‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ stars back reboot plans
Plans for a 'sequel' series featuring an all-new cast of characters have divided fans.
By Will Stroude
When it was announced earlier this summer that a reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was in the works featuring an all-new cast of characters and a brand new Slayer, fans of the ’90s TV classic were understandably concerned about whether the show’s legacy was about to be undone.
However, it seems the Buffy reboot has two powerful allies in the form of the orignal show’s leads, Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz.
Gellar, who played peppy demon-killer Buffy Summers across seven seasons of Joss Whedon’s supernatural drama between 1997-2003, has officially given her blessing to the new show, which is being penned by Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D writer Monica Owusu-Breen.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about great storytelling,” Gellar told PEOPLE.
“If a story lives on, then I think it should be told in any incarnation it can be told in”.
Gellar’s former on-screen lover David Boreanaz, who played brooding vamp-with-a-soul Angel on three seasons of Buffy and another five on spin-off show Angel, has also urged fans of the show to get behind the reboot.
The former Bones star told a panel at Comic-Con this week that he was “very happy” about the news of an an expanded Buffy-verse, adding that he was “all for it”.
Boreanaz, 49, told the assembled audience: “Come on, guys. It’s a good thing. Let’s just embrace [it]. I’m very happy for them.
“They want to embrace a new generation, something new…I’m all for it. I think it’s fantastic. Good for them,” he added. “I hope that it becomes huge and successful.”
Gellar, 41, later backed the comments, saying: “I’m with David,” Sarah agreed.
Owusu-Breen previously tried to allay fans’ fears over the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer story, which is reportedly set to feature a “diverse” new cast of characters and focus on an African-American Slayer.
“There is only one Buffy. One Xander, one Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Oz, Tara, Kendra, Faith, Spike, Angel,” she wrote.
“They can’t be replaced. Joss Whedon’s brilliant and beautiful series can’t be replicated. I wouldn’t try to.”
“But here we are, twenty years later… and the world seems a lot scarier. So maybe, it could be time to meet a new Slayer… And that’s all I can say.”
Meanwhile, if you want to read more about why gay men are still suckers for Buffy 20 years on from the show’s premiere, simply click here.