Sarah Michelle Gellar Reveals Who Stopped the ‘Buffy’ Revival

Now that Hulu is not moving forward with Chloé Zhao'sBuffy reboot, titled Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale, lead actress Sarah Michelle Gellar isn't holding back.

Speaking exclusively to Peoplejust days after she confirmed the pilot wouldn't be moving forward at the streamer, Gellar said no person in the production had any awareness that it would soon be scrapped.

“No one saw this coming, including the head of Searchlight [Pictures]," Sarah said of the cancellation. The actress also noted her new film Ready or Not 2 , set for release in April, was also produced by Searchlight.

"And I got the call as we were stepping onto stage for the premiere of their own movie. And it’s also the weekend of Chloé [Zhao] going to the Oscars as a best director nominee for Hamnet," she said. Zhao's latest film was nominated for 8 Oscars on Hollywood's biggest night, taking home the Best Actress award for lead star Jessie Buckley. Zhao previously won the Best Director and Best Picture Academy Awards for her 2020 film, Nomadland.

"For them to call us on the Friday of what should have been Chloé's victory lap for an incredible film, and my world premiere of something that I worked very hard for is...That says something.”

From there, Gellar pointed to one person whom she believes was the reason the Oscar-winning director's project was halted.

"That's very hard when you're taking a property that is as beloved as Buffy, not just to the world, but to me and Chloé. So that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn't watch it," she added.

Subsequent reports following Sarah's announcement have stated the supernatural vampire series may be re-vamped (get it?) at Hulu, which is, apparently, still highly interested in going forward with Buffy as a franchise. However, nothing's been confirmed by the streamer so far.