Buffy’s Latest Villain Is a Hollywood Executive Who Didn’t Watch the Original Series
Sarah Michelle Gellar let us know that the Buffy reboot is dead at Hulu. And, the person responsible was one of the series’ producers. So many people were excited to revisit Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the series Hulu announced a while ago. Now, those hopes are dashed.
Gellar told People Magazine that one executive in particular wasn’t feeling their approach to the story. Also, to add insult to injury it seems like the man in question wasn’t a fan of the original series either. Once this news hit social media, multiple Buffy fans expressed profound disappointment that they would never see whatever Chloé Zhao and Sarah Michelle Gellar were attempting in this new show.
Gellar told People, “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,” she added. “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.”
Who made the decision to cancel Buffy?
After a ton of chatter on social media, Deadline reported that they figured out the executive who made the call to pull the plug. Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich is the man in question. He oversees Hulu originals, and called to inform Zhao and the rest of the team that the new Buffy would not be moving forward. Interestingly enough, this reportedly shocked people over at Searchlight Television. Gellar says that she was literally on her way to the stage for the premiere of Ready or Not 2. With so much fan chatter about the new series already populating the Internet,, this decision was going to have ramifications across the board.
Now, fans are lamenting the idea that someone who was not even a fan of the original series made the call not to move forward. Worse yet some fans have allegedly obtained copies of the pilot script. And, their first impressions were confusion, because they liked the take on a new slayer. The deadline piece also includes information about possible rewrites. Apparently, there was the feeling there wasn’t enough of Geller’s Buffy Summers in the new treatment. Ryan Kiera Armstrong was a new Slayer that came under some sort of tutelage from the older woman. Still, after another draft, they decided to let Buffy go.
Buffy’s reboot and what it says about modern TV
In this climate, where so many studios and companies are risk averse. They have pivoted to a strategy dependent on existing IP and memorable franchises from the past. You don’t get many bigger communities than the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom, OK? So, if this can happen to a series with this much fan hype around it, it can happen to anything. And that feels distressing for a fan looking in from the outside. But, we’ve also seen studios retrace their steps and put things back the way they used to be in the case of enough noise around a project. Personally, I’m a proponent of let things lay where they lie.
However, there are already Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans agitating for a reversal of this decision on social media. There’s no way to know if they’re going to be successful or not. If that’s what they want, who am I to say no to that. What I do agree with, is that one executive’s whims probably shouldn’t do a promising show because they are not familiar with the source material. Chloe Zhao has had a banger of a year. And with 90s nostalgia firmly entrenched in our society, Gellar should get another chance to present a heroine for a new generation. To say nothing of Armstrong’s involvement and how wild this must have been in that corner of it. Now, the question is: what happens next?
(featured image: 20th Television)
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