Buffy and Firefly fandom news...

[shadowkat]

Sarah Michelle Gellar just reported on her Instagram site about four minutes ago that Hulu has unfortunately chosen not to move forward with Buffy: New Sunnydale but "if the apocalypse comes, you can still beep me".

"Announcement: Sarah Michelle Gellar shared in a recent video that the project was not proceeding on Instagram.

The Project: The revival was to be titled Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale, with Gellar returning alongside new cast members.

Development Issues: Prior to this, reports suggested that differences over the number of episodes (18 vs. 8) and a need to focus on a new cast were causing delay."

ETA for links, which weren't available until now - clearly people were waiting for Gellar to announce it before doing it themselves?

https://pagesix.com/2026/03/14/entertainment/buffy-series-revival-new-sunnydale-not-moving-forward-at-hulu-sarah-michelle-gellar-reveals/

https://deadline.com/2026/03/buffy-reboot-dead-sarah-michelle-gellar-hulu-chloe-zhao-1236753736/



Yet they moved forward with Scrubs, which is a show I found unwatchable when it aired. This is why I have multiple streaming subscriptions.
And are rebooting the Rockford Files, and sigh Baywatch, shows I couldn't care less about, and felt are creatures of their time and do not date well.
Part of the struggle with living in our world is we can't control the tastes, actions or views of other people - which is a good thing, don't get me wrong, but also very frustrating at time.

That said? I'm not surprised? Buffy was magic in a bottle and a creature of its time? Also with a nitch fandom, who was mostly interested in the characters not the world. So - if your focus is on new characters, that's going to be a hard draw for the fandom who was watching the show mainly for the old characters (that was the big problem with S7? And post S7 - they couldn't continue the show without Gellar, which is why the series ended with S7). It doesn't have the rich world-building that Star Wars or LoTR does, or even GoT. And it is very hard to bring back the original cast - a couple are a bit too old to fit the roles. I'd have done it as an animated series - which actually they tried to do and it didn't work either. Whedon has tried to reboot the series twice, someone else tried prior, and now Gellar has tried. Also I think Gellar may be cursed when it comes to doing television series post Buffy - everyone she tries, either lasts one or two years if that, dies at the pilot stage, never gets off the ground, or if it does make it a year is abysmal. I think Ringer was the only I liked. Dusku also had horrible luck. As did everyone but I think David Boreanze (who I can't watch in anything but Buffy and Angel apparently) and Alyson Hannigan.

And...I'm not sure Chloe Zhao and the Zuckermans are a good fit? Buffy is a horror dramedy? And that's a different style of writing and direction.

But if Hulu isn't moving forward, can they at least let Benson and Golden do a sequel to the audio drama Slayers?

In other news? There's rumors they may be reviving Firefly - with the entire cast on board - or it's just a reunion at a convention. That's actually more likely - since Firefly got cancelled too soon, and the cast and crew and writers wanted to continue with it, and were all on board and happy with each other.

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

I think an animated series would be a great idea. I wonder if Zhao's career is just too busy (hence the episode debate)? I would think that there would definitely be a market for this.

[shadowkat]

From what I understand? Zhao wanted 18 episodes, Hulu just wanted 8. The streaming services don't like to do more than 8, it's cheaper, while the creators want 18-20 - it provides them with a definite source of revenue. It's an on-going battle. Steven DeNight explained it a while back on Twitter during the writer's strike.

But an animated series would work - and not be as big an issue. Also, quite a few of those actors are accomplished voice actors, and you don't have to interact with each other. They'd have been able to bring back Xander if they did an animated series, also Dawn.

[dar_vidder]

Really bummed to hear the Buffy reboot was scrapped. Even though there was a good chance it'd have paled in comparison to the original. An animated version would be cool though.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I was kind of disappointed too - although, I was beginning to question quality? The Zuckermans aren't who I'd have picked to helm a revival.

[slaymesoftly]

This is what I wrote as my reaction to the news about Buffy reboot. I suspect I'll be repeating it frequently for the next day or so....

h wow. I didn't see this yet! Well, I'm sad and not sad. It could have been awful.... that would have been really sad. There's so much wonderful fanfic out there- both in canon and set in possible futures, that I don't think the fans need a rebooted show. Anytime you want more Buffyworld stories, they're ready and waiting for you on one archive or another.

[shadowkat]

I suspect I'd have been disappointed, and there's most likely a good reason why Hulu chose to forgo it. Honestly, no one can get that show rebooted.

Slayers was fun though - they really should look into audio continuation or animation. You could get a good portion of the original cast back via those mediums. Marsters could reprise Spike vocally.

[moon_custafer]

Dusku also had horrible luck.

I actually liked Tru Calling. It had an interesting premise, and I wish they’d had time to explore it further. The relative success of iZombie, a few years later, suggests there *was* an audience for slightly-supernatural protagonists investigating non-supernatural murder mysteries.

[shadowkat]

I liked Tru Calling as well and was disappointed it was cancelled. I preferred it to Dollhouse. And I can see why she chose it over doing the Faith on the motorcycle series.