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Topics: News, US News, Film and TV, Celebrity
Gerrard Kaonga
Topics: News, US News, Film and TV, Celebrity
Sarah Michelle Gellar has opened up about filming the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, describing how the dialogue was flowing so well before the show was suddenly canceled.
Everything on TV seems to be getting the revival, reboot or reimagining treatment nowadays, and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot was one show that actually had some quite encouraging fanfair around it.
Unfortunately, ahead of any episodes even being released, the show has been canned and left many fans in the lurch.
The show’s star Sarah Michelle Gellar has spoken to PEOPLE about the reboot and what progress had been made since the original series came to a close way back in 2003, leaving fans calling for Gellar’s return as Buffy Summers.
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Many fans were ecstatic to hear that Gellar and director Chloé Zhao had actually been working with a revival with Hulu for years before it was canned.
Gellar explained: “I've been asked since the day I left to return to Sunnydale
“And it never occurred to me that it was something I was going to do. Then four years ago, Chloé, the witch that she is — and I say that as a good thing — comes into my life.
“In one meeting, she makes me say 'yes' to something I never saw on my radar. That was because of the deep love and commitment and passion she had for this character. It was like I was stepping back in time.”
Things were even further along than most fans thought as the pair were able to film a pilot episode for the series reboot. This would have brought back Gellar as well as introduced a new slayer in actor Ryan Kiera Armstrong.
Speaking about the creative process and progress they had made, Gellar added: “Chloé and I talked a lot.
“The dialogue flew off the tongue. When I was on set, it was craziness. It was like, ‘Oh, we're here. We're doing this.’ I loved the duality that we had this new, younger slayer who was where Buffy was when the show started, and then we would pick up with where Buffy was now.
“And I'd like to use this moment also to say that Ryan Kiera Armstrong is a superstar. I'm gutted that no one will see her as a slayer.”
On the cancelation, Gellar admitted to having some confusion over the news and remarked that she believes one individual is responsible for the killed project.
She explained: “We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn't for him.
“That's very hard when you're taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé. So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn't watch it.”