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Sarah Michelle Gellar slays any hope for a ‘Buffy’ return: ‘It doesn’t need to be done’
But she’s all for someone else picking up the stake if Disney does revive the series.
Few nostalgic comebacks have the same internet-breaking potential as the kind that would put Sarah Michelle Gellar back at Sunnydale High. As Buffy Summers, Gellar won legions of fans through her 7-season turn as the titular star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer — but it looks as though she’s perfectly content to let the show’s 2003 conclusion stand as her forever-final fling.
Speaking recently with SFX Magazine (via MovieWeb), the 45 year-old actor said any future Buffy reboot needs to bring fresh blood on board its cast, and that the franchise “doesn’t need” its legacy star to continue breaking new ground.
Asked whether she’s interested in ever playing the role again, Gellar got right to the point. “I’m not,” she said. “I am very proud of the show that we created, and it doesn’t need to be done. We wrapped that up. I am all for them continuing the story, because there’s the story of female empowerment. I love the way the show was left: ‘Every girl who has the power can have the power.’ It’s set up perfectly for someone else to have the power. But like I said, the metaphors of Buffy were the horrors of adolescence. I think I look young, but I am not an adolescent.”
The immediate future of the franchise remains up in the air, with Disney (who now owns the rights to the Buffy-verse) reportedly tapping the brakes last summer on a long-discussed revival led by Alias and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. veteran Monica Owusu-Breen. Gellar herself has recently stated she’s ready to move on from her past association with original Buffy creator Joss Whedon, who’s drawn strong criticism from former stars of Buffy and spinoff series Angel for alleged abuses of actors behind the scenes.
Gellar doesn’t sound totally down on the idea of a Buffy revival that doesn't include her, though. Last year, she declared Zendaya her unofficial successor of choice if the role should ever come open, and she remains engaged with the show’s extensive fandom more than 25 years after it first premiered on the old WB Network.
While we wait for further news on how Disney might proceed with a Gellar-free Buffy reboot, at least Gellar herself has gotten back in the horror game after steering clear from the genre for years. Fans can catch her as investigator Kristin Ramsey in Wolf Pack, the new supernatural series that explores small-town teens’ connection to a sinister creature unleashed by a catastrophic California Wildfire. The calendar’s already ticking down to Wolf Pack’s big premiere: It streams at Paramount+ starting Jan. 26.
Looking for more vampire action? Check out SYFY's original series Reginald the Vampire, which just wrapped its first season.
