After years of rumors, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is going full steam ahead on a reboot series, that will see Sarah Michelle Gellar reprise her iconic role, alongside a new slayer played by the newly cast Ryan Kiera Armstrong. However, one thing on the minds of many old school fans is whether or not any classic characters might join Gellar in the reboot.
While a guest at the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival, Gellar opened up to the press about her vision for the new series, which comes from Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao.“It will be lighter than the last few seasons of the original. We will try to find a balance between new and old characters. My dream is to bring back everyone who has died, but space will have to be made for new stories as well.”
Bring back characters who died? Does that mean we’ll potentially see the return of Buffy’s mom Joyce? Or perhaps Tara (whose death was always controversial) or Anya? Most importantly, will Giles, Willow, Xander or even Angel return? It sounds like the door is definitely open, although Gellar is right that a balance between old and new characters has to be struck. I imagine all involved are probably looking at Cobra Kai as a model for how to do something like this right. Eventually, all the old favourites came back, but not right away. They picked the two most important ones, Johnny and Daniel for season one, and then worked the others in gradually, with strong arcs. There’s no reason they can’t do the same on this new version of Buffy.
That said, one guy that won’t be back is showrunner Joss Whedon. Instead, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, the showrunners of Poker Face, will be on board. To note, they once worked with original Buffy showrunner Josh Whedon on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Which returning characters, outside of Buffy, do you think are essential? Let us know in the comments!
