Hulu’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival was officially canceled last Friday, as revealed by Sarah Michelle Gellar herself. Starring Gellar and Ryan Keira Armstrong as a brand new Slayer, the show would have been set years after the original series’ finale. Titled Buffy: New Sunnydale, it was a variation on the classic “legacy hero” trope, one literally baked into the Slayer mythology. After all, according to the classic voice-over, every generation has their own Slayer.
Videos by ComicBook.com
There had been reports of behind-the-scenes trouble for quite some time, but production continued, and a pilot was made. Then, surprisingly, Hulu pulled the plug. The timing was absolutely shocking; Gellar was told when she was about to take to the stage at SXSW, promoting Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, while showrunner Chloé Zhao was heading to the Oscars as a Best Picture nominee. But what really caused this abrupt cancellation? Two different camps are emerging, each presenting a slightly different account.
Sarah Michelle Gellar Believes There’s a Reason the Buffy Revival Was Cancelled
Sarah Michelle Gellar has been surprisingly candid about the cancellation. She heaps praise on both Zhao and co-star Ryan Keira Armstrong, insisting the Star Wars alum is “a superstar.” For the iconic Buffy actress, the show’s is clearly intensely personal, because she was won over by Zhao’s vision. Gellar believes one person is responsible for the Buffy cancellation; “We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original,” she recalled, “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,” Gellar continued. “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.” Both Variety and Deadline now report the executive in question is Craig Erwich, the head of Hulu Originals, who has recently been promoted with oversight of 20th Television and Searchlight TV.
The Buffy Revival Had Serious Problems
To be fair, there do seem to have been legitimate problems with the Buffy revival. The pilot’s first script has frequently been described as “playing too young,” with a feeling that it was far too small in scale. A copy of this initial draft appears to have leaked; although it’s difficult to assess the script’s accuracy, industry trades are now covering it as though it is real. The main focus is on the new Slayer and her friends as vampires re-emerge in Sunnydale, while Gellar herself only appears in a tag as setup for the main story.
ComicBook has seen this script, and it must be noted that it’s far from perfect. That said, it’s easy to see where the plot was going, most notably in a mysterious company responsible for funding Sunnydale’s restoration. It doesn’t seem a coincidence that the by-now legendary Buffy Summers is working for an unnamed company as well; the setup isn’t exactly subtle. The main character (named Nova) is an interesting one, a cerebral hero who never imagined she’d be a Slayer and didn’t know vampires were real. When the script ends, she doesn’t even have a Watcher (although Giles’ library is there to be studied).
That said (and assuming this is accurate), the flawed script was only a first draft; it calls the new Slayer “Nova,” an obvious placeholder (it’s Latin for “new,” far too on-the-nose to be the final version). Deadline report that a new script was produced; “It was more adult, featuring a lot more of Gellar’s Buffy, and was described as a more of a streaming show than a network one.” According to Deadline, this was well-received at both 20th TV and Searchlight TV, leading most to be confident it would be picked up. The final script reportedly gave the Slayer the name “Rowan.”
Variety tells a slightly different story at this point, focusing on the pilot that was finally shot. According to two sources, Zhao’s directorial style didn’t match to Buffy: New Sunnydale, which required more exposition than her standard approach. These unattributed sources focus in on the new characters, whose debuts were apparently “under-directed,” and Armstrong is singled out in particular; “That Armstrong, the new Slayer, has a very young appearance — she turned 16 on March 10 — contributed to the whole enterprise playing too young.”
The Core Problem With the Buffy Revival is Gradually Becoming Clear
Two conflicting stories are developing. In the Buffy corner, we have Sarah Michelle Gellar, who believes executives simply didn’t understand the franchise or align themselves with Zhao’s vision. On the studio side, there are unattributed claims the project was flawed and simply “played too young.” The two different camps seem irreconcilable.
The most probable explanation, sadly, is that Zhao and execs were interested in making a completely different show. Zhao (and Gellar) wanted to tell a story in which the legacy of the Slayer was passed on to the next generation, explaining the initial script’s tight focus on “Nova” and her friends, and also fitting with the decision to cast Armstrong in the starring role. In contrast, it looks as though studio bosses wanted something more like Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 – a more adult series all about continuing Buffy’s own story. There was a fundamental mismatch.
In this scenario, the outcome was likely inevitable. It also probably has quite a lasting consequence; it’s hard to see what’s next for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If this interpretation is correct, then Gellar isn’t interested in the kind of show the studios want to make. The legendary actress has long insisted she’d never return to Buffy, and it now seems doubtful she’ll ever be persuaded again. It’s a heartbreaking end to the saga of the Slayers.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
image courtesy of Studio Ghibli -
Image Courtesy of Studio Ghibli -
Courtesy of Shueisha / Kadokawa / Square Enix / Shogakukan
