Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival series

[Andrew NDB]

Wow! Great.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/gellar-returning-for-buffy-revival-series/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIOFvtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYfE4BJK7B61 8Ly6q3WOx5v-_oYYc0FZOFjLYIIYZ8o0spBpbAl78vbKTg_aem_n80bMJRMBRd 93AeyRGulXg

[CyberCubed]

This really needed to happen 10 years ago, like around 2014, now I feel everyone is just too old. It seems like Buffy won't be the main character but a new potential slayer, so a new character.

Angel and Spike are supposed to be playing ageless vampires but they're way too old looking now. I don't even think CG would be used to de-age them. The other problem is half the old cast is dead in-canon, so I don't think they would bring them back.

And Nicolas Brendan (Xander), has been in and out of jail and an alcoholic in real life, so I don't think they'll ask for him back. It'd probably just be Willow and maybe Dawn, and Giles actor lives in the U.K.

[Antoniocafe]

I'll check it out. But without Joss Whedon, I have very low expectations.

[Autbot_Benz]

Chloe Zhao is doing the pilot she made that Eternals movie for Marvel

[Andrew NDB]

This really needed to happen 10 years ago, like around 2014, now I feel everyone is just too old. It seems like Buffy won't be the main character but a new potential slayer, so a new character.

Well, since they can't really ignore the series finale... there's many Slayers out there now. Not an exclusive gig at all anymore. Myself, I would have much preferred a "Faith the Vampire Slayer" spinoff, but THAT should have happened 10+ years ago if it was going to happen. And I'd much rather take this over that LAST Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot that never got off the ground that was supposed to be with an all-black cast and not have anything to do with what's come before.

Sarah Michelle Gellar still looks great for her age. She can pull it off but she's going to need some great scripts.

[CyberCubed]

It sounds like Buffy will be in Giles role in this series with a new current slayer. But I do suspect they'll bring back most of the other old cast, even if just for 1 episode. Really hoping they can undo some of the deaths of the original series, since a lot of the main characters are dead in-canon.

But this if Buffy where characters come back from the dead all the time, so it shouldn't be an issue.

[Andrew NDB]

a new current slayer.

But that's the thing. The series finale blew out the whole "current Slayer" thing... there's many active Slayers now.

Giles is a no-brainer. Willow, for sure. Dawn's actress isn't doing anything anymore so they can get her if they really want her. Anya and Xander can be off living happily somewhere, I guess. Story-wise it'd be easy to imagine Angel and Spike popping in at some point but I don't know if anyone wants to see them doing Data-in-Picard with them.

[Andrew NDB]

On Variety now:

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-revival-hulu-sarah-michelle-gellar-pilot-1236291559/

[CyberCubed]

Part of me feels this is just a decade too late, as I said, 2014 would have been the ideal time as it was a decade since the show ended in 2003 (and Angel in 2004). 20 years worth of time feels like too big a gap, ALL the actors look very different now, even if Sarah and Alyson Hannigan aged the best.

Faith's actress left acting to become a psychologist, and I mentioned Nicolas Brendan's trouble with the law and abuse in real life. Angel and Spike also look much older, I'm not sure how much CG or A.I. tampering would be viable to de-age them.

If we were in 2014/2015 I'd be all over this...but we're in 2025. They're really going to have to have good writing to make this work.

[Andrew NDB]

and Alyson Hannigan aged the best.

idk... Alyson's not looking so great these days. She's probably aged the worst of all of them, IMO.

Faith's actress left acting to become a psychologist

I didn't know that. I assumed she was still acting since Dollhouse but it looks like she hasn't been in anything since 2017. That's too bad. Surely she might return for something small?

and I mentioned Nicolas Brendan's trouble with the law and abuse in real life.

You're probably right that he's "too toxic" to hire. But it's been a long time since he was walking off Dr. Phil. He's been clean and sober now and out of trouble for like 10 years, hasn't he? Or did he get into trouble again and I missed it?

