilla), but it was cancelled after just one season.
Ahead of Slayers' release, Carpenter spoke to TVLine about the injustices Cordelia had faced and how her fate was not at all what the actress had wanted.
'The way that things ended for her was absolutely not what I wanted for that character that I had played, and all the blood, sweat and tears that went into her,' she said. 'And also the life that I personally was living and sacrificing for. To bring this character to life and to have it go the way that it did was like a part of me died. And so to be able to bring this about in this way was the ultimate justice for Cordelia.'
The Buffy follow-up was officially announced back in February with Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face) attached as writers, showrunners and executive producers. Zhao is attached to direct and executive-produce, with additional EPs including Gellar, Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui, Kaz Kuzui and Dolly Parton. (Berman, the Kuzuis and Parton all executive-produced the original series.) Gellar will reprise her former role in a recurring capacity rather than a leading one. In May, Ryan Kiera Armstrong was announced as the series' new slayer.
For more of Carpenter's thoughts on both Buffy and Angel, fans can check out her new Patreon podcast, The Bitch Is Back.
Would you like to see Cordelia back in the fold? Let us know in the comments below!
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