Sarah Michelle Gellar has discussed the shock cancellation of her Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot series, criticizing the timing of the decision and blaming a single executive who had been "proud to constantly remind us" that the original series "wasn't for him."
Gellar shared Hulu's decision to ditch the reboot with fans at the weekend, just hours after she and director Chloé Zhao were told themselves. Gellar revealed that she had received the news just as she was about to go on stage at the premiere of her new movie Ready or Not 2, while Zhao was readying for Sunday's Oscars ceremony where she was nominated in the Best Director category.
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"No one saw this coming, including the head of Searchlight [Pictures]," Gellar told People, noting the bizarre situation she had been placed in, having to come to terms with the cancellation of a project by Disney-owned Hulu while moments away from having to promote another project by the Disney-owned Searchlight.
"I got the call as we were stepping onto stage for the premiere of their own movie [Ready or Not 2]. And it's also the weekend of Chloé going to the Oscars as a best director nominee for Hamnet. For them to call us on the Friday of what should have been Chloé's victory lap for an incredible film, and my world premiere of something that I worked very hard for is... That says something."
Buffy fans have reacted in shock and disappointment at the news, following a year of work by Gellar and Zhao, the public casting of a new Slayer (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew's Ryan Kiera Armstrong) and the filming of a pilot episode last summer. Hopes had been high, and the project had garnered the support of various original Buffy alumni, who were keen to appear themselves.
"I'd like to use this moment also to say that Ryan Kiera Armstrong is a superstar," Gellar noted. "I'm gutted that no one will see her as a Slayer."
So why was the Buffy reboot scrapped? Gellar places the blame on a single executive who had made the project an "uphill battle" from the start.
"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," Gellar said. "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... So how do you do a show that's beloved with someone that doesn't love it?"
Asked about the cancellation herself on the Oscars red carpet, Zhao previously said she had been "not surprised" by the development.
Numerous former Buffy castmates had since been in touch to share their own sadness, Gellar concluded, noting that she had spoken with David Boreanaz the night before. "We don't want to let the fans down," she added. "That hurts. [We're] saddened at how it was handled and when it was handled."
While sources close to Hulu have told numerous trade publications that "love" remains for the Buffy franchise and further opportunities to expand it in future, the door has seemingly closed on this iteration of a reboot. Whether another version can be mounted in future after all this, however, remains to be seen.
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Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social