'Buffy The Vampire Slayer': What Do Fans Want From The Possible Reboot?

After years of rumours and attempts that did not come to fruition, a revival of cult-classic series Buffy the Vampire Slayer could actually be on the way, with a new series directed by Chloe Zhao, and including original star Sarah Michelle Gellar, on the verge of receiving a pilot order at Hulu. The news has set tongues wagging among fans of the original show. While many are excited, they are also nervous. Historically, revivals of classic shows have been hit and miss.

Perusing the online comments, there seems to be a general consensus among fans for what the new Buffy the Vampire Slayer will need to find success. Here's some of the things fans most want from the possible reboot.

The Same Style of Dialogue and Puns

One of the things Buffy the Vampire Slayer was most known for during its original seven season run was it's dialogue, most notably, Buffy's pre or post-slay one-liners. In fact, the puns were such an important part of the character of Buffy Summers that when the Sccoby Gang tries to hide Buffy's death from the world by temporarily replacing her with the Buffybot at the beginning of season six, part of the ruse is Willow's effort to program the robot with new puns.

This doesn't go well, but resulted in a funny scene or two.

Original creator Joss Whedon isn't involved in the revival, and the new show's writing team does not currently appear to include anyone who worked on the original. Time will tell if they can capture the same feel.

Allow Buffy to still be Badass

Prior to the current revival talks, most of the attempts to bring back Buffy were either as a full on remake/reboot with a new younger actress as Buffy Summers, or a sequel that left Buffy herself on the sidelines, mentoring a new Slayer rather than being part of the action directly. The reason for this was largely an assumption among prospective new creators that the middle-aged Buffy would probably have wanted to retire, maybe start a family.

These ideas didn't work for a few reasons. Sarah Michelle Gellar was not on board for them, and fan feedback was not particularly receptive to the idea of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer without Buffy front and centre. Plus, the idea of Buffy having to retire because she had a family was somewhat outdated idea. There's no reason Buffy couldn't have a family, mentor the next generation of Slayers, and still get in on the Slaying action herself.

Thankfully, the sentiment behind slightly older women in action scenes is beginning to change. If Jennifer Garner can suit up as Elektra at age 52, Sarah Michelle Gellar can definitely pick up Buffy's stake at 47.. and this time around, it seems like she's actually happy to do so.

Let Willow find love.. and keep it

Beginning in season four of the original series, Willow Rosenberg's romantic connection with fellow witch Tara Maclay became one of the first long-running lesbian relationships in a major network TV series. The characters, and actresses Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson, remain icons of the gay community even today.

Unfortunately, Tara is killed off in the final few episodes of the show's sixth season. While the writers claimed Tara's death was a necessary step in Willow's story, facilitating her brief fall into darkness, many couldn't help but see it as just another example of the 'Bury Your Gays' trope. Willow's subsequent relationship with Potential Slayer Kennedy in the final season was unpopular, seen by some as having been shoe horned in to avoid accusations of discrimination if the gay character were to end the series single.

If Hannigan were to return as Willow in the revival, fans would be happy to see her find love, so long as it is well written and not tossed in as an afterthought.

Probably Less Xander

In the original run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander Harris, played by Nicholas Brendon, was seen by most fans as Buffy's goofy, mostly lovable best friend. However, more recent reviews have framed Xander and his behaviour in a much less favourable light. Xander initially reacts poorly to Buffy gently turning down his romantic advances in season one, only romantically pursues Willow (who he knew to have a long standing crush on him) once she is no longer available, and neglects to tell Buffy of the plan to re-ensoul Angel before she goes to fight his soulless counterpart, Angelus.

Later in the series, Xander is unfairly judgemental over Buffy's relationship with Spike. Worse, he is cruel towards Anya when she sleeps with Spike, making himself out to be the wronged party despite the fact that he left Anya at the altar a few episodes earlier.

For these reasons, some fans have claimed they would not be mad if Xander were absent from any revival plans. Given Nicholas Brendon's various legal and personal issues in recent years, this might not even be a choice.

