Sarah Michelle Gellar debunks "fake" leaks about her Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot and praises Eternals director Chloé Zhao's "passion" for the project

Sarah Michelle Gellar has debunked a recent report about the upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, while also praising the "passion" of Chloé Zhao. The director of Marvel's Eternals and the Oscar-winning Nomadland is helming the revival's pilot, while Poker Face's Nora and Lilla Zuckerman are on board as screenwriters.

"Every pitch I heard was just like, 'Let’s just do Buffy again.' Why?" Gellar said in a new interview with Elite Daily. "But the passion that [Zhao] came to me with, what she wanted to do with the show and the character, and why Buffy is needed now – it was the first time where I thought, 'OK, there’s a reason.'"

The reboot was officially announced back in February 2025, but it's been in the works for much longer than two months. "We’ve been at this for three-and-a-half, maybe four years now," Gellar continued. "We won’t do it unless it’s 100% right and there’s 100% a reason."

In March, a report said that the show's protagonist would be "more Willow than Buffy" and outlined what we could expect from the central trio, known as the Scoobies in the original series. However, Gellar quickly debunked those rumors. "Those are all fake characters," she confirmed. "That thing that got released is all fake."

The new pilot is in the works at Hulu, but nothing much else is known about it just yet. The streamer reportedly has "high expectations for the project going to series," but a full season hasn't been ordered just yet.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot doesn't currently have a release date. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best new TV shows on the way in 2025.