{"id":485334,"date":"2026-03-20T06:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485334\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T06:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:10:10","slug":"sarah-michelle-gellar-urges-fans-not-to-read-leaked-new-sunnydale-script","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485334\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Michelle Gellar Urges Fans Not To Read Leaked NEW SUNNYDALE Script"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, the news broke that Hulu had\u00a0decided not to move forward with its Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel series despite the pilot already being shot by Eternals director Chlo\u00e9 Zhao.<\/p>\n

The announcement came as a shock to fans of the beloved original series who were looking forward to seeing Sarah Michelle Gellar back in action as “The Chosen One,” even if it would have been in a reduced capacity.<\/p>\n

The show, which was titled “New Sunnydale,” was set to feature Gellar as Buffy Summers, but would have primarily focused on a new teenage Slayer played by Star Wars: Skeleton Crew breakout Ryan Kiera Armstrong.<\/p>\n

At the time, Gellar blamed an unnamed executive (since confirmed to be Craig Erwich) for the cancellation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn\u2019t for him. That\u2019s very hard when you\u2019re taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chlo\u00e9. So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn\u2019t watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trades have since weighed in, but many have dismissed these reports as “hit pieces” on Zhao<\/p>\n

“Two sources told Variety<\/a> that, despite her love of the original series, Zhao proved to be a mismatch for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale. Those sources say that Zhao\u2019s prodigious skills as a director didn\u2019t lend themselves to a television pilot that requires a lot of exposition. It was undershot, and there wasn\u2019t any coverage, one source said, so there would have had to be reshoots on the pilot anyway. The performances from the actors playing the new characters, who need to make a strong impression as they\u2019re introduced, were under-directed, the sources said. That Armstrong, the new Slayer, has a very young appearance \u2014 she turned 16 on March 10 \u2014 contributed to the whole enterprise playing too young.”<\/p>\n

Like most things, the truth of what actually happened probably lies somewhere in the middle. In any case, Gellar has now urged fans not to read the leaked script that’s doing the rounds, or watch the pilot if that eventually finds its way online.<\/p>\n

During an appearance on Page Six\u2019s P6 Radio <\/a>show on Wednesday, hosts Danny Murphy and Evan Real told Gellar that they hope the pilot leaks so fans can see what the show was like for themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually hope it doesn\u2019t,\u201d Gellar responded. \u201cBecause then everyone\u2019s going to have an opinion on this and that, and pilots are not finished. It wasn\u2019t done, right? It\u2019s not like we did a season and finished it and then they shelved it. It\u2019s not like when they made Batgirl\u00a0the movie, right, and then didn\u2019t show it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] made a pilot on purpose because there\u2019s some new characters\u00a0and there\u2019s things you learn from it and there\u2019s things you fix. Usually, a pilot doesn\u2019t air in its entirety ever. It\u2019s a learning tool. I mean, the original \u2018Buffy\u2019 pilot was nothing to do with the show. It was a different Willow, I mean it\u2019s a very different show. But those are learning tools and that\u2019s what a pilot is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether the full pilot ultimately leaks obviously remains to be seen, but a recent report did indicate that there may still be hope for New Sunnydale if another network decides to step in and pick up the series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this week, the news broke that Hulu had\u00a0decided not to move forward with its Buffy the Vampire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,172198,56,54,55,172199],"class_list":{"0":"post-485334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-original-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-star-sarah-michelle-gellar-has-urged-fans-to-avoid-any-leaked-material-relating-to-new-sunnydale","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom","14":"tag-which-hulu-recently-decided-not-to-move-ahead-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}