Sarah Michelle Gellar gives much-needed update on Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival

Sarah Michelle Gellar has admitted that progress on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival is moving forward ‘faster than anticipated’.

The 47-year-old is set to reprise her role as Buffy Summers in the reboot, after years of insisting that she was against bringing the series back to screens.

Speaking with People, the Cruel Intensions star admitted that the show could make its way to production sooner rather than later.

‘We’ve set up our offices, which means things are progressing probably faster than I’d anticipated,’ she noted. ‘But it’s going to be a process, I think.’

The actress stressed that there was still a lot to get in place so that longtime fans would be happy with the project.

Gellar continued: ‘To do it the way it needs to be done, everyone has to be patient with all of us. This isn’t something that [will just happen].’

Sarah Michelle Gellar has admitted that progress on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival is moving forward ‘faster than I’d anticipated’

The 47-year-old is set to reprise her role as Buffy Summers in the reboot, after years of insisting that she was against bringing the series back to screens 

As news of the revival spread last month, the Emmy winner revealed that meeting with Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao made her open to the idea of reprising her role.  

‘So….. you might have heard some news this week, but I realize you haven’t heard from me,’ she wrote on Instagram.

Gellar continued: ‘Three years ago, I got a call from my dear friend and mentor, Gail Berman. She told me that she wanted me to sit down with Chloé Zhao to hear her take on a potential Buffy revival.’

Although she was feeling ‘blown away that Chloé even knew who’ she is, Sarah said she still was hesitant and ‘just didn’t see a way for the show to exist again.’

Ultimately, the actress said she agreed to meet with Zhao because she ‘heard something different’ in Berman’s voice.

‘I eventually agreed to go (mainly just to meet Chloé) and our twenty minute coffee quickly turned into a four hour adventure. We laughed, we cried, but mostly we both talked about how much this show means to us,’ she told her followers.

Gellar went on to note that she ‘didn’t agree to anything at that meeting’ but ‘did shock’ herself ‘by agreeing to continue the conversation.’ 

‘Eventually we added the incredible Nora and Lilla Zuckerman to our little tribe until ultimately, one day, we landed on an idea,’ she said. 

Gellar also warned: ‘To do it the way it needs to be done, everyone has to be patient with all of us. This isn’t something that [will just happen]’

The star, then, addressed her fans directly as she wrote: ‘I have always listened to the fans and heard your desire to revisit Buffy and her world, but it was not something I could do unless I was sure we would get it right.’ 

The Dexter: Original Sin star headed up the beloved supernatural drama, which aired for seven seasons spanning 1997-2003 on The WB/UPN and it spawned David Boreanaz’s spin-off Angel, which aired for five seasons spanning 1999-2004 on The WB.

But it all began with Joss Whedon, who created Buffy after penning the original 1992 film directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, which starred Kirsty Swanson as the slayer.

The disgraced 60-year-old’s career in show business ended in 2021 after mounting allegations of ‘cruel’ and ‘toxic’ behavior on set from actors Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, and Charisma Carpenter.

Last month, news broke that Hulu was close to finalizing a pilot order for a reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that the actress was in final negotiations to executive produce the show.