https://deadline.com/2026/03/buffy-inside-story-reboot-killed-why-sarah-michelle-gellar-1236757372/
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. There were issues — as Deadline reported on Saturday, the original pilot was “not perfect”; some called it “not great.” Yet, after a well-received rewrite with a lot more Buffy Summers in it, no one expected the pass.
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Virtually every day last week, I hear the two studios on the Buffy reboot, 20th Television and Searchlight Television, touched base with the project’s producers and creative team, indicating that a pickup for the pilot starring Gellar and Ryan Kiera Armstrong seemed imminent after its writers, Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, had done a rewrite.
-according to multiple sources, Hulu’s main note was that it played too young, with some indicating that the streamer also felt the show was too “small.”
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According to sources, the rewrite was well received at both studios, 20th TV and Searchlight TV, triggering the internal talk of a pending pickup, with at least one executive in charge “putting everything on the line” for it, as one person put it.
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Some say Hulu suggested that the rewritten version of the project was too expensive to shoot. Others indicate that it still fell short of the high bar set by the original series.
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One source close to the project compared the situation to completing a $3M renovation only to find out that the house has foundation issues.
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“Instead of fixing the foundation, you just walk away,” the person said about Hulu’s decision to not proceed with the reboot.
by RedditFan3510
10 Comments
not sure why this has become such a controversy. It sounds like it just wasn’t that good a pilot. Think Sarah just got her feelings hurt they didn’t like her idea
>according to multiple sources, Hulu’s main note was that it played too young, with some indicating that the streamer also felt the show was too “small.”
What does this even mean?
“Not perfect” and “not great” seems to be putting politely, that pilot had to have been ass ass for the whole project to bomb.
Yeah, I assume Disney/Hulu pretty careful when it comes to revive/reboot their IP, maybe they want something closer to Scrubs revival.
So… They made the show for teens using a monster of the week formula and the network rejected it. aka what the show was before.
The one thing I’ll say is that FX/Hulu has a really good track record for quality
Crazy that all the comments saying it probably was bad are getting downvoted. I’m a diehard day one fan and was cautiously excited for this. However, if multiple sources are saying it wasn’t great, it was bad, etc (and the leaked script isn’t doing it any favours) then I’m glad it got axed.
Do we really want a flawed reboot tainting the legacy of the show?
There are a lot of other shows that struggle at the beginning but they weren’t cancelled. The original pilot for GOT has never been aired because HBO executives weren’t happy with it. They did rewrites and reshoots. The Ido had so many problems that the producers decided to change the entire show half way through filming and start over again. There have even been shows where they realize some of the cast don’t have chemistry and they’re replaced. Lisa Kudrow was replaced on Frasier. Elaine didn’t exist when they were planning the first episode of Seinfeld.
There are two issues that I can think of that would be serious enough that they might decide it’s better to cut their losses now. Either the acting or writing. If the lead actress wasn’t connecting with people who saw the pilot they might decide that creating an entire season and then announcing they’re replacing her would be a problem. But they could have replaced her after the pilot. It does sound like they might have needed an older actress. The other problem would be the writing. If they thought that the writing wouldn’t get better they might have decided not to spend more money on an entire season. But writers can be replaced. There are a lot of excellent writers looking for work.
man, it really sucks that teen tv has been so decimated. rip wb tv, the cw, mtv tv, abc family/freeform, nick at nite, etc.
I don’t even know if this makes sense but as someone that grew up with shows on The WB and got used to my teen actors being played by 20 somethings, once I saw the characters they cast for the new teen crew…they look like babies in comparison. Just how much violence, drama, relationship stuff would we even get in the show with characters that look like they still need their parent’s permission for a sleepover and are too young to get their driver’s licenses?
I’ve heard more about this show in the last 24 hours than I did the last 6 months, and I follow SMG on Instagram! Given that the original script supposedly only had Buffy in it very briefly at the end, I can see why Disney/Hulu was disappointed. Unlike a lot of fans, I’m fine with this. Buffy was very much a show of its time, and I’m not sure how they could pull off anything similar today.