What is this world that we’re living in right now? Are you serious that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is coming back? And not only is Sarah Michelle Gellar wielding the stake once more, but the series will have Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao aboard, as well!
Deadline reports that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel series is nearing a pilot order from Hulu. Gellar will reprise her iconic role of Buffy Summers, the vampire slayer that she played for seven seasons, five of them on the WB with the final two on UPN (remember that?) before concluding in 2003.
Zhao, the director best known for Eternals and her poetic dramas The Rider and Best Picture winner Nomadland, is a lifelong Buffy fan and will direct the pilot episode from a script by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face). A writers room is being put together with expectation that it will lead to an ongoing series.
It’s unclear if anyone else from the original, such as Alyson Hannigan, James Marsters, or Nicholas Brendon, will return. If there’s no Michelle Trachtenberg or Emma Caulfield, I’ll protest. Just sayin’. It’s also unclear if the show will recognize events in the canonical sequel comic books, which lasted to season eleven.
Buffy creator Joss Whedon, who directed the 1992 movie that led to the series, won’t have any involvement at all which is wild to consider. He was once the most popular filmmaker around but misconduct allegations by the Justice League cast and others put an end to that.
The original series led to another long-running series, Angel, starring David Boreanaz, that ended in 2004. Something tells me if you bring back Buffy, then Angel won’t be far behind. You can’t keep those crazy kids apart.
