Television

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Reboot Showrunner Clarifies What ‘Reboot’ Means Here

by Donna Dickens
Jul 26 2018 • 12:30 PM
Last week it was reported that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is being rebooted for a new generation. Given the Joss Whedon stamp of approval, showrunner Monica Owusu-Breen will be responsible for updating the iconic show. No small task, that, and one which has already been met with a mixed reception. Owusu-Breen’s previous credits include being the showrunner for the first season of NBC’s supernatural drama Midnight, Texas as well as an impressive litany of writing and producer credits on shows from Fringe and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Lost and the original Charmed. As Whedon is busy in pre-production of his new series The Nevers for HBO, it appears his name is attached only in an executive producer capacity. Still, Whedonverse fans were nervous at the wording in the original press release. A reboot of Buffy? Does the world really need that?

In an attempt to allay fan fear, Owusu-Breen took to Twitter with a vague but promising statement:

“For some genre writers it’s Star Wars. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my Star Wars. Before I became a writer, I was a fan. For seven seasons, I watched Buffy Summers grow up, find love, kill that love. I watched her fights, and struggle, and slay. There is only one Buffy. One Xander, one Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Oz, Tara, Kendra, Faith, Spike, Angel…They can’t be replaced. Joss Whedon’s brilliant and beautiful series can’t be replicated. I wouldn’t try.

But here we are, twenty years later…and the world seems a lot scarier. So maybe, it could be time to meet a new Slayer….And that’s all I can say.”

This statement jives with the lore of the Buffyverse. After all, the entire premise is that unto each generation, a slayer is born. The last season of the original Buffy dealt heavily with this mythos, empowering dozens of potential slayers to unlock their power. Buffy Summers was a sixteen-year-old sophomore in high school when the series premiered in 1997. Now that she’s 37, it’s possible she is also, in film quote parlance, “getting too old for this shit.” It stands to reason that Buffy, having already broken so many antiquated rules of what it means to be a slayer, wouldn’t bother to wait until her death to pass on the mantle.

Only time will tell. Are you guys excited about the new Buffy series? Let us know in the comments.

Image: The CW