Sarah Michelle Gellar Speaks Out After Hulu Cancels ‘Buffy’ Revival
Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar says she was caught off guard by Hulu’s decision to cancel the planned reboot, describing both the timing and the outcome as unexpected.
Gellar said she learned the project would not move forward just before appearing at SXSW, where she was promoting her new film Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. The call came on a Friday, shortly before she was scheduled to go on stage in front of fans.
“I was just about to take the stage,” she said in an interview. “Hulu had decided not to move forward with the revival. Nobody saw this coming.”
The reboot, announced in early 2025, had attracted significant attention from the start. It was set to be directed by Chloé Zhao, who had already filmed a pilot episode. The project also involved writers Lilla and Nora Zuckerman and was positioned as a continuation rather than a full reset of the original series.
Gellar, who had long resisted returning to the role, said she changed her mind after meeting Zhao. According to her, Zhao’s approach to the material and her understanding of the character played a major role in that decision.
Gellar described the experience of filming the pilot as familiar, saying it felt like stepping back into the world of the original series. The new version was expected to introduce a younger slayer, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, alongside Gellar’s returning character.
The concept was structured to move between two timelines, revisiting Buffy at her current stage in life while also following a new slayer at the beginning of her story.
Beyond the cancellation itself, Gellar pointed to the timing of the decision as a source of frustration. She noted that the call came just before a major weekend for Zhao, whose film Hamnet was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Director.
“For them to call us on the Friday of what should have been Chloé’s victory lap,” Gellar said, “that says something.” She also referenced her own commitments, as the news came hours before her public appearance at SXSW, where she was presenting a project she had been promoting.
Gellar later confirmed the cancellation in a video posted to social media, choosing to speak directly to fans rather than letting the news circulate through reports alone. “I’m really sad to have to share this,” she said. “But I wanted you all to hear it from me.”
She ended the message with a reference to the original series: “If the apocalypse comes, you can still beep me.”
The reboot had been in development for years in different forms, with multiple creative approaches considered before Zhao’s version moved forward. The involvement of an Oscar-winning director and the return of Gellar had positioned it as one of the more closely watched revival projects tied to a legacy television property.
