Vampires watch out: Buffy returns to the TV screen!
4.2.2025
Translation: machine translated
More than 20 years after the series finale, the time has finally come: The big TV comeback of Buffy is taking shape and Sarah Michelle Gellar is slipping back into her role as Buffy. But only as a guest star, because it's supposed to be a proper sequel, not a rehash.
Call Giles, round up the Scooby gang - the vampires are coming back. This time, however, not as a comic or book and not as a radio play. A proper TV series sequel with new content is planned. This is reported by the portals Deadline and Variety. The series will initially be broadcast on the streaming portal Hulu.
Star power in front of and behind the camera
Great: Sarah Michelle Gellar is also involved as Buffy Summers! Anyone who thinks this is an act of desperation is mistaken. The series revolves around a new slayer - who exactly that will be remains a secret for the time being. Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao is orchestrating the action behind the camera. She won this for "Nomadland" and also directed "Eternals". She was a huge Buffy fan herself and followed the series closely in her younger years.
The script was written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, who were previously involved in the crime series "Poker Face". Buffy creator Joss Whedon - who has been accused of abusing his power on set on various occasions - is not involved.
From high school slapstick to dark drama epic
After a failed cinema film in 1992, Sarah Michelle Gellar was cast as Buffy instead of original Buffy Kristy Swanson. The TV series was launched in 1997 and quickly developed into an absolute cult, with Sarah Michelle Gellar becoming a cult figure as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series ran for seven seasons. After often unintentionally funny episodes at the beginning, a dark, sometimes depressing setting developed in which surreal monster threats were joined by real-life problems and terrible strokes of fate.
Biting humour, dramatic twists of fate and epic villains created a mix of horror, science fiction, drama and comedy. For a long time, it was unthinkable that there would be a reboot - Gellar has announced her disinterest several times. Now she has apparently changed her mind.
Success also thanks to creative ideas
In addition to the mix of series and the creative, sometimes invincible opponents, the series also stood out in other ways. For example, in the episode "Hush" (episode 10, season 4), in which not a single word was spoken. Or, of course, "Once more with feeling", one of the first ever musical episodes in a US television series.
Both scenarios were embedded in the respective episode in such a way that they also made sense in terms of content. For example, with demons that steal their victim's voices or make them sing.
More ex-cast members? Maybe
Gellar's co-stars also became fan favourites: Charisma Carpenter and David Boreanaz, for example, who later took on the lead roles in the Buffy spin-off "Angel". Or of course Buffy's best friend Willow, who later made a career for herself as flute-playing Michelle in "American Pie" and Lilly in "How I Met Your Mother". It is still unclear whether and who will be back in the programme. However, at least guest appearances are likely, according to a report by the MSN portal.
Are you hyped for a new Buffy series? The seven seasons of the original series are available in Switzerland on Disney+ - meanwhile, you can find my series review here.
Header image: 20th Century Fox
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
