I really didn’t expect good news this week, since the past few days/lifetime have been A Bit Unusual where world news is concerned – and, like everyone else, my resolve to be aware of/not obsessed by the news is pretty rusty. I need discipline. 

 

Which has come from the most unlikely source. BUFFY IS BEING REBOOTED! Not any old reboot, either, but from an all-star team – sisters Nora and Lilla Zuckerman are going to showrun it! You love all kinds of things they’ve made, but maybe none as much, recently, as Poker Face. The all star team continues as Chloé Zhao will direct – like, Oscar winner Chloé Zhao – which tells me she must have a personal attachment to the show. Which makes sense, she’s the right age for it. 

 

But most gratifyingly? Yes, Buffy Summers herself will reappear! Sarah Michelle Gellar is in talks to return (although I’m willing to bet this story wouldn’t have leaked if those talks weren’t going really quite well), but she’ll be a recurring character, and a new, as-yet-unnamed Slayer will be on full-time duty. 

Buffy is so beloved by so many of us of A Certain Age. It’s hardly notable these days but before Buffy, it was almost impossible to find a drama that had humour, a genre show that acknowledged the existence of different types of girls and women (and men, for that matter), or an epic mythology that took itself very seriously, and also not that seriously – all of which was due to Buffy herself. The girl, the legend. The Slayer. A character who refused to bend to what she was ‘supposed’ to be like, and who knew that a responsibility to the world’s population didn’t mean you had to sacrifice catchy one-liners, and who, once she accepted herself for who she was, taught a lot of us to do the same. 

 

But the literal decades since the show went off the air did what decades are gonna do, and revealed unpleasant, unsurprising truths about Joss Whedon and other men involved with the show. I think it says a lot that Sarah Michelle Gellar, who sidestepped discussing the show, the character, or the by-all-accounts difficult set, for years has signed on again, knowing there’s likely to be a different tone. In fact – all of the producers listed to return (Gail Berman, Fran Kuzui, and Dolly Parton, yes, that Dolly Parton) – are women who were producers on the original series. With Chloé Zhao and Nora & Lilla Zuckerman carrying the stories forward for new generations, I’m excited to watch this team of women create stories where another young woman expands her definition of all the things she can be, and remind all the rest of us in the process. 

 

However, I do think we need to make a pact. Repeat after me:

I, a BtVS fan, will appreciate the new Buffy series for what it is and not whine about the lack of Willow or Cordelia or whoever. Likewise, I will refrain from comparing the new cast to any character or archetype I think they’re not emulating the way I want them to. I acknowledge that things have to be different over time, and that there’s probably a Buffy quote for exactly this scenario. 

 

I get it. I know this show was more maligned and less celebrated than the shows that came after, whether for you that’s Angel or Firefly or spiritual descendants like Veronica Mars or Once Upon A Time. But we’re not going to spend our time talking about how it used to be great when we were young, right? At the same time, this is being made for the fans – so I’m looking very much forward to quips and relatable demons and the hilarity of watching Buffy be the one thing she thought she’d never live to be: grown up. 

As for the new Slayer (or Slayers?), as a general rule I’m not into stage parents of any kind – but I am amused at the idea of young actresses getting an audition for this show, and telling their Xennial parents who are, even as we speak, trying to procure DVD players for their box sets and quoting lines from the musical episode. If that’s you, I salute your parenting.