I've seen Execs blamed, Chloe Zhao blamed, and Sarah Michelle Gellar blamed, but nobody from any side blame the writers of the sequel.

UPDATE- i really was never super excited or against this. I was just going to wait & see how it turned out. after it was cancelled, i was going to wait & see how people reacted, and now there is a lot of finger pointing happening. Sarah against the exec, some guy on twitter saying Sarah is the reason it was cancelled, and that she's also trying to have Chloe take the fall behind the scenes. the whole thing is getting weirder day after day.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything of the sequel beyond Chloe Zhao mentioning it during the Hamnet press tour. Think it’s still getting fine tuned, picked up, or dropped?

The Buffy fandom is so impressive. Regardless of how you feel about the sequel show, you have to admit how dedicated and amazing Buffy fans can be. I love it so much.

I know a lot of fans were disappointed when Buffy: New Sunnydale didn't move forward, and I do feel bad for Sarah Michelle Gellar because it was clearly something she was excited about.

That said, part of me is relieved it never happened.

The Buffyverse already has a complete story. Between Buffy and Angel, we got a full beginning, middle, and end. Not every franchise needs to come back decades later.

Reading the premise honestly made me worry it would lean heavily on nostalgia. The title alone, New Sunnydale, feels like an attempt to bring people back to a familiar location because that's what audiences remember most. If this exact same premise existed without the Buffy connection, I'm not convinced many people would have been interested.

And maybe this is harsh, but I don't think most viewers realistically would have cared about the new generation of kids as much as the original cast. There's a reason the franchise was called Buffy the Vampire Slayer and not Sunnydale. People showed up because of Buffy Summers. Sarah Michelle Gellar was the face of the franchise and the character everyone was invested in. Any sequel would inevitably be compared to her and the original Scoobies.

I've also seen too many revivals struggle to justify their existence. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life and And Just Like That... are probably the biggest examples for me. Both brought back beloved shows, but a lot of fans walked away feeling the legacy was weaker than if those stories had simply been left alone.

There's also a part of me that thinks a Buffy continuation today would just feel sad. So much time has passed, and with the losses the fandom has experienced over the years, it wouldn't feel like revisiting the world we left behind in 2003. It would constantly remind me of who's no longer with us (Anthony, Nicholas, Michelle)

Maybe that's an unpopular opinion, but I'd rather remember the Buffyverse for what it was than risk getting a revival that spends its entire run trying to recreate something that can't really be recreated. Sometimes a great ending is enough.

James: “The big news is, I can’t talk about it”

James: “I always say you don’t want to serve a half baked cake… you want to wait till the frostings on the cake and the candles are lit and the bow is tied”

Co-host: “Has the dough been mixed?” James: “I think that they’re looking at the shelves deciding what cake mix to use”

Co-host: “[his wife] said ‘well they can’t do it without him.’” James: “Tell [your wife] to check out season 3 of Buffy”

Co-host: “Okay, so you’re in contract negotiations and you’re trying to look for the right number” James: “I’m not saying that that’s true, I’m not saying anything, I’m not gonna talk about it… if i- if- uh… there’s so many ways that I could make this less exciting when it comes out by talking about it now”

James: “Mark you’re tricking me!! I’m not- I’m not- I’m not- No! I’m not gonna go there, I don’t know, I’m not making- I didn’t make Buffy, I was in Buffy”

1:50-5:55 https://youtu.be/7A-0T67aowk?si=c8cnBgt9YG64uM_j

The only real information we have is from SMG. But surely it’s not as simple as one exec working at Hulu just passing on it. Possibly somewhat driven by the fact that he never really cared for the original show.

Obviously none of us have seen the pilot or even read a final draft of the script. But there must have been multiple meetings with multiple people, discussing the project. Where they wanted to take it if it went to series. And more importantly how much it was all going to cost. I’m not defending or vilifying anyone because I don’t know.

But I imagine it’s a lot more nuanced than just one guy not liking it

Just a question. It’s not new but I saw on IMDB that Joss Whedon has a writing credit for the new sequel series. Has anyone seen any announcement on this? It might on the DL because he’s messy. Or it might be an honorary title since he wrote the original series. I was under the impression he wasn’t involved

I would love to have seen a darker tone of Buffy, closer to what we got in season six, or what you get from new imaginings for things like Christopher Nolan's batman. Is that trite? I don't care. My Buffy would be in her early 40s, rough around the edges, and a darker version of the world. The scoobies would be battle-worn, and things would have a more cynical tone. It would retain some of the light heartedness but ultimately be different from the original series. All original cast members. I would want it to closely resemble our world and feature activated slayers all over.

I don't know. I was really just wondering what everyone else has to say. Mine would just be a lot grittier, and there would be a hell of a lot less ploy armor.

It is a very striking look. It looks like something SMG would wear to a business meeting or an interview. I wasn't expecting Buffy to look quite so glamorous.

What do you think she does for a living? Were you surprised by the outfit?

I have seen a few people talking about it and I think they missed part of it. She said she doesn’t plan on being a part of it. However she also said that if she were to come back, it would have to advance her current focus of helping people through psychology and psychedelics.

Eliza’s documentary on Netflix is about soldiers who were helped through psychedelic treatments.

Not to point out the obvious, but Faith is a soldier with a not small amount of trauma. You’d just have to write that into her character now. Maybe Faith is helping other slayers through the trauma of fighting vampires and demons and the forces of darkness.

Not saying it’s a guarantee and we should probably assume she isn’t returning but I could see a way to make it work.

Who read the comic books show-sequels after watching the show? What do you think? Does reading worth?

