Posted in: TV | Tagged: buffy the vampire slayer, charmed

Sarah Michelle Gellar Talks Lifelong Friendship with Shannen Doherty

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) opened up about her lifelong friendship with the late Shannen Doherty (Charmed).

Published Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:37:05 -0500

by Tom Chang

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Article Summary

Sarah Michelle Gellar reflects on her lifelong friendship with Shannen Doherty.
Gellar shares her regret of not taking a trip to Italy with Doherty before her passing in 2024.
The actress emphasizes living in the moment and having no major regrets with Doherty.
Gellar also discusses recent losses, including co-stars Michelle Trachtenberg and Nicholas Brendon.

When it comes to Hollywood these days, much less life, you take what you can get. As Sarah Michelle Gellar and the late Shannen Doherty grew up as child stars, they never knew a world outside of their entertainment upbringing. In their 20s, both found success on TV: Gellar starred in UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Doherty had stints on Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210 and the WB's Charmed. As Gellar was able to complete her series, Doherty didn't stick around to see both her signature shows to the end. As fans wondered what could have been if Buffy had crossed over with Charmed, the Ready or Not 2: Here I Come star reflected on her lifelong friendship with Doherty, who passed away in 2024, and on "not wasting" any time.

Sarah Michelle Gellar Reflects on Shannen Doherty Lifelong Friendship — Sarah Michelle Gellar in "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer." Shannen Doherty in "Charmed" Images courtesy of 20th Century Studios and Paramount

Sarah Michelle Gellar Remembers Best Friend Shannen Doherty

"We [enjoyed the fuck out of each other]," Gellar told PEOPLE, agreeing with someone's assessment of her and Doherty's relationship, "I made sure that I would never have any regrets with Shannen, and I think we did a really good job of it. I don't think we have any [regrets]." The one regret the actress had was not taking "a big world trip to Italy" with her, but she is happy her friend went anyway. "But we didn't waste the time we had," she continued. "And if she said, 'Hey, I have an idea for a crazy adventure.' I'd be like, 'Okay, let's go do it.'"

Gellar's been through her share of tragedy as of late, not only losing Doherty in 2024, but also Buffy co-star Michelle Trachtenberg, who played her sister Dawn, in 2025, and most recently, Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander Harris from the series' beginning in 1997. Aside from appearing in seven seasons of Buffy, she also appeared in the WB spinoff series Angel, and was set to reprise her role for Chloé Zhao's revival of Buffy: New Sunnydale before Hulu scrapped the pilot. Speaking of reboots, neither Doherty, co-stars Alyssa Milano, Holly Marie Combs, nor Rose McGowan had any involvement in the CW reboot from Jessica O'Toole and Amy Rardin, but the window was left open for the Halliwell sisters to return in some form had it survived past season four. For more on Gellar's life with Doherty, you can check out the entire interview.