PH-PAaHnnMg

*edit: Oh. I read his Wiki and it looks like even in recent years he's been getting caught with meth and such. Yeesh. He does have a twin, though, doesn't he? The twin has behaved, right?

Angel and Spike also look much older, I'm not sure how much CG or A.I. tampering would be viable to de-age them.

It actually wouldn't take that much CGI or deepfakery on either one. It's just a question if they really want them to be a walking, talking special effect in a show that will probably be on a tight budget. Or maybe they could only show up in "vamp-face"?

Also, I was able to dig up a potential nugget. Evidently last year someone came onto the Buffy reddit and said that a new Buffy show with Sarah Michelle Gellar was happening and Chloe Zhao was going to direct. The person was "down voted into oblivion" but that's exactly what's happening now so this person seems retroactively legit. Apparently in the same post they said this:

"Story wise, it will center around Buffy being older, bitter about her slayer life causing her so much life drama for so many years and now being out of touch with the job. A new threat arrives forcing her to face her responsibilities, like a resurrection arc. She will not be some sort of mother figure helping young slayers, at least at the start."

[ZariusTwo]

Should have happened eleven years ago, but Geller was never comfortable with Whedon from all accounts and him being involved with the franchise is a big reason she stayed away.

Now that he's fully out of the picture it'll be interesting to see what her vision for the character is.

The Slayers audio also shows many of the original cast are willing to come back if they can help it, and that they can still go.

I would also like them to somehow include the Slayer of the future, Fray

[Andrew NDB]

Should have happened eleven years ago, but Geller was never comfortable with Whedon from all accounts and him being involved with the franchise is a big reason she stayed away.

I don't think he was interested in going back to Buffy back then. So it wasn't like she or anyone else was batting him away or anything. And if he had, I bet they'd all have fallen into line just fine -- everything they've done since is negligible.

[sdp]

I've never seen Buffy, is it worth watching for someone with no nostalgia?
I liked Xena type shows as a little kid. Is it action comedy? I don't think I can take seriously a show about vampires unless there's plenty of self aware humor like Hercules type shows

[CyberCubed]

I've never seen Buffy, is it worth watching for someone with no nostalgia?
I liked Xena type shows as a little kid. Is it action comedy? I don't think I can take seriously a show about vampires unless there's plenty of self aware humor like Hercules type shows

No, it's an action/comedy series with 90's and early 2000's camp. Like all the things you see people say about "Joss Whedon humor" from the MCU or whatever, all basically started with this show. But it worked better here, since the characters start off in High School and the cast has amazing chemistry.

Season 1 is basically like Scooby Doo, it's monster of the week and the show was discovering itself. But Season 2 onward is where the show becomes great.

[Coola Yagami]

The girl who played Dawn just passed away.

[member_removed]

But that's the thing. The series finale blew out the whole "current Slayer" thing... there's many active Slayers now.

I thought a neat idea would be when all the potential slayers became active, then that exhausted the powerbase of the slayers, so as they die, they're not replaced. There's your drama/hook. The Vampires just need to throw wave after wave at them.

Giles is a no-brainer. Willow, for sure. Dawn's actress isn't doing anything anymore so they can get her if they really want her. Anya and Xander can be off living happily somewhere, I guess. Story-wise it'd be easy to imagine Angel and Spike popping in at some point but I don't know if anyone wants to see them doing Data-in-Picard with them.

Didn't Anya die in the Finale and RIP Michelle Tratchenberg



I've never seen Buffy, is it worth watching for someone with no nostalgia?
I liked Xena type shows as a little kid. Is it action comedy? I don't think I can take seriously a show about vampires unless there's plenty of self aware humor like Hercules type shows

The first 3 seasons are great. I find it to be diminishing returns after that. With Season 6 being the drizzling *****.

[Andrew NDB]

It's moving faster than expected:

https://www.darkhorizons.com/buffy-revival-moving-faster-than-anticipated/


The first 3 seasons are great. I find it to be diminishing returns after that. With Season 6 being the drizzling *****.