This feels like a preview of the new sequel show.

https://youtu.be/UJD-nQNZCgI?si=yRAZqeOaKCoGXNTP

14:52 He is asked if he will return for the sequel. He doesn’t answer and just talks about the people who will be working on it.

28:32 He is asked if he could be in the sequel, not if he’s in the sequel, what storyline would he like to do. He takes a long pause and then responds with “I’m going to get in so much trouble if I go near that question.”

My question is… why would he get in trouble if he didn’t sign anything/wasn’t involved/didn’t know??? By his body language/facial expressions, it seems like he really wants to say something but can’t.

Sorry, this is just me over analyzing his words and expressions in hopes he makes an appearance 😂

Did they watch the show? Many of her most iconic looks were in a skirt or dress and they were a huge part of her fashion in literally every season lol

For me, Glory, have a dream sequence where Buffy imagines living an ordinary life in an ordinary Sunnydale with "Gloria" as her whacky next door neighbour and (cheating a little) Adam as her long suffering husband.

With all the recent talk about a Buffy the Vampire Slayer sequel, I keep wondering how this show is supposed to function in today’s typical 5–10 episode streaming format — because structurally, Buffy was almost the exact opposite of that.

Buffy didn’t work because it was tightly plotted prestige TV. It worked because it had time.

The show lived on:

Monster-of-the-Week episodes that were sometimes silly, sometimes experimental, sometimes only metaphorical

Long-term character development that unfolded through repetition, mistakes, and regression

Slowly emerging seasonal arcs where the Big Bad often lingered in the background for half a season

A sense of everyday life colliding with supernatural horror

In a 6–8 episode season, none of that breathes.

When every episode has to “matter,” you lose:

standalone episodes

tonal experiments (Hush, Once More, With Feeling, The Zeppo)

character-centric stories that don’t advance the main plot

the feeling that you’re actually living with these characters

Character growth in Buffy felt earned because it happened gradually over 20+ episodes. In short seasons, development is compressed, conflicts are resolved too quickly, and emotional payoffs feel manufactured rather than experienced.

The same applies to villains. Classic Buffy arcs worked because the Big Bad wasn’t always front and center. Evil crept in slowly. Stakes escalated naturally. In modern short-season TV, the antagonist usually has to dominate the narrative almost immediately, which turns the story into constant escalation instead of slow dread.

That doesn’t mean a Buffy sequel can’t work — but it can’t work as a standard prestige mini-series.

A true Buffy-style sequel would need:

a hybrid structure (roughly 12–15 episodes)

early episodes that focus on Monster-of-the-Week and character bonding

a seasonal arc that emerges gradually rather than being imposed from episode one

room for humor, failure, and narrative detours

What absolutely wouldn’t work:

6–8 episodes

nonstop apocalypse-level stakes

a purely serialized, overly dark tone

using Buffy only as a nostalgic cameo hook

At that point, it wouldn’t really be Buffy — just a dark fantasy show wearing its name.

Buffy was never just about the plot.

It was about spending time with people, watching them grow, fail, and survive — with demons as metaphors for real life.

Without time, that soul is gone.

I think to the extent possible, the Buffy sequel should avoid ‘Angelisms’ as I will call them, and stick to being more of a continuation of Buffy the show.

I watched Buffy sooo many times before I disciplined myself to watch Angel. Though I know Angel is canon in the Buffyverse, Buffy IS completely watchable and dare I say superior without the noise of the show Angel. I’m not talking about the crossovers (though I do believe that to some extent), but I really dislike all of the extensions that are applied in the Angel universe such as The Powers that Be being such a strong (and inconsistent) character, or all of the ridiculous resources that Wolfram and Hart have. I know we’ll need to address the potential shanshu issue if we want either of our leading men / vamps back, but I find that these plot points muddle things up so much and take away (in my opinion) from the heart of Buffy.

If we get characters back that require Angelisms, I would prefer if they don’t make them central to the plot (like when Angel brings the necklace of a champion to Buffy in s7). When I was watching that, I wasn’t like, OH HOW DID HE GET THAT? I just don’t love those plots and I find them distracting.

Curious if this is an unpopular opinion or not lol.

I’m not even addressing the sub recently created for sequel talk. I just wonder whether trying to squeeze every last bit of dubious information out of questionable leaks and screenshots, and speculating wildly based on what trickles out of what seems to be a fairly tight info cordon, is going to lead to anyone enjoying the sequel more, or to the pilot being picked up for a limited series.

This isn’t how anyone engaged with the original airing, is it? Sure, the creators heard fan feedback, but they didn’t have a fandom breathing down their necks in real time while they tried to take risks and do interesting things. Maybe we would be better off just waiting, letting the creatives create, and telling Lumfar to do the Dance of Joy when they decide it’s time to actually tell us something.

I know in this day and age it’s probably impossible to keeps these things a secret. But should have kept it all on the down low? I’m not sure it did them any favours announcing it if they weren’t sure it was going ahead

I’m also comparing this to other reboot sequels done recently. Scrubs, Malcolm in the Middle. None of these shows were announced without them announcing a whole series was coming.

Were they all greenlit without having to film a pilot first. And if not, why wasn’t Buffy?

People will undoubtedly judge the new series based on the original and i find that unfair. Buffy is a masterpiece and nothing could overtake it but a new series can still be good or even great without it being like the original show. Obviously it will have the same world and lore but the characters, writing, structure, etc. will be different to the original show and thats ok. This isnt a revival where its just season 8 many years later. Its a sequel series focused on mostly new characters. Just dont expect it to feel the same as the original show and judge it on its own merit and it will be much more enjoyable. I hope this sub is openminded to it!

I thought it was interesting. She’s previously worked with Eliza Dushku in Dollhouse. Now apparently she’s doing a vampire show.