No More with Feeling. ‘Buffy’ revamp is DOA…

For the last year there’s been much excitement about the planned Buffy the Vampire Slayer revamp, but – sadly – it looks like the reboot has been booted with hulu deciding not to move forward with the concept, despite a pilot being filmed.

To be called Buffy: New Sunnydale, the pilot was directed by recent Oscar winner Chloé Zhao (Nomandland), from a script written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman.  Though Zhao is once again in sight of numerous awards for Hamnet, there had recently been some speculation that the pilot wasn’t quite what many people had expected in terms of sensibility and tone, though some reworking is often needed when a series is testing the waters ahead of broadcast.  The response to Zhao (a self-confessed fan of the original series) getting the directing role was mixed – with some citing the Oscar win as positive, but with some noting that Marvel‘s The Eternals had crashed and burned.

Had this version gone forward, Ryan Kiera Armstrong would have played a new Slayer, mentored by Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy, with a new supporting cast but a strong chance of familiar faces from the original making appearances. But it’s also true that though this incarnation is facing an apocalypse, interest remains strong in finding some way to revive the cult classic.

“I want to thank Chloé Zhao because I never thought I would find myself back in Buffy’s stylish yet affordable boots.,” said Gellar who delivered the bad news on social media. “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,” Gellar said in the video, which you can watch below. “This doesn’t change any of that, and I promise if the apocalypse actually comes… you can still beep me.”