- Sarah Michelle Gellar could return as a mentor, allowing room for a new lead character in the Buffy reboot.
- The reboot could explore the origins of Slayers and the moral complexity of their battle with vampires.
- The show could focus on vampires as main characters instead of another generation of Slayers.
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s upcoming reboot might sound like a bad idea, there are a lot of approaches that could allow the series to succeed. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a pop culture phenomenon when the show originally aired in the late ‘90s. A blend of teen drama, supernatural horror, and fantasy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer told the tale of the titular heroine and the mismatched group of friends who helped her hunt down paranormal threats in the small town of Sunnydale. Although Buffy The Vampire Slayer inspired later hits like Charmed, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Supernatural, the show’s legacy is mixed.
Like anything created by Joss Whedon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been subjected to increased scrutiny in recent years. When the show originally aired Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s LGBTQ+ representation was considered groundbreaking, but the show’s reliance on hackneyed tropes has hurt this reputation since then. Similarly, Buffy herself was viewed as a feminist action heroine when the show was on the air, but whether the character was objectified throughout the series has been raised since stories of Whedon’s mistreating female cast members were unearthed. Luckily, many pitches for Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s upcoming reboot would help the show’s legacy.
Sarah Michelle Gellar Could Be A New Slayer’s Mentor
Buffy the Vampire Slayer's reboot shouldn't happen without her, but it would be tough to recapture the show’s teen drama appeal if its heroine was now well into adulthood.
Sarah Michelle Gellar’s return is the biggest selling point that any Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot could hope for since Gellar was the soul of the original series. Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s reboot shouldn’t happen without her, but it would be tough to recapture the show’s teen drama appeal if its heroine was now well into adulthood. Fortunately, a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series could get around this if Gellar played the heroine’s mentor. This way, the star could return to her most iconic role while still making room for a new lead character.
Buffy’s Reboot Could Explore The Origins of Slayers
While Buffy the Vampire Slayer hinted at a long history of Slayers and vampires that the show’s spinoff comics expanded on, the show itself never delved into the fantasy lore of the franchise’s universe. This means that a spinoff could still focus on explaining where Slayers came from and how their long battle with vampires began. One of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s best villains, Faith, proved that not every Slayer was better than a vampire, and this moral complexity could be fleshed out in a new reboot.
A Buffy Reboot Could Focus On The Vampires, Not The Slayer
Speaking of vampires, these creatures made up a surprisingly small portion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s main cast. Most of the show’s recurring vampire characters, such as Angel and Spike, were among the most loved figures among the fan base. However, these characters were few and far between and the majority of vampires seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer were one-off villains. As such, a reboot could potentially humanize the show’s vampires by making them the main characters of the series instead of focusing on another generation of Slayers.
Buffy's Slayer School Idea Could Still Work
Part of what made Buffy the Vampire Slayer a perfect cozy fall TV show was its college subplots and the show’s small-town setting. Thus, the franchise’s proposed Slayer School spinoff could still potentially work. The unmade Slayer School was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff that would have focused on newly activated Slayers as they started to learn how to control their powers and the responsibilities that come with them. This great premise could still be explored in a new reboot.
The Buffy Reboot's Main Cast Could Be Previous Slayers
The most obvious approach for a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot is to focus on the next generation of characters, but working backward might prove equally fruitful. To this end, a reboot could focus on earlier Slayers from before the original series took place. The most obvious character for a show like this to center would be Nikki Woods, the tough New Yorker who balanced motherhood with being a Slayer until she was killed by Spike in the original series.
Buffy’s Reboot Must Revive Tara
Bringing back Nikki Woods could inject more diversity into the reboot’s cast, but there is another original series character that the show needs must revive even sooner. Buffy the Vampire Slayer's best LGBTQ+ character Tara was killed off for no good reason in a twist that fans and critics have called the show’s low point. Thus, the reboot could retcon this by making Tara and Willow the new Slayer’s mothers. This is the least that the show owes its former heroine.
Faith’s Pre-Buffy Story Still Needs Telling
Speaking of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters who never got the stories they deserved, the series didn’t explain Faith’s pre-series life in enough depth the first time around. A Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot could ameliorate this by focusing on a young Faith and telling her life story up until the original show began. Since the character was never killed off, Eliza Dushku could still play her older self in flash-forwards.
Spike’s Past Is Perfect Reboot Material
While Faith’s life before the series has a lot of potential, there is another antihero whose backstory Buffy the Vampire Slayer viewers never got to know. Spike’s time as a young poet in 1800s London could offer a totally unexpected new setting for the series, uprooting the show from its original California setting and turning the robot into a period piece. This would make the new show feel much less like the original series, discourage negative comparisons as a result, and breathe new life into the franchise.
Buffy’s Reboot Can Borrow Giles’ Unmade Ripper Story
The canceled Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff Ripper, a proposed Giles-centric extension of the show's universe, would have seen the character encountering traditional dark ghost stories in his lonely Britain home each week. The new reboot could keep this premise, turning the series into more of an anthology show than a serial. Giles’s role could even potentially be replaced by Buffy herself, with Gellar’s returning character narrating each spooky outing.
Buffy’s Reboot Could Center Upon This Underused Villain
Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s season 7 villain The First Evil had a fascinating backstory, but the show didn’t do much with the intriguing villain. The First Evil was around eons before Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s story began, so a spinoff could focus on the many humans, Slayers, and other beings that tried to defeat this villain over the centuries. While Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s reboot is unlikely to center on an antagonist from the original show, the fact that the First Evil could change its appearance and had almost limitless abilities could make this an interesting series.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a supernatural comedy-drama series released in 1992. The show follows the exploits of Buffy, a woman born into a line of "Slayers" destined to do battle with vampires, demons, and monsters. Aided by her close group of friends and a Watcher who helps her hone her craft, the crew solves mysterious and battles the forces of evil to protect their town - and the world.
Release Date 1997-03-10
Genres Supernatural, Drama, Comedy, Action, Horror
Seasons 7
Story By joss whedon
Network The WB
