VOD News | On 17, May 2025

Ryan Kiera Armstrong will officially step into the Slayer’s shoes for Hulu’s new reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Originally created by Joss Whedon, the now-iconic horror series followed Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) as she attempts to live a normal teenage life at Sunnydale High School. Guided by her Watcher, Giles (Anthony Head) and helped by friends Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon), she embraced her responsibilities and destiny as a hunter of vampires and demons – making her the Slayer.

First airing in 1997, Buffy went on to run for seven seasons, before spawning a spin-off series – Angel – which ran for five seasons from 1999 to 2021. Now, Hulu is bringing it back, with Chloé Zhao set to direct the pilot from a script by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman. Whedon is not involved in any way.

Details about the reboot are being kept under wraps, but is described as the next chapter in the Buffyverse, with Armstrong set to play this generation’s Slayer.

Armstrong, who has starred in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and Firestarter, will play the lead role, but Sarah Michelle Gellar will also return to reprise her role as the original Buffy Summers.

“From the moment I saw Ryan’s audition, I knew there was only one girl that I wanted by my side,” she said. “To have that kind of emotional intelligence, and talent, at such a young age is truly a gift. The bonus is that her smile lights up even the darkest room,” Gellar said in an announcement on Instagram.

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot in the works at Hulu

4th February 2025

A reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is in the works at Hulu – but not in the way that you might expect.

Created by Joss Whedon, the now-iconic horror series follows Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) as she attempts to live a normal teenage life at Sunnydale High School. Guided by her Watcher, Giles (Anthony Head) and helped by friends Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon), she embraces her responsibilities and destiny as a hunter of vampires and demons – making her The Slayer.

First airing in 1997, Buffy went on to run for seven seasons, before spawning a spin-off series – Angel – which ran for five seasons from 1999 to 2021.

Now, the franchise looks set to have a third entry, as Hulu is in the process of ordering a pilot for a new series. Unsurprisingly, the new show will not involve Joss Whedon in any way, after several misconduct allegations against him in 2021.

Surprisingly, however, one person will be returning to the franchise: none other than Sarah Michelle Gellar, who would reprise her titular role as Buffy.

Chloé Zhao, who is reportedly a lifelong Buffy fan, is set to direct the pilot, with a script penned by Poker Face writers Nora and Lilla Zuckerman. Zhao is under a first-look deal with Searchlight TV, which, of course, is now part of Disney and therefore related to 20th Television.

The project is reportedly described as the next chapter in the Buffyverse, continuing on the tale of Buffy. Gellar, who has previously said no to talk of returning to the franchise, commented last year in an interview about Dexter: Original Sin that she had been thinking about the idea, after seeing Sex and the City and Dexter demonstrate how a legacy sequel can work for an older, beloved TV show. Negotiations with Gellar are thought to have started soon after, with Gellar set to exec-produce, alongside Zhao’s Book of Shadows, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, plus the original series’ exec-producers Gail Berman of the Jackal Group and Suite B’s Fran Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui. Also on board as an exec-produce is Dolly Parton, whose company Sandollar produced the original series.

Berman is also working on another revival for Disney+ and 20th Television of Malcolm in the Middle. Deadline claims that a writers room for the Buffy series is beginning to be assembled, which suggests confidence that not only will the pilot go ahead, but that it could get a series order.

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