Sarah Michelle Gellar said she was having a great time working on the planned reboot and claimed the lines were coming naturally, only for the series to be scrapped before audiences could see it.
Revivals and reboots have become a staple of modern TV, and a new take on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the projects that seemed to be gathering genuine momentum with viewers.
But despite the early buzz, the reboot was shelved before any episodes were released, leaving fans disappointed.
Gellar has since spoken to PEOPLE about how far the production got and what she and the team had already put in place.
After the original series ended in 2003, calls for Gellar to reprise Buffy Summers never really faded.
Those hopes spiked again when it emerged that Gellar and director Chloé Zhao had been developing a Hulu revival for years—work that ultimately didn’t make it to the finish line.
Gellar explained: “I’ve been asked since the day I left to return to Sunnydale
“And it never occurred to me that it was something I was going to do. Then four years ago, Chloé, the witch that she is — and I say that as a good thing — comes into my life.
“In one meeting, she makes me say ‘yes’ to something I never saw on my radar. That was because of the deep love and commitment and passion she had for this character. It was like I was stepping back in time.”
According to Gellar, the revival had progressed beyond the early development stage. A pilot episode was even filmed, with plans to have her return while also introducing a new slayer, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong.
Reflecting on how the collaboration unfolded and how the material felt in practice, Gellar added: “Chloé and I talked a lot.
“The dialogue flew off the tongue. When I was on set, it was craziness. It was like, ‘Oh, we’re here. We’re doing this.’ 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.
“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.”
When discussing why the reboot was ultimately halted, Gellar said the decision was baffling to her and suggested a key figure contributed significantly to the project’s demise.
She explained: “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.
“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.”