Joss Whedon is reviving the property that made him (and a few other folks) famous, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ Whedon gathered the producers of the original series last fall and began discussions with Fox 21 TV Studios, the cable/streaming division of 20th Century Fox about reviving the franchise for a new generation. The new take will be shopped around to cable and streaming services this summer. ‘Buffy’ is one of the most beloved genre programs of all times and considered a feminist icon.
The producers stated, “Like our world, it will be richly diverse, and like the original, some aspects of the series could be seen as metaphors for issues facing us all today.”
Monica Owusu-Breen co-executive produced ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, which Whedon co-created, executive produced and occasionally directed. Owusu-Breen will write, executive produce and act as showrunner of the new ‘Buffy’. Whedon and Owusu-Breen are working together on the script for the pilot episode. Owusu-Breen recently co-created ‘Midnight, Texas’ and before that served as a producer (including co-, supervising and executive) on ‘Revolution’, ‘Fringe’, ‘Brothers & Sisters’, ‘Lost’, ‘Alias’ and ‘Charmed’. Pretty sweet pedigree to tackle a new spin on ‘Buffy’!
Like the reboot of ‘Charmed’, which cast three Latina women in the lead, the new ‘Buffy’ will feature an African American in the lead. There was a black slayer in the original show, Kendra who was from Jamaica, portrayed by Bianca Lawson.
Just last year, when asked about reviving ‘Buffy’ on its twentieth anniversary (!), Whedon seemed cautious:
“I see a little bit of what I call monkey’s paw in these reboots. You bring something back, and even if it’s exactly as good as it was, the experience can’t be. You’ve already experienced it, and part of what was great was going through it for the first time. You have to meet expectations and adjust it for the climate, which is not easily… I’m more worried about me being creaky as a storyteller. You don’t want that feeling that you should have left before the encore.”
The original series starred– and in many cases, launched the careers of– Sarah Michelle Geller, David Boreanaz, Nicholas Brendon, Charisma Carpenter, Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Head, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield Ford, Michelle Trachtenberg plus Seth Green, Marc Blucas, Eliza Dushku and Felicia Day among others.
What do you think of a new ‘Buffy’? Are you excited or outraged?
Sources: Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter