On the heels of celebrating Buffy‘s 20th anniversary, Entertainment Weekly staged a reunion photo shoot with almost the entire cast, which led fans to speculate whether a revival would be far off. Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), James Marsters (Spike), Alyson Hannigan (Willow), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), David Boreanaz (Angel), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Amber Benson (Tara), Seth Green (Oz), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce), Alexis Denisof (Wesley), and Nicholas Brendon (Xander), all reunited with creator Joss Whedon for a series of photos and interviews, honoring and remembering Buffy‘s legacy. Favorite librarian and watcher, Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) was unable to attend the reunion due to a commitment to a play in London. Previews of the photos can be found at Entertainment Weekly, with recently released exclusive photos found here.
“It’s the ultimate metaphor: horrors of adolescence manifesting through these actual monsters. It’s the hardest time of life,” Sarah Michelle Gellar shared about Buffy.
Longtime fans have been begging for Buffy to join in the ranks of recent revivals, and they’ll soon be getting their wish… sort of. Buffy will be returning as a new book series set for a 2018 release. The new series will be called Slayer, and will focus on one of the potentials that Willow used magic to awaken in the series finale. The cult favorite show has dipped into print before with several books that were released alongside the seasons. When season 7 ended, Buffy continued on with season 8 in the form of comic books.
“The most important thing to me is that I have had people come up to me and say the show made [them] feel different about what they could do, about how they respond to problems, about being a female leader. People getting strength from my own little terrors is… there is no better legacy than that,” Joss Whedon shared about his classic creation.
The new books will be published by Simon & Schuster, and written by young adult author Kiersten White, most known for her And I Darken and Paranormalcy series. Slayer will pick up after the series finale of Buffy, which you may remember (SPOILERS AHEAD) included the destruction of Sunnydale and potential slayers all over the world gaining their Slayer abilities. The new series will ignore the plots of the comic books, and will focus on a new journey. It is assumed that the books will touch upon the darker roots of the show, instead of the campier route the comic books went. Remember how Dawn turned into a centaur?
“When my agent asked if I was interested, I basically said, ‘Every book I’ve ever written was an audition for this.’ It’s still stunning to me that I get to contribute to a world that has been part of my imagination for more than half my life. Dreaming up my own slayer is one of the most surreal experiences of my career so far. I’m so excited to share her with diehard Scoobies and new fans alike!” White said about her excitement for the upcoming books.
In addition to the new series, Simon Pulse will also release Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Twenty Years of Slaying, which will consist of the first three volumes of the Watcher’s Guides, and will include new content like never before seen interviews with the cast and crew. While you’re waiting for the new release, start with the novelization of the Buffy film, or start with the first book that coincided with the television series, The Harvest. If you’re wanting to read the original stories, start with Halloween Rain.
How excited are you for the new Buffy books?
YouTube Channel: Entertainment Weekly
Featured image via Buffy Wikia
h/t NME