I KIND OF agree. Season 6 took a loooong time to get going, and 2/3s of it was a lot of those over the top 3 incel/dweebs doing goofy schemes with fake technology. It doesn't get going at all until Tara is killed and Dark Willow bursts onto the scene, which is when it's like, "Ahhhh, OK, that's what they were doing/setting up." But by that point it's been a whole lot of crap and the season is almost over.

[CyberCubed]

Yeah, when it originally aired many people felt Season 5 was the last really great season. The series moved from WB to UPN for the final two seasons as well. Season 6 still has a lot of great stuff in it, but it also has the biggest lows in the series history (Spike almost raping Buffy, Xander leaving Anya at the altar, etc), and Season 7 starts off good but then kinda gets average/rushed by the end.

[Andrew NDB]

and Season 7 starts off good but then kinda gets average/rushed by the end.

I think season 7 gets really focused on plot and it loses attention on characters (and then suddenly there's 20 Slayer potentials running around). Except Spike, those writers clearly loved giving him more material. They all seem kind of miserable together in season 7 when they felt like such friends and a team before that. And season 5 had Glory as the big bad -- not a perfect big bad, but a decent one. Season 6 didn't have a big bad at all until Willow's turn like 3 episodes before the end of the season. Season 7's "The First" is OK, but #1, is non-corporeal, and #2, doesn't really get an avatar to fight through until that preacher shows up, who's killed off pretty quickly. Neither of these seasons were remotely as satisfying as seasons 1-5.

[drgon78]

Personally I wish they would just revive that animated series we almost got and call it a day.

[ZariusTwo]

Personally I wish they would just revive that animated series we almost got and call it a day.

I find it funny Geller hated the very idea of a Buffy cartoon and opted out of the pilot, when she went on to be a VA for other cartoons anyway.

[Andrew NDB]

New roles revealed.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/new-details-on-buffy-revival-main-roles/

So, eh... it DOES look like Buffy is just going to be in a mentor role, then?

[CyberCubed]

I mean it was obvious they were going to introduce a new young teenage cast, the new slayer and a new set of "scoobies." But I'm afraid if Buffy doesn't have a big role herself, and of course, the more new cast members the less likely it is to see old characters return.

Granted I still don't think they have much choice to bring back old cast, since Dawn passed away and Xander went schizo in real life, so it would really only be Willow or Giles (and the latter lives in England so I'm not sure he's available). Angel and Spike are just...too old now, it would take them a lot of make-up and special effects to erase the last 20 years of aging.

[Andrew NDB]

I mean it was obvious they were going to introduce a new young teenage cast, the new slayer and a new set of "scoobies."

I guess so. But I was a little bit impressed with the whole "It's NOT going to be a passing of the torch and Buffy is NOT going to be a mentor" that was the initial word on things, as that'd be a different kind of story than what we'd expect of a 50-something older titular character returning to the spotlight. And obviously the show IS called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and not, say, "Nova the Vampire Slayer."

so it would really only be Willow or Giles (and the latter lives in England so I'm not sure he's available). Angel and Spike are just...too old now, it would take them a lot of make-up and special effects to erase the last 20 years of aging.

That's it, really. Willow or Giles. I'd say Willow probably eases into a regular, ongoing role and Giles gets a special appearance once and again.

But as for Angel and Spike, they could probably get away with explaining away ONE of them aging like a human in the time since Buffy went off the air. For Angel, there was that prophecy throughout the Angel show where he'd become human if he went through enough stuff... so maybe that happened? Or with Spike, maybe the way he became corporeal again in Angel came with him aging?

But again, it'd only work for ONE of them. The other one, slapping a quick deepfake on someone is way easier and cheaper than it was even a few years ago.

[CyberCubed]

I would have said that Dawn was 100% likely to be a regular in the show, but yeah, you know. It's a real shame, I would have loved to see a 37-38 year old Dawn and nearly 50 year old Buffy interact. It would be so different to how they were when they were younger. It's a shame because I remember Michelle being really excited when the reboot was announced too. :ohwell:

I do think they'll probably work in Angel or Spike eventually, but I don't know if they can do it well. David Boreanez face has gotten...a lot fatter since the shows ended. Seriously look up modern pictures of him. They could probably pass off Spike with some make-up or CG de-aging I guess? Or use that Shanshu prophecy as you said where one of them turns human.

