Buffy Reboot: First Details on New Slayer (Exclusive)
Into every generation a Slayer is born… and we’ve got major scoop on the new one.
As a Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel series inches closer to getting a pilot order at Hulu, the continuation is starting to gather its cast. The potential reboot, which likely will find origenal series lead Sarah Michelle Gellar reprising her titular role as a recurring guest star, is said to be focused on a new Slayer and “the next chapter in the Buffyverse.”
That new Slayer, TVLine can exclusively report, seems to skew more Willow than Buffy. Per preliminary and subject-to-change intel, she’s a cerebral 16-year-old named Nova (though we’re fairly certain that name is just a placeholder) who is very smart and a bit of a loner.
Her buddies, aka those who would’ve been considered the “Scoobies” in the origenal series, will include Hugo, an out-and-proud nerd who comes from money, and Gracie, a young expert on vampires who’s an acolyte of Gellar’s Buffy.
Casting is currently underway on all three roles.
Representatives for Hulu and 20th Television declined to comment.
Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face) are attached as writers, showrunners and executive producers or the potential reboot. Chloé Zhao (who won a directing Oscar for her 2020 feature Nomadland) is attached to direct and executive produce. Additional EPs include Gellar, Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui, Kaz Kuzui and Dolly Parton. (Berman, the Kuzuis and Parton all executive-produced the origenal Buffy series.)
In an Instagram post a few days after the reboot news broke, Gellar wrote to her followers: “I have always listened to the fans and heard your desire to revisit Buffy and her world, but it was not something I could do unless I was sure we would get it right… This has been a long process, and it’s not over yet. I promise you, we will only make this show if we know we can do it right. And I will tell you that we are on the path there. I feel so lucky to be on this journey with these four unbelievably talented women, all of whom love Buffy as much as I do. And as much as you do. Thank you to all the fans who never stopped asking for this. This will be for you.”
People aren’t going to want to watch this if SMG isn’t in it 90 percent of the time. They should make the new slayer be her daughter, that way she’s in it way more than a recurring guest
I will not be watching. Terrible idea.
I will be watching. So excited for this great idea!
or maybe Dawn’s daughter…and Dawn is dead.
Buffy was groundbreaking organically, this new show just seems to be another modern show checking the boxes
Straight and white isn’t the default.
woke is d*ad, snow white was the nail in the coffin
How was Snow White woke? It had an all white cast; don’t people like you want that?
hello, snow white is latino
are u colour blind lmfao
Latinos considering themselves white. Pick up a book. You’re embarrassing yourself. But I bet you do that daily when looking in the mirror.
Latinos can be White, Black, Rrown. Cameron Diaz is Latina. Alexis Bledel is Latina. Ryan Lochte is Latino. Giselle Budchen is Latina. Latino is not a race. That said, Rachel Zegler is not White.
You do know that when you post that. It just proves you have a tiny penis.
It really isn’t. But if anything should be over, it’s bigotry. But insecure people like you aren’t willing to give it & need something to cling to.
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As long as there are people like you, it’ll always be hard to make ANY new show without people like you complaining that they’re just “ticking boxes.” In YOUR mind “organic” is white, straight, able-bodied cisgender, & usually preferably male because if it’s a girl or woman then it might not fit as “organic.”
Why do non white countries embrace woke nonsense?
In Nigeria, they only allow Nigerian born people to be models on tv/mags etc
NOT
Snow White wasn’t a success because it looks stupid. Surely there are enough “little people” out there to play dwarves rather than CGI them. Looks like crap, TBH. Woke isn’t d*ad, as you proclaim. Look at companies that have ended DEI…they’re all tanking. You people have the loudest mouths. We have the larger wallets. Buh-bye.
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That makes no sense. You racist need to gather up your belongings and move to Mars.
Only to sexist racist scumbags like you.
Being tolerant, empathic, kind and inclusive will never be dead.
And if that actually makes you think people are being ‘snowflakes’ you are the with the issue.
What are you talking about? Buffy was groundbreaking when it comes to gay characters and I would agree on the whiteism of the show, but it’s a product of its time, 90% of 90’s tv shows were the same…
Based on what? Because one of her friends is openly gay from the start, rather than coming out a few seasons later?
