By Jennifer Asencio
| Printed
The Hulu reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, directed by Chloe Zhao, has been cancelled. The announcement was made on March 14, 2026, by a submit from star Sarah Michelle Gellar on Instagram.
A Failure To Launch
There have been blended hopes for the brand new collection, which was introduced final 12 months as a pilot was developed. Zhao has gained an Oscar already for Nomadland and was up for a number of this season for Hamnet (she didn’t win, however Jessie Buckley did win Greatest Actress for the film), however she additionally directed the Marvel flop Eternals. Though she proclaims herself to be a life-long fan of the unique collection, there have been lots of much less well-known followers who had been skeptical she may fill the footwear of present creator Joss Whedon.
Whedon initially created the character for a 1992 film of the identical title starring Kristy Swansonhowever reinvented her for the present that dominated younger grownup tv, which began in 1997. He was not included among the many creatives engaged on the reboot, which opted as an alternative for an all-female improvement crew. Whedon’s different best-known tv property, Fireflyintroduced the identical weekend that it was additionally being rebooted as an animated collection. Equally, Whedon is not going to concerned within the animated collection.
There’s Nonetheless Hope
Gellar was to be among the many solid of the reboot, with Buffy serving in a mentor function for a brand new character and a brand new assist solid. This might have put Buffy within the function of Giles for the brand new slayer, and there have been quite a few rumors that different earlier solid members could be coming dwelling to Sunnyvale to offer their very own help.
Disney and Hulu are usually not performed with concepts for the Buffy franchise. There have been new concepts in improvement since 2018, and the concept of a brand new Buffy present remains to be interesting to the Home of Mouse, however the pilot for this one apparently didn’t coincide with their imaginative and prescient. They turned it down on Friday the 13thwhich Buffy may admire, proper after Gellar praised the reboot on the SXSW movie competition, the place she was selling her new film, Prepared or Not 2.
Followers are disillusioned that the collection has been cancelled, and so is Sarah Michelle Gellar. Nevertheless, reboots and spin-off reveals have been inconsistent: whereas the resurgence of Scrubs has been loved by many, Starfleet Academy has didn’t curiosity lots of Star Trek followers, and Paramount’s infinite parade of rebooted reveals like Matlock, Hawaii 5-Oand The Equalizer are merely filler, relying on the nostalgia bait. We’ll by no means know which class the brand new Buffy present would have fallen into, however hopefully one thing higher is coming from the Buffyverse quickly.