Lastly, are we also led to believe Buffy is still single? The last we saw her in-universe she was around 22/23 when Season 7 ended. Now Buffy will be pushing 50, are we led to believe she never got married, had kids, or dated anyone after Spike? Considering how many love interests Buffy went through in just the 7 years of the show, the fact that she might have stayed single for the next 25 years is pretty jarring.

[Andrew NDB]

Lastly, are we also led to believe Buffy is still single? The last we saw her in-universe she was around 22/23 when Season 7 ended. Now Buffy will be pushing 50, are we led to believe she never got married, had kids, or dated anyone after Spike? Considering how many love interests Buffy went through in just the 7 years of the show, the fact that she might have stayed single for the next 25 years is pretty jarring.

I'm guessing they'll make her not married, but either with a secret 20 year-old kid that pops up later on, or a not-so-secret kid right out of the gate.

[Andrew NDB]

Ryan Kiera Armstrong will be "this generation's slayer." So it sounds like they're jettisoning the whole "there's many slayers now" thing, somehow.

https://deadline.com/2025/05/buffy-reboot-ryan-kiera-armstrong-new-slayer-1236398811/

Oh, and Sarah Michelle Gellar has come out and said this earlier "leak" was all B.S.:

New roles revealed.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/new-details-on-buffy-revival-main-roles/

So, eh... it DOES look like Buffy is just going to be in a mentor role, then?

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sarah-michelle-gellar-insists-leaked-100234129.html#:~:text=Sarah%20Michelle%20Gellar%2 0has%20insisted,Summers%20from%201997%20to%202003.

[CyberCubed]

This was the lead girl in the Star Wars Skeleton Crew show, I thought she was really good in that show and now she'll be a few years older, so it seems like a good choice.

I thought for sure though they'd go with a black slayer this time. I'm honestly shocked they cast a white girl, I guess modern expectations had me thinking a black girl slayer was the most likely.

[Andrew NDB]

This was the lead girl in the Star Wars Skeleton Crew show

Huh! I thought she looked a little familiar.

[CyberCubed]

She was the best kid actress in the show, if you haven't watch it I'd probably watch it now:

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/75/e4/33/75e4334ad5d50bb73aac4a2bc0f02d9d.jpg

[Andrew NDB]

Jeeze, how adorable is this?

cLRLyD7DBn8

And notice how SMG is asking her if she will stand BESIDE her as her PARTNER? We could very well be looking at Buffy's daughter.

[CyberCubed]

That girl is a good actress, she seems cool and down to earth. Also for once they are actually casting a "real" teen to play a 15 year old. Even Sarah was already 19 when she was cast in Season 1, so she was in her 20's by the time Season 2 even started still playing a High school kid. Now they will have an actual teen in the role, assuming they start filming soon and don't wait too long.

I recommend watching Skeleton Crew now just to see how good she is as an actress.

[Andrew NDB]

My biggest concern is that it'll end up being a big woke-fest that'll only last 1 season. So far they've only announced women for the writers and producers and showrunner, no guys at all... which seems by design.

[CyberCubed]

Well it's definitely only going to have 8-10 ep seasons at most, this isn't the 90's where we got 22 episodes a season. But I think if it's successful it should go on at least 3 years to cover all of High School with her being 18 and graduating by the end of Season 3.

Man, it's weird to think Sarah will be 50 years old by the time this starts. Buffy is 3 years younger than Sarah (Sarah was born in 1977 and Buffy in 1980), so they'll probably have Buffy around 45 or so in canon I assume.

[Andrew NDB]

(Sarah was born in 1977 and Buffy in 1980),

Actually, the show originally showed her birthdate on a screen as October 24,1980. Then in the robot episode, it's shown to be May 6, 1979. Then AGAIN later on it seems reinforced that she was actually born on January 19, 1981 -- that one stuck.

