Disney Exec Reportedly Made Decision to Scrap Sarah Michelle Gellar's 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Reboot
New details are emerging about why the planned Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot starring Sarah Michelle Gellar is not moving ahead at Hulu.
According a new report, the decision to scrap the pilot ultimately came from Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich, who oversees Hulu Originals.
Keep reading to find out more…
The project, tentatively called Buffy: New Sunnydale, had been in development for years, and a pilot was filmed with Ryan Kiera Armstrong as the new slayer alongside Sarah returning as Buffy Summers, with Chloé Zhao set to direct and co-executive produce.
Sources tell Deadline that 20th Television and Searchlight Television believed the show was close to getting a series pickup after writers Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman completed a major script rewrite.
“The new script was 90 minutes. It was more adult, featuring a lot more of Gellar’s Buffy, and was described as a more of a streaming than a network show,” the outlet reported.
However, on Friday evening (March 13), Erwich reportedly informed the team that Hulu would not move forward with the series.
It came as a surprise to many involved as, according to the report, conversations in the days prior suggested the pilot was on track to receive a green light after the script revisions.
Sarah then gave a very candid interview explaining more about what happened.
“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,” Sarah said to People.
“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. 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.”
While she didn’t name the exec, Deadline reports that she was referring to Erwich.
Despite the setback, sources say the Buffy franchise could still return in the future.
“The hope is to get another take on the Buffy IP up and running within the next couple of years,” the outlet reported.
Find out what else Sarah said about why the reboot got killed.