Buffy the Vampire Slayer is coming back with Sarah Michelle Gellar

Everyone’s favourite hellmouth hotspot, Sunnydale, CA, is back open for business. That’s right, 22 years after Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired its final episode, a sequel reboot is reportedly in the works and, not just that, but Sarah Michelle Geller is set to make her return as the chosen one fighting the vampires, demons and the forces of darkness. 

As reported by Deadline, sources close to the project said that Hulu was “near a pilot order” with Oscar-winning director – and lifelong Buffy fan – Chloé Zhao onboard to direct the pilot episode, written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, Poker Face writers. Excitingly, Dolly Parton, who was an uncredited producer on the original show, is also set to return to the pilot as executive producer.

When Buffy the Vampire Slayer arrived on our screens in 1997, it broke boundaries in its portrayal of female empowerment, female sexuality and desire, queer representation and mental health. Willow and Tara, for example, were one of the first lesbian couples to be shown on public broadcast television, and during a time when the network wouldn’t allow them to kiss on screen, the writers used magic as a metaphor for their growing romantic and sexual relationship. It wasn’t until 2001, a year and a half after Tara was introduced, that the couple kissed and another two years before the show featured the first lesbian sex scene in broadcast TV history.

While Buffy herself remained straight on the show, apart from some very subtextually gay scenes with rogue slayer Faith, the Dark Horse Comic series, considered a canonical continuation of the TV show, did depict Buffy in a queer relationship with fellow slayer Satsu. It’s unclear whether the reboot will include the comic books as part of its lore, however, especially considering some of the storylines were fairly outlandish – at one point vampire Spike pilots an interdimensional spaceship with a crew of alien bugs.

What we do know is that Joss Whedon, who created Buffy but has since faced a number of misconduct allegations including from Charisma Carpenter who played Cordelia, will happily have no involvement in the reboot. Instead, it appears the core team will be majority female-led, a welcome and fitting development for a show so rooted in female empowerment. With networks and audiences more opened-minded than in the 90s, hopefully the show will be just as queer, radical and boundary-pushing as the original.

The award-winning creative team behind the reboot probably have everything under control, however, if they are looking for some inspiration the Dazed team have some ideas. Will she return as a harried single mum with two teenage kids in the suburbs, who has given up the slayer life? Will there be more musical episodes? Will it be set in a Trump-era America, with a vampire president? For me, a simple lesbian, I just want to see Faith and Buffy finally declare their love for each other – although with Eliza Dushku becoming a certified therapist last September, that’s maybe unlikely. 

Gellar had long been opposed to the idea of revisiting Buffy, until 2023 when she expressed openness to the idea during an interview. “It’s funny, I always used to say no, because it’s in its bubble and it’s so perfect,” she said. “But watching Sex and the City and seeing Dexter, and realising there are ways to do it, definitely does get your mind thinking, ‘Well, maybe.’” She continued, “In this world, we need those heroes, I think, more so than ever.” It was these comments that reportedly led to negotiations starting with Gellar for the reboot. 

It’s unsurprising that a reboot would be in the works, considering pretty much all beloved television shows from the last few decades are getting the revival treatment, from Sex and the City to Gilmore Girls to The X-Files. Although nothing is fully confirmed for this Buffy reboot it is looking promising, with Deadline writer Nellie Andreeva reporting in her piece that “Beyond the pilot order, I hear the reboot is starting a writers room soon, a sign that Hulu and the studios have high expectations for the project going to series.” While we await more news, read an A-Z guide to Buffy studies, revisit the best beauty looks of the series, or delve into the music that made the show.