[Andrew NDB]

https://comicbookmovie.com/tv/buffy-the-vampire-slayer/buffy-sequel-series-plot-details-revealed-sarah-michelle-gellar-shares-training-video-with-new-slayer-a223148?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwL9x8RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHsm15 V02f0Y0AGTXC0D2RvKU2WHp6C7jAXWuvuERALX-t4Q7nY9LaoUm3HXu_aem_9tpoevvmMN1jRaHiGBdDiA

More about the show. And apparently the "Nova the Vampire Slayer" stuff is legit after all? Also, more producers mentioned... every single person involved so far being a woman and that kinda seems like more than happenstance at this point.

[CyberCubed]

The link to Sarah's Instagram training with the new actress was nice. You can tell they will have some chemistry together. Sarah getting into shape also proves Buffy will be doing some fighting and she won't just be in the Giles role.

[CyberCubed]

Also if you haven't seen the new slayer actress in anything yet, she was the lead girl in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. She really is a good actress at such a young age, can't wait to see what she does in Buffy.

[ZariusTwo]

Filming has commenced

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/08/08/18/101048599-14983909-image-m-14_1754673412200.jpg

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-14983909/Sarah-Michelle-Geller-makeover-reboot-Buffy.html

[CyberCubed]

It's very strange that aside from Willow (who has been seen with Sarah a lot), there are no confirmations of any other returning characters.

We know Dawn and Xander are out. Faith's actress retired from acting. Giles might be unlikely because he lives in England, can see him coming back for just 1 episode at some point. Seth Green said he hasn't heard anything about them wanting him back. And in-universe Anya, Tara and Cordelia are dead unless they bring them back to life, but Cordelia would be the easiest one to do since she can just say she went up to the higher plane like many suspected at the end of Angel.

Spike is probably going to appear, but Angel's actor David Boreanez doesn't seem interested. He just wished Sarah luck on instagram. It's just kinda weird to get a sequel series knowing most of the older cast cannot return for a number of different reasons.

[Andrew NDB]

Spike is definitely going to be in it. The actor was SUPER smug about it a couple of months back when asked.

[Andrew NDB]

So the pilot wrapped. SMG posted some random set pics to her IG just now.

[CyberCubed]

I don't have an instagram account, I can't believe you can't view pics if you're not logged in.

[Andrew NDB]

Hulu has decided NOT to move forward with the series. They didn't like the pilot. Daaaamn... it must have been really bad. Usually if a pilot just needs some tweaking they'll ask for a new one. Maybe they should have treated Joss not like the devil, or at least not had a 100% female creative staff?

Straight from SMG:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV31NdtDgWu/?igsh=bWw0cm5zMHF6Mmt4

And Chloe Zhao was "not a good fit." Yeesh.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/hulu-scraps-its-new-buffy-series-plans/

[CyberCubed]

I saw this earlier today and am really sad about it, even if the pilot was bad there's no telling how a season would have played out. Really hope they can still find a way to get this going somewhere else. Sarah Michelle Gellar is not getting any younger and this really felt like the absolute "last chance" to do this.

Also feel bad for the new young actress cast as the new slayer. She seemed really excited about it when Sarah told her she was picked as the main character.

[Andrew NDB]

From what I'm hearing it sounds like "it was something written in 2021" with a lot of woke identity politics and was totally joyless, devoid of any fun. And attempts at witty banter were weak.

[CyberCubed]

There seems to be a script circling around reddit on r/buffy, don't know if it's legit or not but a lot of the replies are taking it as it is. It seemed to have a lot of references to Buffy and the first episode is entirely about the new girl. Sarah Michelle Gellar only appears in the last minute or so of the pilot, as she is working in NY as an insurance agent under the name, "Anne" again.

I liked the whole concept of a "New Sunnydale" that was rebuilt with the new slayer girl on her own at first before Buffy inevitably moves back there. It had a lot of potential.

Sounds like it's dead though, since Disney now owns Buffy I don't think they'll let anyone else pick it up.

