The Big Buffy Reboot
Will the Slayer be gracing our screens again?
If the apocalypse comes... uh, message me on Signal???
My time these days has mostly been engulfed with doing techie things with my computer and gaming, but did you know that I'm also something of a TV show connoisseur? I think I can pinpoint exactly why it is that I prefer television over film, and it all boils down to a conversation that I had with my sister recently. While working on a bit of writing herself, she had asked me if I ever get sad when a really good story ends. And I do! That's why I love serialized storytelling like you see on TV—episode after episode usually expands upon the last. And don't get me wrong: I also love and greatly appreciate standalone movies and stories in other media with firm beginnings, middles, and ends. But at the end of the day, isn't it a little more exciting knowing that there's more story yet to come?
There are plenty of shows that could probably make it into my personal Top 10 Favorite list, but I think Buffy the Vampire Slayer has had a pretty high-ranking position on that list for 20+ years now. People who have never watched the show often dismiss it as silly and frivolous based on the title alone, but honestly, the only thing you should judge the show on is its use of uh... Questionable special effects, especially in its early seasons. The show is built around the central character of Buffy Summers (played by the remarkably underrated Sarah Michelle Gellar), who is the latest young girl chosen by fate to fight against vampires, demons, and other nasty monsters that lurk in the darkness. Joining her in the show's cast is her mentor, Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head), and an evolving cast of friends, family, allies, and enemies alike, played by Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter, David Boreanaz, Seth Green, James Marsters, Eliza Dushku, Emma Caulfield, Marc Blucas, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Amber Benson.
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Pre-dating teen girl fantasy vampire dramas like Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, Buffy was ahead of its time and the curve. The show's writers brilliantly used its supernatural theme as a metaphor for the horrors of high school and adult life in later seasons. For example, in a first-season episode, a fellow student of Buffy's feels so ignored by her peers that she literally becomes invisible. After going off to college, Buffy's first roommate is so annoying that she turns out to be—surprise!—a vile demon. The ultimate metaphor that the show employed throughout its seven seasons was a second-season arc in which Buffy's ensouled vampire boyfriend loses that soul and reverts to his wholly evil and murderous persona after sleeping with Buffy for the first time. Raise your hand if you have ever had an ex turn into a massive jerk at perhaps your most vulnerable moment!
The show fit into the supernatural and horror genre perfectly, but for these reasons, its storytelling was also surprisingly relatable and compelling, and perfectly encapsulates why it's still relevant and beloved by its cult following to this day. It should come as no surprise, then, that series star Sarah Michelle Gellar is planning a return to the role in a series revival in development at Hulu. The new series is being spearheaded by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao, Poker Face writers Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, and executive directors from the original Buffy include Gail Berman, Fran & Kaz Kuzui, and Dolly Parton—yes, that Dolly Parton!—with her company Sandollar. Thankfully, the show's original creator, Joss Whedon, is not involved with the revival after facing a boatload of misconduct allegations in 2021 from numerous Buffy cast members and his own ex-wife.
The thought of the big Buffy reboot has me feeling two disparate emotions: over-the-top excited and grimly nervous.
Sarah Michelle Gellar talks about the Buffy reboot on Access Hollywood.
Excitement because... of course I want more of the Buffyverse! Is that even a question? The fictional world that was built in Buffy and its spinoff, Angel, honestly lends itself to infinite expansion. Even as early as 2003, when it was reported that Gellar was leaving the show after its seventh season and that the series was effectively ending, there were reports of additional spinoffs in development that could continue the story of a few other popular characters. Those spinoffs never happened. It is not even the first time a revival of the show has been planned. Back in 2018, before the allegations against him came out, it was reported that Whedon was moving forward on a reboot with TV writer Monica Owusu-Breen, who had worked with him on Marvel Television's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series. That reboot never materialized either. But the hunger for more from this world is real, and the fact that it could happen very soon has me delighted.
There's a great deal of trepidation on my part as well. It's common knowledge now that Hollywood has produced a mixed bag of revivals, remakes, reboots, etc. Another one of my favorite series, Gilmore Girls, got a revival with a four-part miniseries on Netflix back in 2016, and feelings on it were middling at best. While it was lovely to step back into the show's world again, the story left a lot of fans questioning why they bothered. If Buffy receives similar treatment, it would be enormously disappointing. I'm cautious, but optimistically so after Gellar's recent remarks. Over the years, she has also been understandably wary about returning to the role of Buffy, but Zhao was the one who changed her mind.
“Every pitch I heard was just like, ‘Let's just do Buffy again.’ Why?” Gellar said to Elite Daily last month. “But 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.’”
And frankly, in Sarah Michelle Gellar, I trust, so I think it's time to put on our stylish but affordable boots and pick up those stakes again, friends.