A Next Slayer 'Buffy' Sequel Series Is Gaining Traction At Hulu
Once in a generation, a new slayer will emerge…
Netflix just ordered a live-action incarnation of Mystery Incorporated, but it’s Hulu whose attention is on making new Scoobies. A sequel series to The WB and UPN’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer is nearing a pilot order at the streamer. Original star Sarah Michelle Gellar will star in the pilot as Buffy Summers but it will be overall a recurring role rather than a starring one. As it should be. Oscar-winning Eternals and Nomadland director Chloé Zhao, a self-professed lifelong Buffy fan, is set to direct the pilot, written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, who come from Poker Face.
It comes from original studio 20th Television and Disney sibling Searchlight TV where Zhao has been under a first-look deal. Gellar, Zhao via her Book of Shadows banner, and the Zuckermans are set to be executive producers alongside Gail Berman of the Jackal Group and Fran Kuzui & Kaz Kuzui via Suite B who served such part for the original series, as well as Dolly Parton, yes Dolly Parton, who indeed was a producer of the original series through her company Sandollar. When the news broke in February, a writers’ room was to start soon. On Wednesday, details on the new lead cast were first reported. The new slayer is currently named Nova (it’s heavily believed to be a placeholder), a cerebral 16-year-old who is very smart but a bit of a loner. Her friends are Hugo, an out-and-proud nerd who comes from money, and Gracie, a young expert on vampires who’s an acolyte of Buffy. The original series finale, “Chosen”, had Willow enact a spell that activated hundreds, if not thousands of slayers across the world, defying the one-in-a-generation traditional status. While there wasn’t enough time to establish new dynamics in a multi-slayer world, it stands to reason that Slayers still had Watchers like Giles (and Merrick before him) and therefore older slayers wouldn’t necessarily be boxed into mentoring newer slayers.
'Scooby-Doo!' Live-Action Series Officially Ordered By Netflix
Netflix has taken the Scooby Snacks to resolve the pickup mystery. The streamer has given an eight-episode order to the competitively sought after live-action Scooby-Doo! reimagining from Midnight Radio, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television they landed for development last spring.
It took quite a bit for Gellar, who would go on to star in the series Ringer, The Crazy Ones, Wolf Pack, and most recently the Dexter prequel series Dexter: Original Sin, on which she is a special guest star, to come around, but in the last couple of years indeed she has. While promoting Original Sin in December, she said “It’s funny, I always used to say no, because it’s in its bubble and it’s so perfect. 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.’” And then, probably knowing how her series ended, she dismissed the idea of a follow-up series having to be a prequel, declaring “No, it could be anything. It’s a universe. And it makes you realize that in this world, we need those heroes, I think, more so than ever.”
Three days after the reports, Gellar took to Instagram posting in her Stories just how it all went down, and assuring good direction. “Three years ago, I got a call from my dear friend and mentor, Gail Berman. She told me that she wanted me to sit down with Chloé Zhao to hear her take on a potential Buffy revival. I was blown away that Chloé even knew who I was, but, as I’ve always done, I told Gail that I just didn’t see a way for the show to exist again. We’d always been aligned on that, but this time I heard something different in her voice. I eventually agreed to go (mainly just to meet Chloé) and our 20-minute coffee quickly turned into a four-hour adventure. We laughed, we cried, but mostly we both talked about how much this show means to us. While I didn’t agree to anything at that meeting, I did shock myself by agreeing to continue the conversation,” she shared, adding that the Zuckermans eventually joined the Buffy talks “until ultimately, one day, we landed on an idea. 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,” Gellar revealed. “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.”
Berman and the Kazuis previously teamed up with 20th TV in 2018 for an iteration written by Midnight, Texas creator Monica Owusu-Breen, at a time when series creator Joss Whedon could be an executive producer. That next lead slayer was envisioned as a black woman. Should things go right, appearances from other Buffy cast members are expected, though the number had a definite reduction with the tragic and untimely death of Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn Summers for the final three seasons, just a few weeks after the pilot progress was reported. Whedon has not worked in Hollywood since 2021 after his workplace misconduct on both Buffy and first spinoff Angel was publicized.
Michelle Trachtenberg, 'Buffy' And 'Gossip Girl' Star, Has Died At 39
Oh, oh this is just tragic. Michelle Trachtenberg, an actress who had been acting since childhood known for playing Harriet the Spy in Nickelodeon Movies’s film adaptation, Dawn Summers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Georgina Sparks on Gossip Girl has died at the age of 39.
