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Plans Are in Place to Resurrect Queer Fave TV Show 'Buffy' with Sarah Michelle Gellar Attached
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is set to reprise the role of Buffy Summers in a resurrected "Vampire Slayer" series on Hulu that will focus on a younger central character. Gellar could be a recurring guest.
"Hulu is developing a follow-up to the cult favorite series, with original star Sarah Michelle Gellar attached," The Hollywood Reporter said. "The new project comes from writers Nora and Lilla Zuckerman ('Poker Face,' 'Fringe') and 20th Television and is described as 'the next chapter in the Buffyverse.'"
"Oscar winner Chloé Zhao ('Nomadland,' 'Eternals') is set to direct," THR added.
Though Gellar had previously resisted the idea of a new "Buffy," starring in a "Dexter" spinoff – "Dexter: Original Sin" – has prompted her to change her mind, THR noted.
"I always used to say no, because it's in its bubble, and it's so perfect," the entertainment news outlet quoted Gellar saying on "The Drew Barrymore Show."
"But watching 'Sex and the City' [sequel 'And Just Like That'] and seeing 'Dexter,' and realizing there are ways to do it, definitely does get your mind thinking, 'Well, maybe,'" she explained.
Gellar portrayed the title character in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," a supernatural coming-of-age series with a big gay following. The show ran for seven seasons and 144 episodes between 1997 and 2003 and was the creation of Joss Whedon, who also penned the 1992 feature film on which the series was loosely based.
Though "Gellar's Buffy Summers would not be the central character," THR relayed, she would potentially appear in a recurring guest role.
"The Hulu project is the second Buffy reboot to emanate from 20th TV in the recent past," THR noted, detailing that an effort to bring the show back in 2018 stalled out.
That effort had included Joss Whedon, "who has since been accused of mistreating actors on 'Buffy,' its spinoff 'Angel' and the 'Justice League' feature film," THR noted, but Whedon "is not involved in the Hulu show."
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
