Buffy fans all over the globe were in mourning this weekend after Sarah Michelle Gellar confirmed that Hulu would not be moving forward with Buffy: New Sunnydale. This could be the streamer’s worst decision yet, and I’m canceling my subscription in protest.
For months, we’ve been very excited for Buffy Summers to return to one of the best streaming services. My colleague Rowan Davies said he was both excited and nervous about the show’s return, but now we’ll never get to know what that looks like.
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In her video, Gellar said: “I am really sad to have to share this, but I wanted you all to hear it from me. Unfortunately, Hulu has decided not to move forward with Buffy: New Sunnydale.
“I want to thank Chloé Zhao because I never thought I would find myself back in Buffy’s stylish, yet affordable boots, and thanks to Chloe, I was reminded how much I love her and how much she means not only to me, but to all of you. And this doesn’t change any of that.”
She added, “I promise, if the apocalypse actually comes, you can still beep me.”
The backlash to Hulu’s decision has been incredibly loud, with many people flooding Gellar’s comments to express their heartbreak over the decision. At the time of writing, it is still unclear why exactly Hulu decided not to move forward with the show.
Chloé Zhao was at the helm of the project, and her latest movie, Hamnet, just won star Jessie Buckley a Best Actress Oscar. Her previous movie, Nomadland, also won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress, so she’s well-equipped to tell this story well. And with Gellar herself attached to the project, this long-time Buffy fan was feeling good about it.
We’ve had plenty of franchises and reboots, so it’s interesting that Buffy has not been given the same chance as other very successful IPs. For once, I was excited to revisit something because I had such faith in the people who were working on it.
This is the first time that Hulu has really let me down. I’ve had a brilliant time with shows like Paradise and High Potential, but this decision has annoyed me so much that I’ll be giving up Hulu for a while.
It seems that Buffy: New Sunnydale is officially declared dead, as it would have a hard time being picked up elsewhere due to rights issues. Unsurprisingly, though, a petition to bring it back is already out there, with almost 7,000 signatures at the time of writing.
I’m not sure if Hulu will take action based on the backlash, so we’ll have to wait and see. But I am devastated that one of my most anticipated shows will not be arriving any time soon.
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