Everything To Know About Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale, Hulu's Scrapped Buffy Revival

If there's one thing Buffy Summers knows how to do, it's come back from the dead. But despite her knack for resurrection on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which got a second life of its own when it moved from The WB to UPN during its seven-season run), she's never returned for a TV revival. For a while, it looked like that was about to change. 

Over a year after it was first announced, the new Buffy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale has been scrapped at Hulu. Original series star Sarah Michelle Gellar made the announcement on Instagram on March 14. The show first secured a pilot order at Hulu in early 2025, with plenty of power behind it: Gellar was set to not only executive produce, alongside some familiar names, but also reprise her role as the iconic Vampire Slayer on screen. 

It's unclear if the team behind New Sunnydale is attempting to find a new home for the show. Whether or not we'll see Buffy on our TVs again, here's everything we know about who was behind New Sunnydale, who was set to star, and what the series would have been about.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale latest news

Hulu is not moving forward with Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale. Sarah Michelle Gellar broke the news on Instagram on March 14. In a video, Gellar thanked director Chloé Zhao for her role in the project. "I never thought I would find myself back in Buffy's stylish yet affordable boots," Gellar said. "And thanks to Chloé, 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, and I promise if the apocalypse actually comes, you can still beep me."

At the Oscars on March 15, Zhao told Variety that she was "not surprised" Hulu had passed on the show. "Things happen for a reason, and we keep our hearts open and we welcome the mystery. And what this might lead us to," Zhao said. When asked whether New Sunnydale would be shopped around to other distributors, she repeated, "Welcome the mystery."

Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who was set to lead the new series, also weighed in on the cancellation. "I also want to say thank you to old fans and all the people that believed in this new chapter and who believed in me," Armstrong said in her Instagram Stories, per Variety. "We brought this back for you guys. And you know, Buffy is such a big part of all of our lives, and it's not going anywhere, so who knows what the future will hold."

New Sunnydale cast

Ryan Kiera Armstrong was set to lead New Sunnydale as the new Slayer at the center of the action. Deadline announced her casting in May 2025. Armstrong's other credits include The Lowdown, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and Firestarter.

Sarah Michelle Gellar celebrated the news by posting a video of the moment when she told the 15-year-old Armstrong that she had earned the role. "From the moment I saw Ryan's audition, I knew there was only one girl that I wanted by my side," Gellar said in the caption. "To have that kind of emotional intelligence, and talent, at such a young age is truly a gift."

The cast of series regulars also included, per Deadline, Faly Rakotohavana (Unprisoned), Ava Jean (Law & Order: SVU), Sarah Bock (Severance), Daniel Di Tomasso (Major Crimes), and Jack Cutmore-Scott (Frasier).

Merrin Dungey, Audrey Hsieh, and Audrey Grace Marshall played guest starring roles in the pilot and were expected to recur if the show went to series, according to Deadline. Chase Sui Wonders also appeared in the pilot, in a one-off guest starring role.

Gellar was set to reprise her role as Buffy Summers in the new series. 

Deadline reported in February 2025 that it was "likely" that Gellar wouldn't be the only original Buffy cast member to appear in the new show. Gellar fueled more speculation in June 2025 when she told Vanity Fair Italia, "My dream is to bring back everyone who has died." 

James Marsters, who played Buffy's bleach-blond vampire antagonist-turned-love interest Spike on the original series, suggested in January that he had been approached about reprising the role on New Sunnydale. Per IGN, Marsters spoke to fellow Buffy alum Charisma Carpenter on her podcast and said that there had been "interest" in bringing back Spike for the new series. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale main cast:

• Ryan Kiera Armstrong
• Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Faly Rakotohavana 
• Ava Jean 
• Sarah Bock 
• Daniel Di Tomasso 
• Jack Cutmore-Scott

New Sunnydale characters and story

Buffy was set to play a role in New Sunnydale, but the show's focus would have been on the next generation of teens tasked with slaying vampires and preventing the apocalypse. 

After TVLine revealed possible descriptions of the new characters in March 2025, Gellar suggested that fans shouldn't get too attached to that information, telling Elite Daily, "Those are all fake characters. That thing that got released is all fake."

Deadline, however, backed up many of those character descriptions in July 2025 while announcing new additions to the cast. Those descriptions are as follows:

• Nova, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, is the new Slayer. She's described as a "cerebral 16-year-old" who's "very smart and a bit of a loner."
• Hugo, played by Faly Rakotohavana, is a "privileged, likable," geeky high school student.
• Larkin, played by Ava Jean, is a fellow student and a "chronic do-gooder."
• Gracie, played by Sarah Bock, is the "ringleader for a group of church-going students."
• Abe, played by Daniel Di Tomasso, is Nova's father, a single dad who is also a photojournalist.
• Mr. Burke, played by Jack Cutmore-Scott, is a popular high school teacher.

