This past weekend’s shock news about the death of Buffy: New Sunnydale felt like it came out of nowhere for fans hopeful for a return of the Slayer. That shock similarly applies to returning star Sarah Michelle Gellar and director Chloé Zhao, who have spent the past days since reflecting on the show’s sudden staking. But while Zhao has erred on the side of mystery about what went on with the show, Gellar herself has been much more open—putting the show’s axing in the hands of a single man.
In a new interview with People, Gellar reflected on the way the news rolled out—suddenly over a weekend, with the actress herself breaking the news to the public on Instagram this past Saturday. She especially questioned the timing of that news, with Gellar claiming that the call to confirm the series wouldn’t be moving forward at Hulu came as she was attending the SXSW premiere of her return to horror cinema in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come for Searchlight, one of the studios involved in making New Sunnydale for Hulu, and while Zhao was preparing to attend events tied to Sunday’s Academy Awards, where she was nominated for Best Director for Hamnet.
“And I got the call as we were stepping onto stage for the premiere of [Searchlight’s own] movie. And it’s also the weekend of Chloé going to the Oscars as a best director nominee for Hamnet,” Gellar said. “For them to call us on the Friday of what should have been Chloé’s victory lap for an incredible film, and my world premiere of something that I worked very hard for is… that says something.”
“Chloé and I are feeling the same things. Disappointment. We don’t want to let the fans down. That hurts. Saddened at how it was handled and when it was handled,” Gellar continued. “But I just said to Chloé, and I was very specific, I said, ‘Sunday night, you put that crown on and you walk that red carpet and you take in all that love for what you worked for and forget the other stuff.’ It’s important to me that this doesn’t take away from what we achieved and what she’s achieved. And there’s always so more to do.”
But while Zhao took to the Oscars red carpet and described the cancellation as unsurprising, saying that she would “welcome the mystery” of whatever came next, Gellar wasn’t willing to be so vague.
“We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him,” Gellar told People. “That’s very hard when you’re taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé. So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn’t watch it.”
While Gellar did not go as far as to name the executive she believes is responsible for delivering the killing blow to New Sunnydale, a new report from Deadline alleges that Gellar was talking about Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich. According to the trade, New Sunnydale‘s pilot, written by Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, had already undergone a significant round of changes after an initial version was described as playing to too young an audience and aiming its scope too small, putting more focus on the new Slayer, played by Star Wars: Skeleton Crew‘s Ryan Kiera Armstrong. A rework of the pilot’s script to make the tone more adult, and to incorporate more of Gellar as Buffy Summers, was much more strongly received, sparking talks that a pickup for new Sunnydale would be imminent.
Instead, Erwich purportedly made the call himself late Friday afternoon to confirm the show was dead. Although no specific reason has been given, Deadline cited sources claiming that the reworked pilot would now be too expensive—after Hulu reportedly gave the note that the original script was aiming for a network budget scale—and that New Sunnydale wasn’t hitting the lofty expectations of a revival as long in the making as Buffy‘s should.
The future of Buffy remains unclear after New Sunnydale‘s disintegration. While both People and Deadline cite sources claiming that the franchise is held in high esteem at Hulu and that there is hope for more Buffy to come in the next few years, after the way Gellar herself feels she’s been treated by this situation, it’s going to take a lot of convincing to get some new version of the show that has either her involvement or blessing.
“But the fans, they were the only reason we were doing this show in the first place,” Gellar said to People. “We were doing it because everybody loves it. So how do you do a show that’s beloved with someone that doesn’t love it?”
“…Buffy is timeless,” Gellar concluded. “And the one thing I do want all these fans to know is that legacy is still there and this doesn’t diminish it. It doesn’t change it. That legacy is still there—for them.”
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