No, April Fool’s Day has not arrived nearly three months early. Yes, there’s going to be a “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” sequel series show. Yes, Sarah Michelle Gellar will reprise her role as Buffy and get this, two-time Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao will direct. Is this really odd news, or what?
Sort of. First, let’s look at the obvious: Zhao is known for “The Rider” and 2021’s Oscar Best Picture winner “Nomadland,” for which she also won Best Director; she is generally a lyrical, poetic filmmaker with a taste for the simple beauty of very human stories.
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But Zhao obviously has other tastes, too. She’s a vocal “Star Wars” fan and, of course, directed Marvel’s “The Eternals” in 2021. But apparently, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” was always one of her genre favorites.
“I’ve been a Buffy fan my whole life,” she said in a 2021 TodayOnline interview. “So when the first ‘Avengers’ [directed by ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ creator Joss Whedon] came out, ‘Wow, we are going to do this, we are going to bring the heroes together!’ That got me really into the door. I fell in love around the time of ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and ‘Captain America: Civil War.’”
Anyhow, the follow-up series arrives more than two decades after the original “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” finished up its seven-season run on The WB and then on UPN. Zhao directed the pilot, which is being written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (“Poker Face”).
The project is happening under 20th Television and Disney sister production company Searchlight TV, where Zhao has a first-look deal already set up. The show will eventually premiere on Hulu—though a pilot means they’re going the old-school TV route and seeing how that pilot episode turns out and whether they greenlight instead of just ordering an entire series.
No word on whether original ‘Buffy’ cast members will return, but given Gellar is back and many of these actors aren’t exactly A-list talent anymore, I’m sure they’re all blowing calls into their agents and letting it be known they’re available and interested.
Series creator Joss Whedon is not involved in the reboot at all which isn’t totally surprising given his fall from grace in the #MeToo era and his issues with Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher and the cast of “Justice League.”
Gellar, in the past wasn’t interested in revisiting ‘Buffy,’ but changed her tune only recently. “It’s funny, I always used to say no, because it’s in its bubble and it’s so perfect,” she said in December of last year while promoting the “Dexter” prequel series ‘Original Sin,’ on which she is a special guest star. “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.’”
Stay tuned to see if this one turns into a reality beyond just a pilot, but with Zhao at the helm, that certainly increases its chances. [Deadline]
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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