[Andrew NDB]

Not entirely dead. Chloe Zhao almost single-handedly created the pilot that failed, but with Hulu's money. Now Hulu is apparently going to at least try to put their own team on "something" (without Chloe and her writers room of exclusively middle aged women) but it's probably a ways off now.

[ZariusTwo]

Sarah Michelle Gellar only appears in the last minute or so of the pilot, as she is working in NY as an insurance agent under the name, "Anne" again.

That's backed up by the only photos we've seen of SMG back in the role, attired like an insurance or business figure.

[Autbot_Benz]

Not entirely dead. Chloe Zhao almost single-handedly created the pilot that failed, but with Hulu's money. Now Hulu is apparently going to at least try to put their own team on "something" (without Chloe and her writers room of exclusively middle aged women) but it's probably a ways off now.

Maybe stop letting Chloe do fanboy stuff first eternals and now this :lol:

[CyberCubed]

It's a shame. This was the one sequel/reboot series I was looking forward to. Especially since Sarah did not want to return to Buffy for years and this pitch got her interested and excited to film a pilot and pick a new young actress slayer. Now I fear she'll never want to do it again with a different director/pitch.

This was it.

[Andrew NDB]

Some stuff from the pilot script:

====

The script points to the problem
The reported exchange reads:

STACY
You could’ve at least defended me —

CHRIS
I didn’t want to take away your
agency, babe. You hate it when I
dim your light.

STACY
That is so you, trying to weaponize
my feminism against me. I’m going
home.

====

Which is kind of what you would've expected, really, before going like me, "Well, maybe this writers room of exclusively middle-aged women will surprise us."

[Andrew NDB]

Here's the script:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vx7gwb9jynjypgmufn4m4/ilide.info-btvs-ns-pr_3fe2aaa16392e83f92758771029dd0b9.pdf?rlkey=ohpo eq7lbke3nt7numk6yq3kz&st=cdkw0e8k&dl=0

[CyberCubed]

I wish I knew how to weaponize my feminism.

[Powder]

https://i.ibb.co/1J7J4Dvm/dsfgsdfg.jpg

[Autbot_Benz]

Some stuff from the pilot script:

====

The script points to the problem
The reported exchange reads:

STACY
You could’ve at least defended me —

CHRIS
I didn’t want to take away your
agency, babe. You hate it when I
dim your light.

STACY
That is so you, trying to weaponize
my feminism against me. I’m going
home.

====

Which is kind of what you would've expected, really, before going like me, "Well, maybe this writers room of exclusively middle-aged women will surprise us."
God that reminds me of that episode of the flash the #feminism one

[Andrew NDB]

SMG blames it on one Hulu executive who never watched the original Buffy show.

https://www.cbr.com/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-reboot-canceled-explained/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=69b8b5a97693990001988cb4&utm_campaign=TrueAnthem-CBR&utm_medium=Social-Distribution&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcAQlxE9jbGNrBCXETGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNyd GMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHiLuCFCo686qK9Qc6fX v7fEEt9sFTWZiuc0RZkHeZoE2MKdixeyY9ST9al-L_aem_0-BXu60CcWLJ0HleQuGFEg

[ZariusTwo]

More details on what happened


https://deadline.com/2026/03/buffy-inside-story-reboot-killed-why-sarah-michelle-gellar-1236757372/

Hulu believed the original pilot aimed towards younger audiences far too much, they ordered a rewrite, and the second draft was extended to 90 minutes, with a far bigger role for Buffy than just a cameo at the end. The new draft targeted older fans, and overall most executives seemed happier with it....but Craig Erwich, the group president of Disney Television, likened the whole process to an expensive renovation and killed it.

[Andrew NDB]

More details on what happened


https://deadline.com/2026/03/buffy-inside-story-reboot-killed-why-sarah-michelle-gellar-1236757372/

Hulu believed the original pilot aimed towards younger audiences far too much, they ordered a rewrite, and the second draft was extended to 90 minutes, with a far bigger role for Buffy than just a cameo at the end. The new draft targeted older fans, and overall most executives seemed happier with it....but Craig Erwich, the group president of Disney Television, likened the whole process to an expensive renovation and killed it.

