Buffy fans are still reeling from the news that the anticipated Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot is not moving forward in its current incarnation, as Sarah Michelle Gellar revealed that Hulu isn’t moving forward with the pilot helmed by Chloé Zhao. While there is the possibility of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer series at some other point in time, this current version seems to be done, but the show’s new slayer has just given us our first look at the cancelled series and her new character.
The show, which was titled Buffy: New Sunnydale, was being built around the core duo of Gellar as the returning Buffy Summers and a new slayer named Nova, who was being played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong. After Gellar shared the unfortunate news of the show not moving forward, Armstrong shared a first look at Nova on Instagram, and along with the photo of her in costume from the show, Armstrong added a black heart and wrote “your slayer”. You can check out the image below.
Is There Still Hope For A New Buffy The Vampire Slayer Series?
It’s disappointing that this version of the franchise won’t actually make it to the screen, as there was a lot of anticipation and hype building for the series over the past few months. Things really got rolling when Gellar revealed she would be returning for the reboot, which sounded more like a revival and a reboot mixed together, given that there were returning original characters and new characters mixed in.
According to a report from Deadline, sources have said the pilot wasn’t perfect, and there had evidently been discussions about trying to rework the pilot even as recently as this week. Unfortunately, that plan shifted at some point, and Hulu decided not to move forward with it.
It was noted though that Hulu is still high on Buffy as a franchise, and currently plans on regrouping to possibly figure out a new incarnation of the franchise. That could mean anything, but if this version of the series, which Gellar, Zhao, and the writing team of Nora and Lilla Zuckerman (Poker Face) were clearly passionate about, isn’t moving forward, it would be less than likely that the new version is going to be a revival mixed in like this one.
Instead, it might end up being a complete reboot, and that wouldn’t necessarily be bad, but franchise fans are likely always going to look at this one as the version that got away. Even without seeing the pilot, there will be comparisons made to this project if the other one doesn’t resonate with fans, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the franchise proceeds from here.
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