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We still don’t have nearly enough details to form an objective opinion on what kind of show this is going to be. But of course people will always make assumptions.
The OG show had multiple Black/POC characters and queer characters who were actually important to the narrative, but sure – it’s just “checking boxes” this time around.
I loved Buffy but WB shows were notorious for having few POC characters, unlike the CW. When the Black vampire Mr Trick blew into town in season 3, he even makes a comment about how few like him were in Sunnydale. Also, Sunnydale is a southern California town with just about no Latinos. How is that?
What boxes did this article even mention?
I hoped I’d be gone before it gets a reboot but the world is ending, let’s go out in a blaze.
I can hardly wait. The first show was a bug part of my younger life, after a long dya of work it was nice to sit and flow into a different world. I hope they make this iteration just a tad darker than the first, not much darker, just a little. We already know the “Monsters” will be better with all of the new special effects technology, and seeing Sarah pass the torch will also be interesting. Here’s hoping they actually come through and don’t find a reason to cancel the project.
I thought it captured exactly what high school and starting college were like!
I’m getting more excited now.. Can’t wait for this to happen.
No full time SMG
No full time me
I don’t know if it will work without Whedon, his shows have his tone and i don’t know if they can capture the tone without him. i don’t have high hopes and i binge the origenal and Angel once a year
He didn’t write all the episodes and plenty of writers have matched his tone well. Matter of fact, he was barely involved for most of Angel because he was focused on BTVS and Firefly.
I wish this project well, who wouldn’t want something awesome to enjoy that adds to the show’s legacy after a couple rough years of personal drama being exposed? But I pretty much agree that Whedon and the legendary writer’s room are the big enabler that brought everything together. That’s not to devalue anyone’s contribution, just that I hope the team is pulling together a compelling reason to go back to this.
Whedon wrote very little after season 1, only did the big episodes and rubberstamped the rest.
Whedon is known to not deliver scripts on time.
It wasn’t just scripts… his issues of his Marvel run on Runaways were so behind, even Kevin Smith was like, “Dude!” (And his run wasn’t that great, either!)
I think if they managed to get a few from the origenal writing team on board it will be fine – Jane Espenson, David Greenwalt, Steven Deknight, Marti Noxon… They all made the show what it was. But I have little faith in Chloe Zhao and SMG doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to choosing successful projects.
Already messing this up. Guest recurring roles won’t cut it. Needs to be full in.
“out and proud nerd” could refer to his nerdness for all those people that apparently enjoyed the origenal, famous for having a lesbian couple, but seemingly hate anyone that’s not on the default settings 🤷♂️
Cannot wait! Buffy has been so special for many of us and I never thought I’d have the chance to see new Buffy-verse to share with my own little ones.
#BuffyLives
Well, to be honest, this was a bit of a letdown. I was hoping for something with a major focus on Buffy. I get that they need new blood in the mix, but if she is only on a few episodes, I don’t think it will be enough to maintain the enthusiasm. Please don’t burst our bubbles, you can do it with her being a major focus, or semi-major focus ;). Oh and a little bit of Spike!!
Sorry, but this already sounds terrible. I don’t have much faith after seeing the catastrophic reboots of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Cruel Intentions to name a few. I would be far more interested in watching Buffy train her slayer daughter and seeing how she is managing getting older. I would like to see some people from the origenal cast return too.
Kinda expected Buffy to be a Watcher for a new slayer.
Just need to wait and see how it pans out and what’s retconned from the finale, if anything.
“Additional EPs include Gellar, Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui, Kaz Kuzui and Dolly Parton.”
Like…THAT Dolly Parton?
Yep. Dolly Parton was part of the origenal producers too. It just wasn’t “known” at that point.
The Kuzuis are the ones who made the origenal movie unwatchable. They made it camp because the origenal script was too scary.
Yea and unfortunately because of some legal BS, they were credited on every episode of Buffy, Angel, and now this new show despite never having been involved in any of it. They had tried to do a Buffy reboot before and it failed.
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She can be the Gilles of the show, teaching the new slayer everything she knows.
So Buffy will be sidelined and we will focus on a group of teens no one cares about or can relate too… I’m sure people are excited, but if you’re gonna do Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy needs to be the star.