What a mess.

[Prowler]

I was never a huge fan of Buffy. Always found it a bit of an overrated series. The whole urban fantasy. supernatural horror and teen drama genre fusion never appealed to me much. Could be because I was 7 when it came out, but I remember reruns on cable TV around 2004-2006 when I was already a teenager and I still was not a huge fan. It was fine and all, sure, but never got the fascination a lot of people had for it.

As for this revival being cancelled... probably for the best. They keep reviving series and the revivals are rarely any good, are they?

[Andrew NDB]

They keep reviving series and the revivals are rarely any good, are they?

Can't really speak for many as I haven't really watched any. The only real "revival" series I watched was the last two seasons of X-Files and Twin Peaks: The Return. Lots of stinkers in the X-Files revival but a few good episodes. Twin Peaks: The Return was 100% golden.

Other revivals I'm aware of: Frasier, Roseanne/The Conners, Scrubs, um... Prison Break?

[Prowler]

Can't really speak for many as I haven't really watched any. The only real "revival" series I watched was the last two seasons of X-Files and Twin Peaks: The Return. Lots of stinkers in the X-Files revival but a few good episodes. Twin Peaks: The Return was 100% golden.

Other revivals I'm aware of: Frasier, Roseanne/The Conners, Scrubs, um... Prison Break?

Perhaps there's a lot of good ones out there. But, honestly, I don't think it's a good idea to do revivals of live action tv shows. Actors age, after all. Reviving cartoons, video games or comics is a whole different matter, since those do not need to age.

[CyberCubed]

Don't you live in Portugal? Buffy is an American show set in California based on American teens from the late 90's. it's probably cultural differences, in Europe they don't know what American teens are like.

[Prowler]

Don't you live in Portugal? Buffy is an American show set in California based on American teens from the late 90's. it's probably cultural differences, in Europe they don't know what American teens are like.

Your trolling has lost a lot of quality. :lol:

[Krutch]

Figured I'd dump all my thoughts here.

I know this is an earlier draft and we've learned it’s been developed further, but since this is the version we have, this is the version I’m responding to.

For context, I read and write scripts for a living. And I love me some Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s one of the most influential shows of its era, especially for writers my age. Hell, my girlfriend and I are currently on Season 3 of an Angel rewatch. This show, it's universe, and it's characters never really left us.

I avoided all spoilers and set aside any expectations until I heard about it being dropped by Hulu. At which point, I read it immediately.

And, uh... yeah. I've got some (very unorganized) thoughts.

A revival like this needs to understand why the original premise was so effective in the first place. The show had a brilliant and clear engine: Each episode externalizes a teen emotional struggle as a literal monster, a defeating it reflects the character confronting that issue.

Got that? Teen problems, made literal - and beatable. Easy peasy.

This pilot has a different engine. Or rather, it is trying to run on two engines at once.

On one, it’s attempting to replicate that original emotional allegory through Nova. On the other (more dominant) one, it’s heavily invested in satirizing modern culture; performative activism, commodified feminism, tech-bro culture, gentrification, therapy-speak, influencer religion, and the general fatigue of constant social signaling.

None of that is inherently a problem. The problem is priority.

Those elements aren’t being filtered through character. They’re simply presented as commentary. The script spends a lot of time signaling what it’s critiquing, and far less time grounding how those pressures are actually shaping Nova from the inside.

That shift from character-driven to commentary-driven is what’s killing the pilot.

The original Buffy feels timeless because it was anchored in emotional metaphor. The 90s culture is there, sure, but it's not the point. The monsters are about fear, loneliness, desire, repression; things that don’t expire.

Here, the emphasis on current discourse locks the show to a very specific cultural moment. The satire is so explicit, and so tied to contemporary language and frameworks, that it already feels dated.

