Director Chloe Zhao’s Buffy The Vampire reboot has been dropped by Hulu, its star and producer Sarah Michelle Gellar has announced. Despite some impressive names in front of and behind the camera, a rebooted Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot won’t be happening at Hulu. As announced over the weekend by returning star and executive producer ... Buffy The Vampire Slayer | Reboot dead at Hulu
Director Chloe Zhao’s Buffy The Vampire reboot has been dropped by Hulu, its star and producer Sarah Michelle Gellar has announced.
Despite some impressive names in front of and behind the camera, a rebooted Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot won’t be happening at Hulu.
As announced over the weekend by returning star and executive producer Sarah Michelle Gellar, the new take on the much-loved TV series is effectively dead, with executives at the cable company opting not to take the project forward.
A pilot, said to be titled Buffy: New Sunnydale, had been shot by director Chloe Zhao, with Poker Face’s Nora and Lilla Zuckerman serving as its writers and intended showrunners for the planned full series.
According to The Hollywood Reporter’s sources, that pilot was described as “not perfect” by those who saw it. There are also unverified suggestions that Zhao’s filmmaking style wasn’t “the perfect match” for a teen drama with fangs.
There was said to have been discussion over whether the pilot could be reworked, but Hulu opted to draw a line under the whole project instead.
The news came as Zhao’s latest film, the heartfelt period drama Hamnet, was nominated for eight Oscars (it won one – Best Actress for Jessie Buckley). Sarah Michelle Gellar was at the SXSW festival for the premiere of Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come when she heard about the Buffy announcement, which was said to have surprised her – only hours earlier, she was talking about Zhao’s “passion” for the reboot.
Taking to Instagram in the wake of the news, Gellar wrote, “If the apocalypse comes… you can still beep me.”
The reboot may be dead, at least in this incarnation, but we’d be fascinated to see that pilot. Maybe it’ll emerge online in the coming months.
Read more: Buffy The Vampire Slater | Does TV need a modern reboot?
