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Culture > Entertainment

Grab Your Stakes: A ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Reboot With A Black Slayer Is In The Works

Allison Crist

More than 20 years after the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered, it appears that a new iteration of the show is about to do the same. Joss Whedon, the creator of the wildly popular series, is set to executive produce a reboot — this time with a black actress in the lead role of Buffy Summers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Fox is developing the modern vampire drama. Monica Owusu-Breen, who worked with Whedon on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., is expected to run and write the show. 

The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer concluded back in 2003 after seven seasons, but its cult status has kept it timeless. The show is often lauded as one of the best of all time, and Buffy’s character, made famous by Sarah Michelle Gellar, continues to be dubbed a feminist icon. 

The show followed Buffy as she navigated the perils of high school (and eventually college and the workforce), dating, and friendship — but mostly, her continued battle against evil forces like vampires and demons. 

THR reported that Fox began discussing a reboot last fall, but it wasn’t until Breen was chosen to serve as showrunner that the idea moved forward. Gail Berman, Joe Earley, Fran Kazui, and Kaz Kazui are also on board as executive producers. A network is not yet attached, and a script, director and casting are also undetermined at the time. What is known, according to sources who spoke to THR, is that the reboot will be “contemporary” and “build on the mythology of the original.” 

Just last year, Whedon had expressed apprehension about bringing Buffy back. “I see a little bit of what I call monkey’s paw in these reboots. You bring something back, and even if it’s exactly as good as it was, the experience can’t be,” Whedon told THR in March 2017. “You’ve already experienced it, and part of what was great was going through it for the first time. You have to meet expectations and adjust it for the climate, which is not easily. Luckily most of my actors still look wonderful, but I’m not worried about them being creaky. I’m more worried about me being creaky as a storyteller. You don’t want that feeling that you should have left before the encore.”

Though some are certainly excited about the possibility of a new Buffy, the reactions on Twitter seemed to resonate with Whedon’s initial apprehension.

TBH, Gellar as Buffy is going to be hard to beat — but I, for one, will definitely be watching anything related to the original series.

Follow Allison on Twitter @AllisonMCrist.