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Sarah Michelle Gellar & original 'Buffy' cast shout out fans on Buffy the Vampire Slayer's 25th birthday
"You are the reason 25 years later we are still celebrating."
How has it been a quarter century already? March 10 marks the anniversary of the first-ever airing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the old-school WB network, and this year in particular marks the 25th turn of the calendar since fans got their first bloody good taste of the supernatural series that made small-screen horror fun.
Though we swear none of the original cast looks a day over 25 themselves, the fact remains: If you’re hitting the big two-five, you’ve just gotta throw a party. Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers) and more of the O.G. cast must all be on the same page on the day of the show’s big milestone, because they all hit up social media with special messages thanking fans for their enduring devotion to the series, as well as their early support to make the little show about teenage fang-sleuthing a TV horror hit.
“25 years ago today I had the honor to introduce the world to my version of Buffy Anne Summers,” Gellar shared with fans via Instagram. “It was an uphill battle. A mid-season replacement, on a new network based on a movie, that was by no means a giant success. But then there was you. The fans. You believed in us. You made this happen. You are the reason 25 years later we are still celebrating. So today we celebrate you as well.”
Gellar wasn’t the only one giving big ups to Buffy fans on the show’s special day. Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), and David Boreanaz (Angel) all had love for viewers who spun the Joss Whedon-helmed series into a generation-spanning success.
“An Angel was born 25 years ago even though he was 245 years old,” Boreanaz wrote at Instagram. “We celebrate 25 years and to all the fans we say ‘Thank You!’”
Trachtenberg focused on Gellar as the birthday girl, sharing a fun Instagram shout-out that teased her former costar for not quite measuring up — at least height-wise. “Happy 25th anniversary, big sister, of the premiere of your show ['Buffy the Vampire Slayer']. We have known each other for almost 30 years. You gave me this shirt to wear to present an award to you. For being a badass. You still are,” wrote Trachtenberg beneath a photo of the pair standing side by side. “…but I’m also still taller,” she teased.
On Twitter, Carpenter took a trip down memory lane, reflecting on the series’ early casting in a post that hints no one at the time really knew how big Buffy could become. “What a ride,” wrote Carpenter. “Hardly seems poss the airdate was in 3/1997. We shot the pilot for #BTVS while I was still a series reg on Malibu Shores. My audition for #BTVS almost didn’t happen cuz Malibu Shores shot in San Pedro that day. Getting to The Ranch at rush hour was next 2 impossible.”
Good thing she made it on time, eh? Just as it’s hard to imagine anyone but Kristy Swanson as Buffy on the big screen in the original 1992 film, it’s all but impossible to think of anyone else but Carpenter and the rest of the TV cast in the small-screen roles they made enduringly famous. We may all be old by then, but here’s looking forward to another 25 years of Buffy fandom. Somehow, we suspect the show’s loyal following has just that kind of staying power.
