Sarah Michelle Gellar and Nicholas Brendan in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer / 20th Century Fox
Sarah Michelle Gellar has revealed that an unnamed executive was behind the cancellation of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer‘s return.
Hulu produced a pilot of Buffy: New Sunnydale last August – directed by Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao and exec produced by Gellar – which introduced a new young Slayer and also saw Gellar reprise her role as Buffy Summers in what would have gone on to become a recurring arrangement.
However, the plug was pulled on the project in dramatic fashion last week in a move that blindsided both Gellar and Zhao
“I’ve been asked since the day I left to return to Sunnydale,” Gellar told People. “And it never occurred to me that it was something I was going to do.
“Then four years ago, Chloé, the witch that she is — and I say that as a good thing — comes into my life. In one meeting, she makes me say ‘yes’ to something I never saw on my radar. That was because of the deep love and commitment and passion she had for this character. It was like I was stepping back in time.”
Explaining more about the reasoning by the axe, she continued: “We 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’t for him.
“That’s very hard when you’re taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé. 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’t watch it.”
While Buffy: New Sunnydale has been dropped, Disney still retains the IP to the Buffy universe and is said to be “open” to continuing the saga in future.
