Sarah Michelle Gellar Opens Up About Major Factor Behind ‘Buffy’ Renewal Cancellation

Last year, something happy happened for fans of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ A renewal was announced for the beloved series, and on top of that, our very own Buffy, played by the iconic ‘Scooby Doo’ actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, would be returning.

The news generated a lot of buzz online, as fans happily anticipated the return of the drama. However, merely a year later, we’re learning that we might have gotten all excited for nothing.

Sarah Michelle Gellar On Her Dedication To Bringing ‘Buffy’ Back

As Sarah Michelle Gellar celebrated her return to the big screen in 20 years at the premiere of her new film, ‘Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,’ she received a shocking phone call. The news? Hulu has decided not to move on with the ‘Buffy’ reboot, after all.

“I was just about to take the stage in front of all the fans,” Gellar told PEOPLE via a phone call Sunday afternoon. “Hulu had decided not to move forward with the Buffy revival. Let me tell you, nobody saw this coming.”

The return of Buffy Summers has been a long-time wish of millennial fans of the show, and it’s a pity that they almost got it, only to lose it. For several years, Gellar and Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao diligently worked on the revival for Hulu and Searchlight Television.

“I’ve been asked since the day I left to return to Sunnydale,” Gellar, 48, said. “And it never occurred to me that it was something I was going to do. Then four years ago, Chloé, the witch that she is — and I say that as a good thing — comes into my life. In one meeting, she makes me say ‘yes’ to something I never saw on my radar. That was because of the deep love and commitment and passion she had for this character. It was like I was stepping back in time.”

A pilot showcasing the direction for the new series had already been developed. While Gellar returns as Buffy, Ryan Kiera Armstrong was cast as the new slayer.

“Chloé and I talked a lot,” says Gellar, who loved where the show was headed. “The dialogue flew off the tongue. When I was on set, it was craziness. It was like, ‘Oh, we’re here. We’re doing this.’ I loved the duality that we had this new, younger slayer who was where Buffy was when the show started, and then we would pick up with where Buffy was now.”

Sarah Michelle Gellar Calls Out An Executive For Spearheading the Cancellation of ‘Buffy’

As for the reason, the show faced an untimely death, Gellar credited a particular executive for the move.

She said: “We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him.”

“That’s very hard when you’re taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé. So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn’t watch it,” Gellar spilled.

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