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

[wendelah1]

Regarding Firefly: Maybe another movie? I mean, they killed off two characters in the last film. I'm unclear what story they have left to tell that involves the entire original cast. Interviews?

That's a shame about the Buffy revival getting axed. I read about it in Variety and thought about you. FWIW, I'm expecting the same thing to happen with The X-Files reboot. They'll shoot the pilot but whoever ordered it (Hulu? Must be. It's a Fox property.) won't pick up the series. It's too bad cause I was really looking forward to watching the fandom implode.

[shadowkat]

I got more information - see new post? It's an animated series - developed by Fillion's production company. And it is going to cover the period between the end of the original series and the movie - Serenity, so we get Wash back. I honestly think animated series is the only way to go with Firefly, Buffy and Angel - because it is the only way you can realistically bring back the original cast and characters. And let's face it - most people are curious about the original characters. I wish someone would do an animated continuation of the Angel series - that one would have been fun as a continuation.

I think that's true about X-Files (animated) - except didn't they already try that? X-Files also has already revived itself once? I think the only way they could reboot it - is if they had a new cast? I do not see Gillian Anderson doing it again? She got screwed the last go around - Duchovy got paid twice the amount that she did, and was an ass to her. And she's become very successful in other ventures.

[wendelah1]

No. I haven't seen the new post. I just got home. I like the idea of an animated series for Firefly.

The X-Files reboot pilot is happening. Yes. A whole new cast, absolutely. The guy that directed Sinners and Black Panther is behind it. There's a showrunner and a lead has signed. His mom was a big fan back in the day so he's rebooting it for her. He's very talented so we'll see. The racist side of the fandom is already throwing fits about "woke." And then there's the "the show is just about Mulder and Scully how can you have x-files without Mulder and Scully blah blah blah" crowd of whiny babies. I foresee much unpleasant drama ahead if it gets green-lit.

[shadowkat]

That could work - I didn't realize it was a "reboot" and not another continuation. X-Files they've done all three ways - as a continuation, as animated cartoon, and now apparently a reboot.

I won't be watching - it's not really my genre? I only watched the original sparingly.