Yesterday it was revealed by the Hollywood trades that Sarah Michelle Gellar had signed on to potentially return to the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whilst no footage has been shot and (at the time of writing) Ms. SMG herself has yet to confirm her involvement, that hasn’t stopped fans of the cult-classic series for going in to overdrive anticipating the potential next chapter in Buffy Summers’ story.
Why is now the right time to bring Buffy back? Is now the right time to bring Buffy back? What does continuing the series mean for the season 8 and beyond comic books? What made this pitch the one to convince SMG to return? Which other members of the cast might be returning? There’s so many questions right now, none of which we deserve answers to whilst Chloé Zhao and Nora & Lilla Zuckerman work behind the scenes to make this return a reality.
For the uninitiated, Buffy the Vampire Slayer began life as a film starring Kristy Swanson in 1992. Written by relative unknown Joss Whedon and directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, the Buffy movie was a critical and commercial failure. The story of a high school girl fated to save the world from vampires just did not connect with audiences and so Buffy Summers’ time in the spotlight quickly came to an end. Years later Gail Berman, the then head of the studio with TV rights to the movie, approached Whedon to turn the concept in to a series. A move which would ultimate bring Buffy to the small screen on The WB in March 1997 and see Berman become a top executive at Fox.
Arriving on The WB as a midseason replacement, Buffy the Vampire Slayer quickly went from commercial failure to cult classic. A mix of zippy, pop-culture referencing dialogue, teen drama analogy and supernatural horror would carry the show through five seasons on the network. After dramatically killing off its main character at the end its five-season contract, Buffy would then move to UPN for its final two seasons. Eventually coming to an end in 2003 after 144 episodes. During that time it would spawn 110 episodes of spin-off series Angel, two blockbuster video-games and countless novels, comic books and cosplays.
I came to Buffy in 1998 around the time that season 2 finale “Becoming” was airing here in the UK. In the world before streaming it wasn’t easy to catch up. But I was able to catch most of the 13 episode first season and 22 episode second season in time for the incredible season 3 to begin airing. Those of us old enough to remember VHS tapes will remember the excitement as each half season of Buffy would release in a three-tape box set, the precursor to the modern day blu-ray collectors set. It was the easiest and best way to ensure no episode was missed without IMDb or Wikipedia to check for those all-important details.
Buffy was unlike anything else on television. It brought horror to the small screen in a way which made it accessible and meaningful. Where other shows were focussing purely on soapy drama, Buffy told stories about adolescence in ways which truly engaged its audience. Thought its core cast wasn’t the most progressive its storytelling was. Across seven seasons never strayed away from storylines other series would struggle to tell authentically. From Willow’s exploration of sexuality to Buffy’s experiences with grief. Each season the character’s storylines felt written to mirror the everyday experience of those of us watching. Of course it helped to be of similar age to the characters. Experiences on screen were mirrored in real life and thus a strong bond between hero and viewer was born.
The original series became the blueprint for TV dramas. To this day writers in TV will namedrop Buffy as the series which inspired their own journey to bringing stories to the screen. Its ability to tell monster-of-the-week stories alongside seasonal arcs was unparalleled. It paved the way for series starring Buffy-alumni like the short-lived Tru Calling. Without it, series like Veronica Mars, Dark Angel, Alias would never exist. Perhaps even Katniss Everdeen wouldn’t exist without trailblazers like Buffy Summers coming before her.
Buffy Summers represented everything the audience wanted to be. A hero, albeit a reluctant one. Across seven years we watched her learn to accept her power and writer her own destiny. Countless people told her that her future was written in stone but she rebelled. She fought to live and in the end, stood in front of a giant sink hole which used to be her home, we got to see her smile as she realised her future was her own. It was life affirming. Anyone watched could believe in that moment that adulthood might not suck after all, if only we too learned to own our power. The lessons that Buffy taught me as a teenager remain the backbone of who I am today.
So am I ready to see where Buffy Summers might be in 2024? Maybe. Am I excited at the possibility of more storytelling from this world? Absolutely.
Outside of being an avid fan of what BOOM! Studios has done with Buffy comic books in the last few years the franchise is ripe for more storytelling. It may be the closest franchise to Star Trek that the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre has ever come. There are easily a great many stories which could be told about other Slayers in the pantheon. Be they before Buffy or after. The mere premise of an everlasting line of women fated to fight vampires and demons lends itself to decades of storytelling across different mediums. So it’s genuinely a surprise to me that no form of Slayer: The Next Generation has happened in the near 22 years since the finale first aired.
Of course the last two decades haven’t been without controversy. In 2003 the burgeoning internet hailed Joss Whedon a hero. But hindsight is a beautiful thing and in 2025 those of us who grew up idolising his zeitgeisty writing style have certainly turned our backs on supporting his brand of toxicity. But Buffy the Vampire Slayer was never just Whedon. Neither was it just Sarah Michelle Gellar. It was the 100s of actors, writers, producers and crew who worked to bring every episode to the screen. In the time since Buffy‘s original run the world have learned so many lessons about diversity and authenticity. All of those lessons feel intrinsic to what this show was, making it even more relevant today than ever before.
In 2025 it’s only right that Buffy, an icon for women across the world, is heralded back in to the spotlight with women steering the ship. Chloé Zhao is a visionary director and female voice in storytelling. Having an Academy Award-winning talent to shoot even just the pilot episode of Buffy‘s return brings a weight to the project which gives it a legitimacy in the overcrowded streaming landscape. Much like Casey Gilly and Jordie Bellaire, the story of a woman fighting for her place in the world should be predominantly written by women. Both Gilly and Bellaire brought an authenticity to Buffy’s story in comics which the series lacked. Nora & Lilla Zuckerman, having both worked on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and one of my other all-time favourite, Fringe, have the chops to craft a story that could recapture the magic all over again.
Speaking generally, now also feels like a great time to have a hero like Buffy Summers back in our lives. As an adult, preparing to turn 40 this year, I’ve experienced more loss in recently than I ever had as a teenager. There’s a generation of fans who grew up with Buffy who have had similar or worse experiences. Bringing her back now, showing us how her life has changed. Showing us how she copes with a world which feels more on the brink of disaster than ever before. That could bring just a little light in to a very dark time. Likewise there are legions of fans who have come to Buffy through streaming who need this kind of inspiration, empowering storytelling to help show them the way.
Whether a Buffy reboot/sequel/requel ever makes its way to the screen remains to be seen. But if my own excitement at the news is enough to go by then there is certainly an appetite out there…
