One of the biggest shows of the 1990s might be getting a reboot. As reported by Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, Hulu is developing a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series with Sarah Michelle Gellar set to return as the titular character.
The reports suggest that Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face) are set to write the pilot, while Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Eternals) will direct. The show is being described as “the next chapter in the Buffyverse,” and while Gellar will reprise her role from the original TV series, the reboot is rumored to revolve around a younger Slayer.
Hulu hasn’t officially ordered the pilot, but Deadline reports that a writers’ room is already being assembled, which is an encouraging sign for the future of the series. It’s also considered “likely” that more original cast members will return for the reboot.
This is the second time that Buffy executive producers Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui, and Kaz Kuzui have teamed up with 20th Television to reboot the series. In 2018, Monica Owusu-Breen (Alias) was set to write a new Buffy, with series creator Joss Whedon returning as executive producer. That project never made it out of the development stages, and in the intervening years, reports of Whedon’s workplace harassment effectively ended his career. Whedon has no apparent role in the Hulu reboot, having last worked on HBO’s 2021 series The Nevers.
While Gellar has repeatedly pushed back against any possibilities of a Buffy reboot in the years since the finale aired, she suddenly softened her tone last year.
“It’s funny, I always used to say no, because it’s in its bubble and it’s so perfect,” she explained on The Drew Barrymore Show in December. “But watching Sex and the City and seeing Dexter, and realizing there are ways to do it, definitely does get your mind thinking, ‘Well, maybe.’”
Deadline’s sources claim that Gellar was already in talks for the reboot at the time.
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended in 2003, the plot did continue in a long-running series of comic books produced by Dark Horse Comics. These comics picked up where the show ended, giving fans more “seasons” of stories to read, as well as several spinoffs. It’s unclear whether or not the reboot will treat these comics as canon.
