Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reboot Cancelled

Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s reboot has officially been cancelled, with is, to us at least, bittersweet news. Why, you ask? Because we were actually looking forward to watching this Buffy reboot. And I know that many of you will scoff at that, but I genuinely felt that they could have done something interesting with a reboot. However, during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top 5 Podcast, executive producer Gail Berman revealed that the upcoming reboot is now “on pause”.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer really was one of the most essential TV series made in the past 30 years. Debuting in 1997 the series gave birth to the Buffy Summers, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, a 16-year-old Vampire Slayer. In the 7 ground-breaking seasons that followed, we saw a wonderful complex female lead character who broke boundaries in her portrayal and development.

The series influences television even now, along with its support for same-sex relationships, some scenes of which were a first in network broadcast history. It was always going to be a considerable task to live up to, but ever since it ended in 2003 rumours of spin-offs, reboots or remakes have been around.

A Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot has been talked about since 2018

Credit: 20th Century Fox Television

Most recently from 2018 onwards that 20th Century Fox Television was looking to reboot the series entirely with original creator Joss Whedon on board as an executive producer. However, on the latest edition of the Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top 5 podcast, Lesley Goldberg confirmed to listeners that for now, the reboot has gone on ‘pause’. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:

That it is quote, ‘on pause’ – which is industry speak for purgatory. So make of that what you will.

It seems, for now, any chance of a reboot is pretty much dead. Whilst the show has undoubtedly gone through quite a bit of controversy over the past few years for the behaviour of some people on and off set (namely, creator Joss Whedon). Allegations of toxic behaviour came to light from Charisma Carpenter around Joss Whedon which some other cast members and crew spoke out about, and Whedon is also accused of abusive set behaviour from Justice League star Ray Fisher.

Did we ever need a Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot?

Credit: 20th Century Fox Television

These may have been other reasons to pause this Buffy reboot, but I also think that having Joss Whedon on board as a producer might have been one of the main reasons they opted to cancel the project. Then, there’s also the question of whether we really need a Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot. How would it differ from the original series? And how would it do it justice? Finally, how would it really stand out against a bunch of similar products inspired by the original series that have been released over the past two decades?

Would you still like to see a Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot? Or should the series be left alone? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear from you.

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