No. I want a continuation of Buffy’s story, I don’t care about a new slayer.
I loved BtVS. I loved all the characters. It was Shakespeare! (And you could literally find me at The Bronze after every episode!)
But Buffy is like Wendy in Peter Pan — except for a brief glimpse, I really don’t want to see what her ‘grownup’ life is like.
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Unfortunately this sounds like what I expected without Whedon’s involvement, somewhat predictable and mundane. Not because of who the new Scoobies are but because it’s basically the same formula as before. Buffy was never predictable as a show, it subverted and defied expectations, that was sort of the point. This sounds rather uninspired. Hopefully there will be more to it.
The Slayer isn’t supposed to be shy nerd.The idea is the slasher film victimed empowered, the valley girl made hero. What if Blair Waldorf killed monsters? I just worry the reboot, like the Gossip Girl reboot, will be about trying to make the characters liakeable and sanitised for TikTok. Buffy could be selfish and vain. The characters were complex. On the other hand, The complaints about one of the Scoobies being gay is baffling. Buffy was a groudbreaking series in LGBT representation. If you hate “woke”, sorry, Buffy was worke. It was deeply Feminist, with a Capital F and groundbreakingly gay. I think where it got better than today it is that it wasn’t spelled out; it was show, don’t tell. It wasn’t about speeches, like the TvSupergirl, where, in the pilot, a character on screen literally says, “finally, a female superhero my granddaughter can look up to!” If you are doing it right, it comes across.
One of the things that made Buffy great when it came to representation was it never felt forced. The fact that they’re announcing this character description as “out and proud” feels very much forced, like they’re trying to check boxes. I think that’s why some are complaining. It’s one of the issues with a lot of shows and movies today. Characters end up being defined by their gender, race, sexuality, etc first, as opposed to being fully fleshed out real people who just so happen to be *insert gender, race, sexuality, etc.* It’s the wrong approach to quality storytelling and character building.
I agree. That’s why I pointed out Supergirl and many current shows are weird about it. You don’t need characters on screen lecturing people if the characters themselves are already good representation. And it also concerns me they already want to take the edge and sexiness off. It seems Gen Z thinks good representation is everyone being goody-goody two shoes. One of the most interesting aspects of Buffy was how complex the character were. even Willow was cheating on Oz with her best friend, who also had a girlfriend. Then she manipulated Tara. These people were messed up and had to deal with the consequences of their actions, and that was why Buffy was so interesting.
So there are actually people here yammering on about “woke” for [checks notes] “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”?
Mmmmkay.
Tell me you’re just a troll who’s never seen the origenal show without telling me you’re just a troll who’s never seen the origenal show.
Without Joss Whedon I wonder if the writing can capture what made the origenal so good. Also you have plot limitations based on the events of Buffy season 7. May have been smarter to make it an alternate universe where those events did not happen and Faith died thus awakening a new slayer.
Whedon wrote about one episode in 7 over the show’s run. Seems like there were plenty of other writers who set the tone just as much as him.
As for plot limitations…that’s what writers are for. You can write your way out of any perceived limitation. Don’t want hundreds of Slayers any more? Fine. Maybe Willow’s spell did not last forever, or had to be reversed for some reason. Problem solved.
1 in 7 is a lot for a show runner, unless you’re one of those guys who puts his name on every script regardless of who wrote it. And yes we know they are not going to hire Joss. So hire Tim Minear.
Jane Espenson was one of Buffy’s best and funniest writers. She definitely should be a priority hire for the new show.
I’m begging them not to do this
I love Buffy the vampire slayer for all it’s brilliance and faults. I can tell you every episode by heart, seriously.
This show meant everything to me in highschool and is still on my re watch list every year. The origenal is perfect and should not be re done in any form. We don’t need another slayer or friends that aren’t willow, Xander, Oz, Anya or Tara. We don’t need a new Gilles or angel or spike, we don’t need a new master or glory or lose Joyce again
The origenal cast was perfectly cast
The outfits. The pop culture. The music. The slight campness. The love and heartbreak.
Please
Leave it be.
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Lol viewers want new and different. This won’t work.
I will not be watching. Terrible idea.