Buffy Icon Sarah Michelle Gellar Applauds Director Chloé Zhao Joining the Revival
Forget the radical reboot—this revival comes from a diehard fan determined to take us back, not tear it down. Expect a homecoming, not a makeover.
Chloe Zhao is doing the Hollywood rollercoaster in real time: win an Oscar, get dinged for a Marvel swing, then go resurrect Buffy. And yes, Sarah Michelle Gellar is actually back.
How we got here
After her Oscar win, Zhao took a big swing with Marvel and delivered Eternals, which went down as the MCU's first widely panned entry. Any talk of sequels basically evaporated. So her next move? Head straight for Sunnydale and tackle a Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival. Bold choice. Honestly, kind of perfect.
The new show
Announced in February, the series brings Buffy back not as the lone chosen one, but as the mentor. She is training the next generation of Slayer, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong (you might know her from Star Wars: Skeleton Crew). That setup keeps the mythology intact while nudging the story forward, which feels like the right lane for this world.
How Zhao got Gellar to pick up the stake again
Gellar had been skeptical this could or should happen, but she told Vanity Fair that Zhao won her over. The shorthand: Zhao has an eye that looks beyond the usual TV box, and that scope is exactly what Gellar thinks this return needs. More importantly, Zhao is approaching this like a fan who wants to go back to the thing she loves, not bulldoze it and start over. Gellar was into that.
'No one knows Buffy better than Sarah Michelle Gellar... and that is why I could not do it unless she felt like we should. The way the fans commune around her, that is the energy we are trying to bring out onto a small screen again.'
That last part is the key. Zhao is not pretending she owns this. She knows Gellar is the axis the fandom spins around, and she is building the show to channel that energy rather than compete with it.
What we know so far
- Announced: February
- Premise: Buffy returns as mentor, training the next Slayer
- New Slayer: Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew)
- Tone/approach: Revisit the world, not reinvent it
- Why Gellar said yes: Zhao's broader vision and genuine affection for the original show
One more thing: if you want a refresher course before the revival hits, the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer is streaming on Hulu.