Sarah Michelle Gellar is clearing the air about the upcoming continuation series of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" that she's collaborating on with Chloé Zhao. Hulu has ordered a pilot for the series, which Gellar starred in for seven seasons. In a recent interview, she revealed that the title of the new show is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale."
"It's not a sequel, it's not a reboot—it's a continuation," Gellar said on the "Shut Up, Evan" podcast. She explained that the series will address where Buffy is now in this world and what this world looks like with or without her. "So it's not a reboot, it's not picking up with all of the same characters right away. It's not like a sequel... That's why the name was even important to me—Buffy: New Sunnydale. It's Buffy, but it's also something else."
Despite not revealing any new details, Gellar did share that she "learned a hard lesson in life" about the saying "never say never," as she was initially opposed to revisiting the character.
"I will eat my words, and I'm OK with that—I learned my lesson," she said. "I never saw how and why it could be as good [as the original series]. I'm not trying to be better. I just want to hold and honor the memory and what we created. I know sometimes that memory is conflicted for people about how they're supposed to feel about it, but a lot of people put their blood, sweat, and tears into making what I think is an incredibly great show, and I'm incredibly proud of it."
Gellar praised Zhao's passion for the project, which ultimately convinced her to revisit Sunnydale.
"Chloé Zhao came to me with not just her passion, because I've seen people with passion before, but she knew how to go into the world. She knew what the world was, and she knew the way," Gellar said. "And that was the first time I said, 'Maybe, could I possibly do this?'" This process has been ongoing for three years now, with Gellar and Zhao going back and forth, debating whether they could or couldn't do it. They've spent a lot of time developing the series and figuring out why and how it should be done.
Gellar emphasized that they are still in the development stage and "still working on that, why and how." She added, "I know this seems like it's taking a long time, and it is because unless we are sure that it is exactly what we set out to do and that it makes sense to do it, we don't want to sell you the legacy by not doing it right. When I know it's perfect, then it will be out there, but I won't do it unless I know it can be that."
