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Sarah Michelle Gellar blames a Hulu executive for killing her “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” reboot series.
“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,” the actress told People in an interview published Monday.
She continued, “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 [Zhao].”
“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,” she added.
Page Six has reached out to Hulu for comment.
Gellar, 48, was set to executive produce and star in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale,” with Zhao directing and “Poker Face” writers Nora and Lilla Zuckerman penning the script.
But just as Gellar was set to take the stage at the SXSW Film & TV Festival premiere of her new movie “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” on Friday, she learned that the project was not moving forward.
“No one saw this coming,” she told People, noting that the timing of the news was especially harsh since it happened the same weekend that Zhao’s movie “Hamnet” was up for multiple awards at the Oscars 2026.
“For them to call us on the Friday of what should have been Chloé’s victory lap for an incredible film, and my world premiere of something that I worked very hard for is… that says something,” Gellar said.
Zhao, according to Gellar, is just as disappointed over the cancellation.
“We don’t want to let the fans down. That hurts,” Gellar shared. “Saddened at how it was handled and when it was handled.”
Gellar also described what it was like on set when they filmed the pilot episode starring Ryan Kiera Armstrong as a new slayer before Hulu scrapped the reboot.
“It was craziness. It was like, ‘Oh, we’re here. We’re doing this,'” she recalled. “I loved the duality that we had this new, younger slayer who was where Buffy was when the show started, and then we would pick up with where Buffy was now.”
Gellar added, “And I’d like to use this moment also to say that Ryan Kiera Armstrong is a superstar. I’m gutted that no one will see her as a slayer.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Gellar said that her “Buffy” co-stars have reached out about the news.
“Every single one of them. No one more so than David Boreanaz,” she said. “I spoke to him last night. It just shows the lasting relationship that we have.”
Gellar starred in “Buffy” alongside Boreanaz, Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Stewart Head, Charisma Carpenter, Seth Green and James Marsters.
The series aired for seven seasons from 1997 to 2003.
English (US)