Cue the Nerf Herder guitar riff: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot is in the offing.
via: Deadline
More than two decades after Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended its seven-season run, the beloved supernatural drama is eyeing a revival with a new chapter in the franchise. A followup series is nearing a pilot order from Hulu, with Sarah Michelle Gellar expected to star, reprising her signature role as Buffy Summers, sources said. Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, a self-professed lifelong Buffy fan, is set to direct the pilot, written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face).
The reboot hails from Buffy the Vampire Slayer studio 20th Television and Disney sibling Searchlight TV where Zhao has been under a first-look deal.
Beyond the pilot order, I hear the reboot is starting a writers room soon, a sign that Hulu and the studios have high expectations for the project going to series. It is unclear yet whether other original Buffy cast members would return; that is considered likely.
Described as the next chapter in the Buffyverse, the new incarnation is executive produced by Gellar, Zhao, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman as well as the original series’ executive producers Gail Berman of the Jackal Group and Fran Kuzui & Kaz Kuzui via Suite B. Also executive producing the pilot is Dolly Parton whose company Sandollar was producer on the original.
Buffy creator Joss Whedon, who also wrote the 1992 movie the series was based on, has no involvement in the reboot. He has not worked in Hollywood in any official capacity since facing a slew of misconduct allegations in 2021.
If the Hulu pilot goes to series, it would be the third in the franchise, following mothership Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which aired on the WB for five seasons from 1997-2001 before dramatically moving to UPN for two more, and spinoff Angel, which ran on the WB for five seasons (1999-2004).
Berman, Fran Kazui and Kaz Kazui previously teamed up with 20th TV in 2018 for a potential Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot written by Midnight, Texas creator Monica Owusu-Breen, on which Whedon was an executive producer. That project, whose lead was envisioned as a Black woman, didn’t move forward. Still, fans of the show have continued to lobby for a revival, their hopes fueled by a couple of high profile cast reunions.
Parton indicated a year ago that a Buffy return was still in the works, saying in an interview that “They’re still working on that. They’re thinking about bringing it back and revamping it.”
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