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Sarah Michelle Gellar shares ‘Buffy' reboot hopes: ‘My dream is to bring back everyone who has died'
Sarah Michelle Gellar is offering fresh insight into the long-developing Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot. In a new interview with Vanity Fair Italia, the actress shared new details about the upcoming Hulu series and what finally convinced her to reprise the iconic role more than two decades after the original show ended.
'For so many years, I said no to a possible return of the series,' said Gellar, who received a Golden Globe nomination for Buffy but never had an Emmy bid (she did, however, win a Daytime Emmy for her breakout role on All My Children). 'I didn't want to reintroduce something we had already seen. I waited for the right time to come. Then Chloé [Zhao], a big Buffy fan, proposed the project to me, and I accepted.'
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The reboot has been in development quietly for several years. Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) will be the showrunners and Zhao will direct the pilot and executive produce alongside Gellar, original series producers Fran and Kaz Kuzui, Gail Berman, and Dolly Parton, who also backed the original under her Sandollar banner.
While Gellar will reprise her role as Buffy, she won't be the sole focus of the new series. Instead, the torch is being passed to a new generation. Ryan Kiera Armstrong, 15, known for roles in Firestarter and The Tomorrow War, will play the new lead — a teenage Slayer navigating modern high school life and supernatural threats. Gellar will appear in the pilot and then continue in a recurring role, stepping into a mentor-like position.
'It will be lighter than the last few seasons of the original,' Gellar said. 'We will try to find a balance between new and old characters. My dream is to bring back everyone who has died, but space will have to be made for new stories as well.'
The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon, ran for seven seasons from 1997 to 2003, first on the WB and later UPN. It followed Buffy Summers, a seemingly ordinary teenager chosen to battle vampires and demons. The show became a critical and cultural landmark for its blend of supernatural action, teen drama and feminist themes. It also launched the careers of stars like Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz, James Marsters, Seth Green, and Michelle Trachtenberg.
In this new version, the creative team is reimagining what it means to be an outsider in a digital world. 'One of the surprising aspects of Buffy is that it's always been a crossover series,' Gellar explained. 'We're trying to figure out how to modernize the themes of the series, especially what it means to feel like an outsider in a world dominated by social media. What we want to explore are the space-time boundaries that affect society today.'
While Gellar has long distanced herself from Whedon, who is not involved in the reboot following multiple misconduct allegations, she has expressed excitement about reclaiming the legacy of the series with a new generation.
'So. ... you might have heard some news this week, but I realize you haven't heard from me,' Gellar wrote in a Feb. 6 Instagram post alongside a photo of herself as Buffy and the character's famous quote, 'If the apocalypse comes, beep me.' She continued, 'I have always listened to the fans and heard your desire to revisit 'Buffy' and her world, but it was not something I could do unless I was sure we would get it right.'
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