It’s been rumored for years, but last week, it was confirmed — “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is getting the reboot treatment. The reboot brings back Joss Whedon to the series that he created and turned into one of the more iconic genre properties of the last few decades. And to showrun the series, “Midnight, Texas” writer and producer Monica Owusu-Breen was hired. On paper, the series feels like a no-brainer. However, fans didn’t react as planned.
You see, there were parts of the announcement that created a bit of a backlash. First, producers of the new reboot were quoted as saying, “Like our world, it will be richly diverse, and like the original, some aspects of the series could be seen as metaphors for issues facing us all today.” Deadline even went so far as to say that the diversity would include making the lead character African-American.
And that’s where people started to lose their minds. Fans cried foul when they heard that their beloved Buffy would be a Black woman and not the blonde version that they know and love. Then you had fans on the other side of the argument saying that its great that “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” would be run by a woman of color behind-the-scenes and in front of the camera, but were outraged that it would never live up to the first ‘Buffy,’ therefore is seen as giving these new diverse folks an unfair disadvantage.
Well, it sounds like it was all one big miscommunication, according to showrunner Owusu-Breen. Today, she tweeted an explanation, hoping to put fans’ minds at ease.
“There is only one Buffy,” Owusu-Breen tweeted. “One Xander, one Willow, Giles, Cordelia, Oz, Tara, Kendra, Faith, Spike, Angel… They can’t be replaced. Joss Whedon’s brilliant and beautiful series can’t be replicated. I wouldn’t try to. But here we are, twenty years later… And the world seems a lot scarier. So maybe, it could be time to meet a new Slayer…”
So, there you have it. Perhaps, if the tweet is to be believed, the rebooted ‘Buffy’ would star a new character as the Slayer chosen to save the world from the assorted demons and whatnot. However, it doesn’t answer the question as to whether the Buffy portion of the title would actually be in play. If this is a sequel, as is alluded to, then will Sarah Michelle Gellar come back? Or is it ‘Buffy’ in name only?
Well, one thing is a given, fandom on social media will continue to battle over this, no matter what Owusu-Breen says, until they find out for sure. And even then, this is probably a never-ending debate. Boy, Twitter can be a horrible place.
— monicaowusubreen (@monicabreen) July 26, 2018