New Sunnydale reads like a script written by people who understand the current Hollywood soft-reboot playbook very well: closely echo the original, give the premise a facelift for a newer generation, and hold the legacy character at arm’s length until the very end. When Buffy finally appears, it's on the last page, with no interaction with any of the main characters and no sense yet of what her actual life has become beyond reverting back to being “Anne Summers” and working a boring office job in New York.

Looking past the obvious (that absolutely no fan of the show would ever be psyched to see Anne The Inbox Manager), it's still a choice that might have worked if the script had something to say about Buffy’s absence. But it doesn’t. It mostly feels like just another structural legacy-sequel move: keep the icon offscreen long enough for the audience to crave her, while building a replacement structure around a new lead. It's a huge, huge mistake and the biggest disservice to the script.

And to be clear, the new Slayer, Nova, is not the problem. While the meek, clumsy, bookish wallflower is not exactly the most original character, her fear, isolation, awkwardness, and instinct to live inside a small, protected bubble give the pilot its only semblance of a real emotional spine.

The issue is that the script keeps getting distracted from her. It has a lot to say, and none of it is about its new lead.

One of the more interesting (if never explained) ideas in the pilot is that Sunnydale now knows enough about Slayers for them to be commodified, sexualized, and turned into a cosplay brand. "Vampire Weekend" is full of faux-Slayers seen in erotic spectacle. There is actually a compelling idea buried in that, given what we've witnessed through Buffy. The Slayer used to represent duty, sacrifice, burden, violence, and isolation. Now we see that legacy - her legacy- twisted into an eroticized consumer image.

But again, the script frustratingly refuses to attach that observation to Nova or Buffy. It is just another satirical note that never develops.

Oh, and let's talk vampires.

In the original Buffy, vampires were not just monsters to kill. They represented something specific: a human being stripped of the soul, stripped of conscience, guilt, and moral restraint. That is why Angel and Angelus worked so well. The monster was never just plot. The monster was the theme.

In this pilot, the vampires are mostly... just vampires. They move the story. They kill. They create danger. They set up mythology. But they do not yet feel like a sharply defined metaphor.

Then... there’s the dialogue.

Listen, the original Buffy had one of the most distinctive voices in genre television. You've already read the quotes that went viral so I won't get into them here, but not one line feels fresh or observant. And on the “woke” discourse around this script, the issue is not simply that the script includes feminism, activism, religion, class commentary, or identity politics. The issue is that the core characters often feel built from the ground up to carry those subjects into the frame. They do not always feel like people first.

That is deadly for a Buffy script, because Buffy only ever worked when the metaphor came second to emotional truth.

I feel like I'm rambling and still have lots to say... but yeah. Overall, it's really not the worst script I've ever read. It moves quickly and it has a few decent ideas. But Buffy deserves better. Much, much better. I'm not sure what the shooting script evolved into, but if this pilot is any indication, I think Buffy might have dodged a bullet.

And that's my two cents no one asked for.

[Andrew NDB]

There's also the whole other factor: the actual pilot that was shot from that leaked original script.

We have no idea how Chloe Zhao shot it, how she works with child actors, how she was able to find the "fun" in anything or make things work on the fly, did she let adlibbing get out control (or conversely was she slavish to the script), etc.. There's nothing in her resume that would suggest any of those things are things in her tool belt.

[Antoniocafe]

And now Nicholas Brendon has passed away.

https://deadline.com/2026/03/nicholas-brendon-dead-buffy-the-vampire-slayer-actor-1236762086/

[CyberCubed]

Man this is sad. I mean we've known Nicolas Brendan was struggling with alcohol for years and got arrested numerous times, but I was hoping he would pull through. 54 is way too young to die.

Between this, Michelle Tractenberg last year and the reboot being canceled, Buffy fans have had nothing but bad news recently.

[Andrew NDB]

Spike is definitely going to be in it. The actor was SUPER smug about it a couple of months back when asked.

Yep, he was going to be in it alright.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/tv/articles/james-marsters-started-doing-thousands-140642943.html

[ZariusTwo]

Antony Stewart Head, Giles, is gone

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd0p0rz4n0mo