What Would a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Revival Look Like? - A MLC Retrospective

[DeloresMLC]

In the past few years, our beloved shows had reboots and revivals that were either failures or succeeded for more than two seasons. I've had many thoughts since first completing BTVS/Angel last year about what a Buffy revival would look like.

For starters, we need to look at the state of Disney/20th Television's handling of reboots/revivals. Prior to them completing the purchase to obtain the intellectual property assets of 21st Century Fox (which also included 20th Century Fox-related assets) a few years ago, The X-Files had a 2-season revival from 2016-2018 on Fox before being shelved. Around 2018, there were plans for a "Buffy" reboot before that was canceled in 2022. When the transaction to purchase 21st Century Fox was completed in 2019, all of Fox's assets including "BTVS" and "Angel" were both added to The Walt Disney Company's intellectual property catalog.

Then the next year after that, we had the long-running COVID-19 pandemic that put everything on hold including productions of numerous motion picture films and shows while at the same time, it was revealed that Joss Whedon mistreated numerous actors and actresses during his time working on BTVS/Angel, Justice League, etc. Interestingly enough, the first time I heard of Joss Whedon was nearly two years ago when I was working on a fan-edit film that mashed together "Star Trek: First Contact", "Serenity", "The Tomorrow War" into a new story but didn't really think of him it too much until months later in June 2022, when Comet TV announced that they were adding "BTVS" to their lineup.

This was a great opportunity at that time, as I don't have cable nowadays and was watching television through an antenna. Thankfully, after watching the first two seasons, I was able to get a copy of all seven seasons of BTVS shortly after and finished watching both Buffy and Angel. A thought occurred to me when watching the final episodes of BTVS' seventh and last season was "What would have happened if the show had a revival 30 years later without Joss?"

With that being said, in my own point of view, I think if a BTVS revival were to occur in the present day it would probably be much different than the original.

I could go for the franchise departing away from the comedy-drama genre into something more serious like a dystopian science-fiction/action-adventure series in the style of "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica", but still keep several elements from the original that made BTVS what it is today. In addition, I would like to see a group of new writers and a showrunner who are enthusiastic about BTVS and can oversee the revival by writing ground-breaking episodes, adding continuity from previous seasons, and providing Buffy and the Scoobies their final chapter on-screen similar to Picard's third & final season.

It's an interesting question to think about what a Buffy revival would look like without Joss Whedon, especially in light of the recent allegations against him. On the one hand, it's hard to imagine Buffy without Whedon, who was so integral to the show's success. On the other hand, it's also an opportunity to reimagine the show and take it in new directions.

I think a BTVS revival could still be successful without Whedon, but as previously stated it would need to be very different from the original. The show would need to be more serious and mature, and it would need to deal with some of the darker themes that were only hinted at in the original series. For example, the show could explore the trauma of being a Slayer, or the psychological effects of fighting demons for years on end.

Finally, as also mentioned, the revival would need to be made by people who are passionate about the show and who understand what makes it special. The original BTVS was made by people who loved the characters and the stories, and that passion showed in the final product. A revival would need to recapture that same magic.

 

[Bop]

I don't want it to ever happen but their best shot imo would be to set the show in the same universe, it should have some connection to the original characters, but it should be disconnected as much as possible from the original show.
Doing a remake would probably be a death sentence.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

It might go like NCIS that started in DC, spread to Los Angeles then New Orleans then Hawaii then Sydney. The end of the original BTVS created new slayers and they could be connected via oversight from Buffy or the mothership in Scotland as per the comics. You could have Vampire Slayer Cleveland then a number of other cities. This all hinges on whether the revival was good enough to attract sponsors.

 

[Tome]

It will inevitably happen one day. The question is if it's going to be done with love or not. Imo, that will depend on who is helming the project and who they surround themselves with. I firmly believe that it all runs on that.

The choice of actors for the new roles and the possible return of some of the original cast members will not matter nearly as much as the writing and directing. They will have to recapture the magic of the Buffyverse, and that most likely without Joss. Hard task, but not completely impossible.

Time will tell.

 

[TheXandyman]

As long as it wasn't tainted by the super-political wokery that you see in the likes of Doctor Who.

For example, there is a big difference between choosing a talented black actress because she aced it in the audition, and hiring some crappy pantomime performer for the sake of diversity.

The Buffy/Angel team managed to make Willow gay without it being all about her sexuality, and they made Gunn awesome without any storylines revolving around his skin tone.

Its ok to be inclusive but what has been done with the likes of Doctor Who and our once-decent British soaps has gone beyond ridiculous.

Sadly if there was to be a Buffy reboot it would probably fall victim to woke culture.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

As long as it wasn't tainted by the super-political wokery that you see in the likes of Doctor Who.

For example, there is a big difference between choosing a talented black actress because she aced it in the audition, and hiring some crappy pantomime performer for the sake of diversity.

The Buffy/Angel team managed to make Willow gay without it being all about her sexuality, and they made Gunn awesome without any storylines revolving around his skin tone.

Its ok to be inclusive but what has been done with the likes of Doctor Who and our once-decent British soaps has gone beyond ridiculous.

Sadly if there was to be a Buffy reboot it would probably fall victim to woke culture.

I can only hope by then the message from the marketplace that says: "Go woke, go broke" finally gets noticed. There are worthy people of all races and ethnicities and in the dance group that gets together, I have never seen or experienced anyone reject a dance due to race, and our group is largely older people with some young ones. It just doesn't seem to be a problem in real life. University arts departments that originated woke culture are going through a depopulation, if not an outright collapse, and we should see this pressure disappear gradually.

 

[thrasherpix]

I'd personally like an American Horror Story like version, but I'm not sure it's marketable (and many current fans wouldn't be if it were that way from the start). I suppose they could do as the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina which kept the shipping in...but I think it could only be good for a couple of seasons at best. (I can't help but think it would be some twisted cross between what I call the Harry Potter-Riverdale formula.)

If they do it, I hope they make original stories with original characters (though Sunnydale could be legend as well as a heavy source of disinformation, I'm amused by the thought of future people trying to figure out what happened there when we in the fandom still argue about it ourselves).

I doubt I'll watch it if it's put out by Disney. If I did, it would have to be through someone else who already had access to it.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I'd personally like an American Horror Story like version

Do you mean like an anthology story?

 

[thrasherpix]

Do you mean like an anthology story?

I mean cruel and dark rather than campy and fun...though the fun version we got works for me until it takes itself too seriously in later seasons.

Example: the Three in season 1 don't give up and go home when Buffy is home, they throw a molotov cocktail through. And once it's known who she is the reason for secrecy becomes apparent as her house burns, mom killed/turned, anything to hinder or get rid of the Slayer. The vampires need secrecy as well, but not as much, and this is a special case with the Slayer along with the Three supposedly being so hardcore rather than ordinary vampires being pompous (though that idea is funny to me, just how did they fool the Master?).

But because people would be dropping Game of Thrones style, I suppose it would have to be something of an anthology. And I'd be fine with that.

I do want to care about the characters, but having a short life expectancy doesn't necessarily hinder it (anymore than a long lifespan makes me like them more automatically), at least if we get to see more of them (and the impact of their death) than we did of Jesse. (Also, I don't care how actors get recycled so much in AHS, though Buffy and Angel did that to a small extent).