Find a way to include Spike and or Angel

Over the course of the show's seven seasons, Buffy Summers has three major love interests. Angel, the Vampire cursed with a soul, the demon-fighting soldier Riley Finn, and finally, Spike, another vampire once known as William the Bloody. Of the three, only Angel and Spike are viewed as serious prospects among the fandom, with debate still raging over which is Buffy's true soulmate.

The matter of Buffy's love life is not resolved by the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or its spin off, Angel, so fans would love to see the matter revisited in a revival. The one thing that could complicate this is the fact that Buffyverse vampires are not supposed to age. While both still good looking men, James Marsters and David Boreanaz, who played Spike and Angel, have both aged in the decades since the show ended, and Marsters has often expressed relw56/uctance to return to the role, not wanting to ruin the illusion of an ageless Spike.

However, there is a potential way around this for at least one of the two vamps. Angel introduced the Shanshu Prophecy, which foretold of a vampire with a soul regaining his humanity. While most of the spin-off works on the assumption that Angel is the subject of the prophecy, by the final season of Buffy, Spike had also gained a soul, so when Spike becomes a series regular in Angel's final season, having survived his apparent death in the Buffy finale, Angel suddenly has to reckon with the possibility that the prophecy he has been working towards may not actually be about him.

While vampires don't age, humans definitely do. If the revival wanted to bring back either Spike or Angel without questions regarding their age, they would simply have to say they fulfilled the Shanshu prophecy. As for the non-Shanshued vamp, well.. CGI has come a long way.

Some Miraculous Resurrections

Both Buffyverse shows included a number of heartbreaking deaths during their run. Death was usually permanent in the Buffyverse, aside from one or two notable exceptions, but with talk of the reboot, fans are discussing the possibility of some characters being revived.

Introduced in season three of Buffy The Vampire Slayer before eventually being promoted to series regular in season five, Anya Jenkins became a fan favourite. Anya was killed off in the series finale due to actress Emma Caufield not wanting to return for any of the ultimately unrealised spin-offs in the works at the time. However, Caufield was one of the first Buffy cast members to comment on the revival news on social media, which fans took as a sign that she may be in talks to return.

Another dearly departed character many fans would like to see return is Cordelia Chase, played by Charisma Carpenter. After three seasons as a regular on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cordelia made the move to L.A, starring in Angel's first four seasons. At the end of season four, Cordy is left in a mystical coma, and after briefly returning to give Angel a confidence boost, dies offscreen halfway through the final season. Many fans believe that the character, and Charisma Carpenter, deserved better.

Despite having issues on set, mostly with creator Joss Whedon, Carpenter has continued to show love for her character, castmates, and the Buffyverse. In 2023, Carpenter reprised her role as Cordelia in Slayers: A Buffyverse story. Slayers, set in a divergent timeline, sees Cordelia called as a Slayer herself.

Both Cordelia and Anya died in slightly supernatural circumstances, so it would not be beyond the realm of possibility for the characters to be revived.

Some Resolution to the Cliffhanger Finale of 'Angel'

While Buffy the Vampire Slayer's ending leaves the door open for future stories, the series finale of Angel, which aired a year later, ended on a massive cliffhanger, with massive portal spilling all manner of demonic horrors into the city of Los Angeles, and Angel and his surviving friends about to engage in a do-or-die battle against said horrors. At the time, Joss Whedon claimed the ending symbolised the fact that the fight against evil never ends. In reality, the show was cancelled because Whedon got too pushy with the network about an early renewal.

While Angel's cliffhanger ending is resolved in the Angel: After the Fall comic series, a lot of fans missed out on these. With an unwritten rule in place that any new onscreen content overrides print media in terms of canon, the Buffy revival has a chance to provide resolution to Angel's cliffhanger. Some fans have even expressed a desire for the revival to bring together the surviving characters of both shows in a new story.

Fans have been waiting a long time for new Buffy. We can only hope that if the revival does happen, it meets expectations.