That Buffy the Vampire Slayer remake might not be a remake after all

Earlier this week, it was widely reported that 20th Century Fox Television was going to remake Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon’s cult classic series about a Southern California vampire hunter and her friends. The show is still in the early stages, but The Hollywood Reported had it that producers knew they wanted to cast a black actress in the title role. Buffy has a lot of passionate fans, and a backlash formed online, with many thinking this was the wrong way to go about reviving the series:

Now, the showrunner for the new series — Monica Owusu-Breen, who worked with Whedon as a writer on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in addition to credits on several other shows — has taken to Twitter to clarify a few things. Read on:

"For some genre writers it’s Star Wars.Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my Star Wars.Before I became a writer, I was a fan. For seven seasons, I watched Buffy Summers grow up, find love, kill that love. I watched her fight, and struggle and slay.There is only one Buffy. 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…And that’s all I can say."

“There is only one Buffy…They can’t be replaced…I wouldn’t try to…[I]t could be time to meet a new Slayer.” Hmm.

Read one way, Owusu-Breen seems to be hinting that the new show isn’t a remake of the original series, but rather a continuation. “Into every generation a Slayer is born,” goes the show’s opening narration. It wouldn’t be hard to set a new show in a new time period with a new Slayer and a new group of friends, making this series less of a remake than a revival.

Also, in the series finale, Buffy activated a whole bunch of new Slayers, so Owusu-Breen could use that angle too. Personally, I hope that’s where this show is going, because the original Buffy isn’t that old and wouldn’t really benefit from the remake treatment. Other TV writers seem to agree, like Chris Rafferty, who’s written for The Flash and Lucifer:

We’ll see how this develops.

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