Posted in: CW, streaming, TV | Tagged: btvs, buffy, buffy the vampire slayer, Dolly Parton, sarah michelle gellar

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Revamp Still Being Worked On: Dolly Parton

Series co-producer Dolly Parton offered some hope about the future of a revamp of Sarah Michelle Gellar-starring Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Back in 2018, 20th Century Fox Television announced that it was developing a reboot of the Sarah Michelle Gellar-starring Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Monica Owusu-Breen (Midnight, Texas; Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) serving as showrunner and Joss Whedon co-writing & executive producing. Six years later, the project apparently remains "on pause," an update that was offered by executive producer Gail Berman to The Hollywood Reporter's Katie Kilkenny back in August 2022. The reason? Whedon would find his alleged past on-the-set conduct being called out in public.

Buffy & Angel star Charisma Carpenter went public with accusations against Whedon that involved years of unprofessional and abusive behavior, prompting many others connected to both shows to voice both their support as well as their own accusations. Whedon's efforts to address those matters and others in "The Undoing of Joss Whedon" by Lila Shapiro for New York Magazine appeared to only worsen matters, with many seeing Whedon as attempting to "play the victim" instead of addressing the accusations leveled against him in a reasoned, honest manner. And that brings us to 2024, where we've seen "Buffy" continuing its adventures in comics, novels, and a recent "Buffyverse" audio drama from Audible. But what about an actual sequel series on the small screen, building off of the finale of the beloved original series? According to music legend & pop culture icon Dolly Parton, that might just be back in play…

For those of you who don't know, Parton and her former manager, Sandy Gallin, founded Sandollar Productions – and it was the production company's television division (Sandollar Television) that co-produced all seven seasons of "Buffy" as well as the David Boreanaz-starring spinoff series Angel. Co-producing the original film with Kuzui Enterprises, the two production companies would join Whedon's Mutant Enemy Productions and 20th Century Fox Television (now 20th Television) to develop the television series. "They're still working on that," Parton shared with Business Insider. "They're thinking about bringing it back and revamping it," Parton added – but no additional details were shared.

During a visit to NBC's The Tonight Show back in February 2023, Gellar discusses Parton being a "silent" producer on the series, how crucial Parton was in getting the series off of the ground, how she reacted after Parton praised the series, the moment when she realized that Parton knew who she was.

In Evan Ross Katz's Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts, the author had a chance to speak with Gellar about the idea of rebooting the series. In the following excerpt, Gellar shares her idea on the best way to approach a return to the "Buffy" universe, as well as who she believes would be the best Slayer for this generation (clue: fans of Euphoria and Spider-Man: No Way Home will be very, very happy). "I think they've left the door open in a wonderful way because I do think it would be interesting to see how someone born with that power does fend in this modern world and what the new demons are. The way 'Buffy' was left- that every girl who wants the power has it- you can still tell the story of a Slayer, but maybe it's not Buffy," Gellar explained. "Because Buffy's story was of that time. So maybe it's a different Slayer, and in that case, I'm all for it because I'd be certainly interested to see how you handle being a Chosen One now and what injustices you are fighting and what the demons represent." And who does Gellar see as being this generation's main Slayer? "I vote ['Euporia' star] Zendaya," she responded.

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