‘Proud to tell you he didn’t watch it’: One person killed the ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ reboot, reveals Sarah Michelle Gellar

Fans of the beloved ’90s series were outraged to hear the highly anticipated sequel was abruptly canceled this weekend.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast (L to R) Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Head, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Charisma Carpenter and Alyson Hannigan. [Photo: Getty Images]

A year ago, Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans were rejoicing. The beloved ‘90s series was finally getting a follow-up, thanks to the announcement of a sequel series coming to Hulu. But that excitement has turned to outrage as of March 14, when star Sarah Michelle Gellar announced on social media that Buffy wasn’t coming back from the dead after all.

The reboot series, titled Buffy: New Sunnydale, would see Gellar reprise her role as the titular teenage vampire hunter, now all grown up and mentoring a new slayer, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong. Oscar winner Chloé Zhao was set to direct and executive produce after pitching the project to Gellar four years ago. The team had already filmed a pilot for the series.

But on Friday, March 13, both Zhao and Gellar received unexpected phone calls telling them the project had been canceled. Gellar was caught off-guard: She was just stepping on stage for the premiere of her new movie, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, at the SXSW Film & TV Festival when the news came through.

“Let me tell you, nobody saw this coming,” Gellar said in an interview with People. That includes the head of Searchlight Pictures, the studio behind both Buffy: New Sunnydale as a co-producer and Ready or Not 2.

“I got the call as we were stepping onto stage for the premiere of their own movie,” Gellar continued.

The timing was equally poor for Zhao, who was just days away from heading to the Academy Awards 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 . . .” Gellar said, trailing off. “That says something.”

Sarah Michelle Gellar

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