Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a truly iconic TV show, and in my opinion one of the best teen supernatural dramas. The cult classic (which is streaming with a Hulu subscription) still has a dedicated fanbase, which was thrilled when it was revealed that Sarah Michelle Gellar was working on a reboot pilot. The great scream queen recently defended these types of revivals in the midst of some criticism online.
We're in the midst of a Sarah Michelle Gellar renaissance, with the actress returning to famous roles thanks to the Buffy pilot and her cameo in I Know What You Did Last Summer. In a conversation with USA Today, she stood up for these types of reboots and long-awaited sequels. In her words:
I feel like people are really hard on it, but you never get mad every time … someone does a new adaptation of Shakespeare or Brontë or any of the classics. At the end of the day, there's only so many stories in the world and they all sort of are derivatives.
This is honestly a great perspective. Good stories are hard to come by, and the greats often get explored and reimagined. SMG named greats like The Bard but you can't deny that Buffy the Vampire Slayer has its place in TV history. The same can also be said for other properties she's worked on such as horror classics like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and The Grudge.
Gellar's acclaimed role in James Gunn's Scooby-Doo movies was a new version of an established narrative, and Cruel Intentions was a contemporary book to screen adaptation of Les Liaisons dangereuses. She clearly understands the cyclical nature of storytelling.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot pilot will reportedly focus on Gellar's title character serving as a mentor to a young Slayer. While she was a general for the Potentials in Season 7, seeing her focus on the training of one protégée would be a new color on The Chosen One. SMG spoke to the importance of bringing something fresh, saying:
I think as long as they're good and it's not just a rehashing. As long as the work is put in.
In the same interview about reboots, she name dropped titles like Freakier Friday and Alien: Romulus for having something new to say in an already established IP. She went on to explain what makes a good nostalgic turn, saying:
It's all about the DNA. If you can capture the DNA of an original, I think you're golden.
Obviously Gellar knows the DNA of Buffy the Vampire Slayer better than most, after playing the title role for seven seasons across two networks. She collaborated with Oscar-winning Nomadland director Chloé Zhao for the reboot pilot, who seems to be a big fan of the original series. It sounds like a winning combo to me, so I'm hoping Hulu decides to give the reboot a full season order. For her part, Sarah Michelle Gellar is definitely helping to buoy excitement by sharing glimpses from the set and doing press about her work on the pilot.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are both streaming in their entirety over on Hulu. Hopefully we hear about the reboot's fate one way or another soon. I'm going to keep my fingers (and wooden stakes) crossed.
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