Somebody get Mister Pointy out of storage: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the cult-beloved TV series that ran for seven seasons from 1997-2003, is on the verge of a revival. Even better, original star Sarah Michelle Gellar is along for the ride.
Deadline calls this “a new chapter in the franchise,” noting “a followup series is nearing a pilot order from Hulu.” This pilot order (which is not a series order as of yet, to be clear), would feature Gellar back as Buffy Summers, and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Eternals), “a self-professed lifelong Buffy fan,” directing the pilot, which has a script by Poker Face‘s Nora and Lila Zuckerman.
Besides the fact that the power team of Gellar and Zhao are involved (plus Dolly Parton, yes the Dolly Parton, is also among its producers), Deadline further notes that there’s a lot of reason to hope that the Buffy revival could make it to series, with a writers’ room coming together “soon,” signaling a vote of confidence from both Hulu and the production studios involved. And this: “It is unclear yet whether other original Buffy cast members would return; that is considered likely.”
One name we can assume won’t be a part of the new Buffy is Joss Whedon, who created the WB turned UPN series and wrote the 1992 movie that first introduced the character later played by Gellar. He’s been out of show biz since 2021—The Nevers was his last big project—after abuse allegations surfaced from Charisma Carpenter, who starred on Buffy and its spin-off Angel, and others who’d worked with him.
A Buffy reboot first entered the ether back in 2018, with plans to recast the lead character as a Black woman. This latest Buffy comeback appears to be styled more as a revival or continuation, given the returning casting, rather than a “next generation” type of story.
What do you think of more Buffy, with Gellar’s supernatural slayer once again saving the world (a lot)? We’ll bring you more on 21st century Buffy as and when we learn it.
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