One of the most influential series ever to air on television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has its fingerprints on so many shows, from Supernatural to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. And Sarah Michelle Gellar as the Slayer influenced a generation of young women. Case in point, actress Kathryn Newton, who is starring alongside SMG herself in the upcoming horror sequel, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. Now, we’ve learned that one outfit that Newton wears in the film is a direct tribute to Buffy, Sunnydale’s resident Chosen One.
SMG told Entertainment Weekly via Deadline that Newton wore a blue button-down shirt over a white tank top as a Buffy homage. And Newton, playing Samara Weaving’s sister, also wore her hair in an updo, with bangs, just like Buffy did. Buffy fans might remember this as one of her looks from the series premiere, “Welcome to the Hellmouth.” That episode aired in March 1997, essentially launching the WB Network as home for teen-centric series. Here’s what Sarah Michelle Gellar said about what Newton told her:
What’s really funny is, I didn’t know any of this. So, Kathryn brought in a picture of Buffy in this outfit. She had sort of had this idea of what it was. And then I’m in the first scene with her, and I was like, ‘You know, your outfit reminds me of something.’ And she was like, ‘Does it?’ And so, I have a great side-by-side. Yeah, the hairdo is exactly the same.
It would have been funnier if Newton had worn this outfit in the vampire movie Abigail. Maybe she would have stood a better chance against the vamps had she been channeling Buffy. But then, wearing a Buffy-inspired look next to Buffy herself is maybe cooler. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come hits theaters on March 20. And SMG returns as Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale, launching on Hulu sometime next year.