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Movies & TV

21st Jul 2018

Joss Whedon is rebooting Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but Sarah Michelle Gellar won’t be back in the role

Rory Cashin

It has been 15 years since the show ended.

Running from 1997 to 2003, Buffy The Vampire Slayer was the kind of show that was somehow both a cult favourite and a huge commercial success, with Sarah Michelle Gellar slaying vampires (as well as dozens of other kinds of monstrosities) before calling it a day.

The show’s creator Joss Whedon went on to write and direct the first two Avengers movies, as well as taking over directorial duties on Justice League when original director Zack Snyder was unable to finish the project.

He had then been lined up the writer and direct the standalone Batgirl movie, but has since stepped away from that, and in the last few days he has instead announced that he will be returning to the world of TV with not one but two new projects.

First things first, he has told The Hollywood Reporter that he will be executive producing a reboot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, with the lead character set to be played by a black actress.

The new show is set to “build on the mythology of the original. Like today’s world, the new Buffy will be richly diverse, with some aspects of the series, like the flagship, seen as metaphors for issues facing society today”, but Whedon will apparently not be involved in the writing or directing process, because…

His second project is a brand new property, titled The Nevers, which is set to air on HBO, which is described as “as an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies and a mission that might change the world.”

Whedon himself is VERY excited about getting to work as writer and director for the new show:

“I honestly couldn’t be more excited. The Nevers is maybe the most ambitious narrative I’ve created, and I can’t imagine a better home for it than HBO. Not only are they the masters of cinematic longform, but their instant understanding of my odd, intimate epic was as emotional as it was incisive.

“It’s been too long since I created an entirely new fictional world, and the HBO team offer not just scope and experience, not just ‘prestige,’ but a passionate collaboration. I could go on, but — I’m impatiently grateful to say — I have work to do.”

Both shows are expected to air in Late 2019.