How Sarah Michelle Gellar Was Convinced to Return for a ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Revival

The chosen one has spoken. Three days after Variety reported that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel series was in the works at Hulu, Sarah Michelle Gellar confirmed that the project is happening, despite the fact that she initially “didn’t see a way for the show to exist again.”

According to Variety, while Gellar will reprise her role as the titular character in the untitled revival, the story’s focus will be on a fresh slayer. Gellar wrote on Instagram that conversations about a return to Sunnydale began three years ago with a phone call from her “dear friend and mentor,” producer and executive Gail Berman.

Berman introduced Gellar to Oscar-winning Nomadland filmmaker Chloé Zhao so that she could “hear her take on a potential ‘Buffy’ revival,” the actor wrote alongside a photo featuring herself as Buffy and one of the character’s most memorable lines: “If the apocalypse comes, beep me.” Gellar said that she 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.”

She continued, “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 twenty 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.”

Gellar then agreed to more meetings, eventually welcoming Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman, showrunners on the first season of Natasha Lyonne and Rian Johnson’s Poker Face, into “our little tribe until ultimately, one day, we landed on an idea.”

Variety reports that the Zuckermans will write, showrun, and executive-produce the fresh series, with Zhao attached to direct and also executive-produce. Gellar is listed as an additional executive producer alongside Berman, as well as original-series EPs Fran Kuzui, Kaz Kuzui, and Dolly Parton. (Yes, that one.) “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,” Gellar wrote.

Noticeably absent from the show’s original team is Joss Whedon, who created the original series and served as a showrunner during its seven-season run from 1997 at The WB to 2003 at UPN. In 2021, Variety reported allegations that Whedon had fostered a toxic work environment on both Buffy and its spin-off series, Angel. Charisma Carpenter, an actor on both shows, publicly spoke out against Whedon and was supported by several of her costars. At the time, Gellar wrote on Instagram: “While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon.”