‘Unfortunately, Hulu has decided not to move forward with Buffy: New Sunnydale.’
I could almost hear the screams of pain from fans of the iconic vampire show as I watched Sarah Michelle Gellar speak to her followers from a video she posted on Instagram.
She had bad news: the reboot was not going ahead.
‘I was reminded how much I love her [Buffy] and how much she means not only to me, but to all of you’, she continued, and I felt my heart swell.
As a huge fan, watching Gellar’s video, I felt heartbroken. Not just for the devotees, but for her too – she was obviously so invested in the new show.
Growing up, Buffy was one of the few TV programmes that didn’t speak down to me, and had women as the heroes. I had a list of these shows I watched: Alias, Daria, My So-Called Life – I would watch them religiously. I read all the comic books, and collected the cards.
In many ways, they saved me – as someone who was heavily bullied, hadn’t yet come out as queer and didn’t have a great family life – Buffy came to my rescue.
After sending Gellar’s video to a friend, my heartbreak subsided and I quickly realised that a big part of me was actually glad.
I know many fans won’t agree with this, but deep down, I didn’t want a Buffy revival.
It was a perfect show, and it enjoyed a perfect legacy. A sequel could ruin that.
In February last year, it was reported that a new pilot – Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale – was going ahead as a pilot for US streaming service Hulu.
The show would have followed actress Ryan Kiera Armstrong as the new young Slayer, navigating high school now, with the return of Gellar as the iconic Buffy. It was to be directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao – and with Nomadland and Hamnet under her belt, she would have been the best choice for it.
From the very start, I had trepidations. Adaptations and revivals have regularly let me down.
Gossip Girl is a prime example. It missed the point of the show: trashy nonsense. When it added morality into the mix with storylines like – like how the wealthy discussed income inequality, or that the children were held to account by the teachers – it created a new dimension that fans didn’t want.
While updating it with the digital new era we live in, with social media, made sense – it also meant that a lot of the ways in which wealth was navigated changed in a way that was no longer the Gossip Girl world which was: rich people doing rich things.
And we don’t talk about the 2008 Knightrider reboot – the writing, characters and what they changed KITT into was god-awful.
I think the main reason I’m not as heartbroken as other Buffy fans about this news is that I can’t help but think the new show might not have been an honest reflection of the original.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer used comedy, witty quips and dramatic end-of-the-world storylines to examine how the world fails young people. I do worry that to make it relatable and understandable to audiences now, it would have to lose some of its irony and smarts.
It dealt with grief, child abuse and governmental power as monsters in a way that didn’t dumb the subjects down. It was clever – we faced the Mayor of Sunnydale, or a monster that only children could see.
But we currently live in a world where even satirical newspapers like The Onion can no longer create witty headlines, because of how absurd the truth is.
I fear Buffy and her Scooby Gang would find it hard to navigate a world now: for the show’s satire to have the same effect, it would shift the show into too-ridiculous territory.
The Buffyverse – and Multiverse – were my everything.
I can’t risk it being destroyed. I want to preserve its beauty.
There are things I would change, of course – Joss Whedon’s alleged toxicity is one of them, and Spike’s rape scene is another.
The last couple of seasons felt strange: there were instances of the gang acting out of character. The cold way Giles treated Buffy felt disingenuous – his sudden tough love seemed far-fetched.
And Buffy herself felt a long way from who we had grown to love – sure she was facing the end of the world, but she has done it multiple times. This time, her fear felt cold and misplaced.
That’s the kind of thing that makes me wonder if that’s what a new Buffy would look like. If the best it could possibly do was be as good as the worst seasons of the old Buffy.
When Sarah Michelle Gellar said in her Instagram video, whilst giving me full eye contact: ‘I never thought I would find myself back in Buffy’s stylish yet affordable boots’, I laughed, because I felt like I was part of a world that only we understood.
Zhao has since addressed the cancellation, saying that, for her and Gellar: ‘[the] priority has always been to be truthful to the show, and be truthful to our fans. So things happen for a reason and we keep our hearts open and welcome the mystery for what this may lead us to.’
Even now, I regularly rewatch Buffy and feel nostalgic.
It is my safe space.
And, maybe selfishly so, I’m worried that the sanctuary will be ruined.
I know many will disagree, and it will seem very selfish, but I hold Buffy dear to me. And I don’t trust much.
If it was remade, it would probably be something I would have to avoid, in order to preserve my very particular memories and feelings from the show.
Buffy, if there is an apocalypse, you’re the first person I’ll beep – but instead of a reboot, I’ll just get comfortable and put the original version back on.
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