Sarah Michelle Gellar Claims Buffy Reboot Was Staked By One Particular Executive
After Sarah Michelle Gellar revealed over the weekend that the planned Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot was no longer going ahead, the actor has now shared her take on why the series didn’t get picked up.
Directed by Chloé Zhao – who was Oscar-nominated this year for Hamnet – the revival would have brought viewers back to Sunnydale, introducing a new slayer played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, as well as featuring Sarah’s Buffy in more of a mentoring role.
Sarah Michelle told People magazine in an interview published on Monday that she blames the cancellation on one unnamed executive.
“We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him,” she claimed.
“So, that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn’t watch it.”
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The Cruel Intentions star also insisted that she felt the Buffy reboot not being picked up for a full series was not due to the quality of the show, declaring that the script’s “dialogue flew off the tongue.
She also praised the “duality” of having a younger slayer, who was the same age Buffy was when the first show started, alongside the original grown-up character.
“I’d like to use this moment also to say that Ryan Kiera Armstrong is a superstar,” she added. “I’m gutted that no one will see her as a slayer.”
Sarah Michelle announced the “disappointing” news on her Instagram over the weekend, explaining that the streaming service Disney+ had chosen not to pick up the pilot.
“I want to thank Chloé Zhao because I never thought I would find myself back in Buffy’s stylish, yet affordable boots,” she said. “And thanks to Chloe, I was reminded how much I love her and how much she means not only to me, but to all of you. And this doesn’t change any of that.”
Buffy The Vampire Slayer originally ran for seven series between 1997 and 2003.
The series followed Buffy and her friends as they navigated the trials and tribulations of high school and college, while also fighting vampires, demons and other supernatural creatures.