It’s been 21 years since Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer first arrived on the scene. Now, Whedon has announced that he will revive his beloved series for a new generation of Slayers, with one major twist. Working with 20th Century Fox TV through its cable and streaming development arm, Fox 21 TV Studios, Whedon will produce an “inclusive” reboot of Buffy starring a black woman in the iconic title role originally played by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Whedon will be an executive producer on the project, and Monica Owusu-Breen, who worked with Whedon on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., will serve as showrunner and head writer. Owusu-Breen’s previous credits include Agents of SHIELD, which is executive produced by Whedon. She also developed and served as showrunner on Midnight, Texas at NBC, but departed the show after one season. She has also written and produced shows like Charmed, Alias, Brothers & Sisters, and Fringe.
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According to Deadline, Fox intends to pitch the reboot to cable and streaming networks this summer. This is all great news for Buffy fans. The decision to reboot Buffy comes a few months after Fox and 20th TV chairman and CEO Gary Newman hinted that the title could soon find itself into the studio’s development pipeline.
This would be the third version of Buffy, following the 1992 film with Kristy Swanson in the title role, and then the series, which first debuted on The WB in 1997. Buffy centered on Buffy Summers, a high school teenager who discovers she’s a “Slayer,” someone tasked with protecting the world from vampires and demons, and learns that her town is built over a hellmouth, where evil supernatural activity thrives.
Source: Deadline