The show's potential recurring characters included Ms. LaDuca (Merrin Dungey), New Sunnydale Academy's college counselor; and a pair of students in the school's Evangelical Christian group, Keiko (Audrey Hsieh) and Jessica (Audrey Grace Marshall).

In June 2025, Gellar told Vanity Fair Italia that the revival would "try to find a balance between new and old characters." And it sounds like the series would have embraced its high school setting, with a tone that lined up with Buffy's high school years. According to Gellar, the show would be "lighter than the last few seasons of the original," which took on weightier issues as the characters grew up. 

Gellar also teased, "We're trying to figure out how to modernize the themes of the series, especially what it means to feel like an outsider in a world dominated by social media."

New Sunnydale creative team

Gellar didn't just lend her influence to the revival in front of the camera; she was also set to executive produce the new series, and Variety reported that she would be joined by some familiar behind-the-scenes names. Longtime Buffy and Angel executive producer Gail Berman was on board, along with Fran Kuzui (who directed the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie) and Kaz Kuzui. And yes — original Buffy producer Dolly Parton was also executive producing through her company Sandollar.

Chloé Zhao, the Oscar-winning Nomadland director and a lifelong Buffy fan, directed the pilot and was also an executive producer. 

New Sunnydale was showrun by Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman, who wrote the pilot. The Zuckermans most recently served as the showrunners of the first season of Poker Face; their other credits include Fringe, Haven, Suits, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Prodigal Son.

In an Instagram post in early February 2025, Gellar described years of meetings with Berman, Zhao, and the Zuckermans eventually giving way to an idea for a revival. "I have always listened to the fans and heard your desire to revisit 'Buffy' and her world, but it was not something I could do unless I was sure we would get it right," she wrote. "This has been a long process, and it's not over yet. I promise you, we will only make this show if we know we can do it right. And I will tell you that we are on the path there."

She concluded, "I feel so lucky to be on this journey with these four unbelievably talented women, all of whom love 'Buffy' as much as I do. And as much as you do. Thank you to all the fans who never stopped asking for this. This will be for you."

As for who was not involved, original series creator Joss Whedon reportedly had no involvement in the new show. Whedon has not worked in Hollywood since 2021 after facing multiple allegations of creating a "toxic" work environment.

New Sunnydale production

The pilot episode of New Sunnydale was shot in August 2025 in Los Angeles, where the original series and its spin-off, Angel, filmed. Guest star Chase Sui Wonders told Deadline at the time that Gellar was "very hands on" with the new show and was "on set every day, from as soon as we start to when we wrap."

In July 2025, Gellar posted a photo from the table read, teasing her return to the role of Buffy Summers (as Sarah Michelle Gellar Prinze) with her script in the background.

Where we left Buffy the Vampire Slayer

If you're trying to remember how Buffy and a new Slayer could coexist, here's a refresher: The original series began with the concept that there could only be one Slayer alive at a time — an idea the show played with by activating a second Slayer, Kendra (Bianca Lawson), when Buffy briefly died in the Season 1 finale. Kendra was followed after her death by Faith (Eliza Dushku), meaning two Slayers were active for most of the show. But it was the series finale that really opened up the story to multiple Slayers: In the final episode, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) performed a spell to activate every living Potential Slayer at once, ending the rule that one girl had to fight the forces of darkness on her own.

Buffy ended in 2003 after seven seasons. From 2007-2018, Dark Horse Comics published a series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, Seasons Eight through Twelve, that were produced by Joss Whedon and were described as official canonical continuations of the story. There's been no word on whether the new TV series would have any continuity with the comics, but Whedon was not involved with the revival.

Some of the cast also revived the world of Buffy through the audio series Slayers: A Buffyverse Story, which was released on Audible in 2023. Written by Christopher Golden and cast member Amber Benson, the series was not officially part of the Buffyverse canon, but it did feature plenty of original cast members, including Benson as Tara, James Marsters as Spike, Anthony Stewart Head as Giles, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia, Emma Caulfield as Anya, and Juliet Landau as Drusilla. The series was canceled in 2024 after one season. Golden wrote that Disney had "refused to allow Audible to proceed with future seasons" and said, "To my knowledge, they have provided no explanation." It's unclear whether the development of New Sunnydale was a factor.

Where to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer

All seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are streaming on Hulu.