Hulu Not Moving Forward With “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale” Revival

Earlier this year, 20th Television and Searchlight Television have been at work on a pilot for a revival of the popular series, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” for Hulu and Disney+ called “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale”. However, it has been revealed on social media by Sarah Michelle Gellar, who was going to return in the title role, that Hulu is no longer moving forward on the reboot.

The original show follows the adventures of Buffy Summers, a teenage girl who is gifted with the strength and skill to hunt vampires and the new series was going to continue the story, with Sarah Michelle Gellar returning as the Vampire hunter, along with a brand new vampire slayer, an introverted high-school student named Nova who was going to be played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who recently starred in the Disney+ Original series, “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew”. 

Also starring in the pilot were Faly Rakotohavana, Ava Jean, Sarah Bock, Daniel Di Tomasso and Jack Cutmore-Scott.

The revival/reboot was being spearheaded by Oscar-winning Chloé Zhao, who directed the pilot and was written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman.

Hulu decided not to move forward on the project as it was “not perfect”. While Chloé has had lots of success with films like “Hamnet”, “Nomadland” and Marvel’s “Eternals”, it was noted that Zhao’s sensibility may not have been the perfect match for the reboot. Sarah Michelle Gellar was informed of the decision on Friday, who was at the SXSW event to promote “Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come”, where she explained on social media details of the cancelled pilot:

“I want to thank Chloé Zhao because I never thought I would find myself back in Buffy’s stylish yet affordable boots. And thanks to Chloé, I was reminded how much I love her and how much she means, not only to me, but to all of you. This doesn’t change any of that, and I promise if the apocalypse actually comes… you can still beep me.”

Apparently, there was talk of reworking the pilot, but it was decided not to continue, though it’s possible another revamp of the franchise could still happen in the future.

The original series is available to stream on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+ in the United States and on Disney+ internationally, along with the original film.

Roger’s Take:  Unfortunately, this is one of the problems with pilots.  They aren’t always projects that go into actual development, and no doubt, many fans of the original show are going to be disappointed in the news that the revival/reboot isn’t going to happen.  However, it’s better that Hulu decided not to move forward on a project that wasn’t working than waste more time and money investing in something that would likely have failed.  Moving forward, maybe in a few years’ time, someone else can pick up the mantle and move the franchise in a new direction. 

Ultimately, a pilot is a test episode, and the process means that pilots don’t always get picked up for a full season.  Though maybe it would have been better to have tried to keep this project quieter, without getting fans excited about the return of the iconic show.

What do you think of the “Buffy” reboot being cancelled? Let me know on social media!