Sarah Michelle Gellar has pulled back the curtain on the abrupt Buffy reboot cancellation, just days after revealing the show has been axed.
Speaking to People, the US actress said the call came as she was preparing for a SXSW panel for her new film, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.
“I was just about to take the stage in front of all the fans: Hulu had decided not to move forward with the Buffy revival,” she said. “Let me tell you, nobody saw this coming.”
The revival, titled Buffy: New Sunnydale, was first announced in February 2025 with Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao attached to direct. Gellar, who had long been hesitant to return to the role that made her a household name, was won over by Zhao’s vision.
“In one meeting, she makes me say ‘yes’ to something I never saw on my radar,” Gellar explained. “That was because of the deep love and commitment and passion she had for this character.”
The project even filmed a pilot, which would have introduced a new slayer, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, fighting alongside a modern-day Buffy. But according to Gellar, the project was fighting an uphill battle from day one thanks to one particular executive.
“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,” Gellar revealed.
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“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.”
To add insult to injury, the call came on the Friday before the Oscars, where Zhao’s film Hamnet was up for numerous awards. “For them to call us on the Friday of what should have been Chloé’s victory lap for an incredible film… that says something,” Gellar noted.
On Saturday, Gellar took to Instagram to break the news to fans directly. “So I am really sad to have to share this, but I wanted you all to hear it from me,” she said in a video. “Unfortunately, Hulu has decided not to move forward with Buffy: New Sunnydale.”
She signed off with a classic nod to the show’s roots: “If the apocalypse comes, you can still beep me.”
This isn’t the first time Hulu has driven a stake through the heart of a promising reboot, having previously cancelled the excellent High Fidelity series after just one season.
