Sarah Michelle Gellar Knows Who’s to Blame for ‘Buffy’ Reboot Axe

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The saying goes that success is shared by many, but failure has no one to claim responsibility. However, when it comes to why the Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel series on Hulu didn’t work out, Sarah Michelle Gellar, the show’s star, knows exactly who she believes is at fault.

The cancellation of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale revival has been widely discussed ever since Sarah Michelle Gellar announced the news on Instagram on March 14th. She expressed her sadness, explaining that Hulu decided to stop working on the project, but she remains optimistic it might find a new home. Gellar emphasized that her love for the character of Buffy, and the character’s importance to fans, hasn’t changed, and jokingly offered to be contacted if the world truly ends.

It was ironic that Gellar learned about the future of New Sunnydale while attending the South by Southwest festival to promote her new movie, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. The film, a production of Fox Searchlight, was made by the same company that originally produced the show. Still clearly shaken by the news, she spoke frankly with People magazine soon after.


The WB

Sarah Michelle Gellar explained that a guest on their show openly disliked the original series and repeatedly mentioned never having finished watching it. This put the cast and crew in an awkward spot from the start. For Gellar and director Chloé Zhao, it was particularly challenging because they were both big fans of the original and had been eager to work on the project as a labor of love.

It was incredibly challenging to revisit Buffy because it’s such a cherished show – not just for fans, but for Chloé and me personally,” Gellar explained. “That really highlights the difficulties we faced from the start, especially when the executive in charge openly admitted he’d never even watched it.

Zhao, nominated for Oscars this year for her work on Hamnet in the Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay categories, has also suggested New Sunnydale might continue on a different network. She told fans to remain optimistic, saying, “Things happen for a reason, and we should stay open to possibilities and what the future may hold.”

Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who was cast to star in the planned sequel series, also expressed disappointment about Hulu canceling the show. In a post on Instagram, she shared that while she was sad, she and the team were proud to have brought ‘Buffy’ back for fans. She emphasized that ‘Buffy’ remains important to many people and that future possibilities are still open.

Speaking with People magazine, Gellar emphasized that the show was created because of the fans. She explained, “The fans were the entire reason we even started this project. We wanted to continue something everyone enjoyed, so it didn’t make sense to do it without someone who felt the same way.”

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Fans excited about a potential revival of Buffy—originally planned as New Sunnydale—may be disappointed. According to a source who spoke with People magazine, Disney currently owns the rights to the show, which makes continuing it on a different network difficult. However, the source added that the creative team behind the reboot is still free to develop new projects elsewhere.



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2026-03-17 16:20